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Youth inclusion in leadership is key to meaningful participation indecision making, conflict prevention and resolution: In order to increase the role of youth in leadership, mediation, electoral processes,conflict resolution, mediation and decision making at all levels, there is need to buildtheir (Youths) capacity with knowledge and skills to meaningfully participate in decisionmaking, conflict prevention and resolution. CoACT organized a 3–day youth leadership boot camp to train youth from Kasese,Ntungamo, Kabarole and Kampala. The broad topics that were discussed during theboot camp included a range of leadership skills (priority issues identification andplanning, programme monitoring, public speaking, communication, negotiation,advocacy; democracy and active citizenship: non-violent strategies of resolvingconflicts; election monitoring and observation, and report writing. The Youth leadership boot camp was anchored upon the following objectives;1. To increase youth understanding and appreciation of the Youth Peace andSecurity Agenda (YPS).2. To build the capacity of youths in leadership, conflict prevention and resolutionskills for effective participation in decision making and peace building processes.3. To increase youth understanding and appreciation of existing opportunities tomeaningfully participate in decision making and peace building processes. Grace Ahumuza a participant from Kabarole District says “I thank CoACT for giving methe opportunity to be part of this leadership boot camp have been empowered and I feelthat my capacity in leadership has been increased, i will go and empower other youths, Ihave gained self-esteem because I had never made a presentation in front of peoplelike I did in this boot camp and I feel energized now that I can stand and present a goodidea in front of people.” The boot camp also increased the capacity of youth to participate in elections and as ofnow 3 youths that participated have been nominated to participate in the 2021 generalelectoral proceses and these include “Grace Ahumuza as District Youth CouncilorKabarole district, Juliet Masika –for Municipal councilor Kasese District and BarekyeGerald –for Youth chairperson for Nyakyera sub county Ntungamo district.  

Localization – a better approach to address community issues: CoACT is continuing to improve the localization strategy, a proven model for the implementation of the women peace and security agenda informed by the findings of the evaluation of the impact of localisation on NAP implementation, the Global Study on the implementation of Resolution 1325 (2015), as well as continuous participatory reviews in Uganda and globally. CoACT facilitates the localization strategy a bottom- up approach where local government stakeholders are consulted, and guided to identify specific issues in their communities, formulate local action Plans that fit into their local communities. The localization process involves a series of workshops with district political and technical leaders, the police (and UPDF where they exist), cultural and religious leaders, teachers, business leaders, civil society groups, women leaders, the youth and media to increase understanding of the NAP which is a national policy on women, peace and security and customizing it into a district strategy to address community level conflicts and gender inequality. CoACT has facilitated 6 districts 2 in Uganda out of nine to implement the UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security, Foristance in 2016, Amuria district was supported and had its first local Action Plan which was reviewed in 2020 and now the district is in the process of developing their 2 nd LAP. During the review meeting of LAP in Amuria district, stakeholders appreciated the importance of having a Local action Plan in countering GBV “The district recruited CDOs in all the 15 sub-counties to handle all the GBV cases which reduced pressure at the district, “The district Principle Assistant CAO noted”. Localization has guaranteed the alignment and harmonization of local, national, regional and international policies and community-driven strategies. It has allowed local communities to analyze their everyday government functions and policies to see what is promoting or hindering the implementation of the WPS resolutions. 2. Amuria, Kitgum, Kaberamaido, Kasese, Luwero and Yumbe.

YOUTH ARE ALSO AGENTS OF PEACE: Today almost half of the world’s population (48%) is under the age of 24, and of these 18% – or more than one billion people – are defined as youth. Youth in Uganda are the youngest population in the world, with 77% of its population being under 25 years of age. There are 7,310,386 youth from the ages of 15–24 years of age living in Uganda 1. . In order to promote and support the role of young people in peace-building activities that contribute to peaceful co-existence, Coalition for Action on 1325 (CoACT) trained young peace ambassadors on WPS to support NAP III implementation in Uganda. CoACT organized a 2-day residential training of young women in leadership and conflict resolution from the five districts and institutions of higher learning which took place on 29 th to 30 th , July 2020 at Nob view hotel in Kampala. The training had the following objectives; – Increase understanding and appreciation of the Women, Peace and Security and Youth Peace and Security Agendas and foster discussions on the role of young people in implementation. – Increase the knowledge and skills of young people on conflict management, mediation, communication and leadership skills for effective participation in decision making and peace building processes. From the discussions, young women prioritized some of the important ways to restore and promote peace and security amongst themselves and these included; having a growth mind set, developing innovative skills, educating communities about non-violent means of resolving conflict, involvement in leadership, and awareness raising of human rights. As part of the action planning, the youth have organized and engaged other young people in their communities to share the knowledge on women, peace and security learnt from the training. “Brenda Akwiro and Sandra Amolo , participants from Kaberamaido who study at Kyambogo University were part of the training, they have so far organized 4 village engagements in Kanyanamu village (Kaberamaido District) of young women (married and unmarried) and have trained them on gender based violence and dangers of early marriages. The training also helped youth to appreciate and understand the youth, Peace and Security agenda and its relevance to the youth in Uganda. CoACT continues to engage more youth in trainings on WPS and YPS in order to increase their knowledge and skills on conflict prevention, conflict resolution and mediation processes. United Network of Young Peacebuilders Report (2015)

TRAINING ON GENDER SENSITIVE REPORTING INSPIRES CHANGE IN MEDIA PROGRAMS: There has been an increase in the number of media houses in Uganda with knowledgeand skills on gender sensitive reporting. This growth has increased the media footprintand evolved its traditional role of informing, educating and entertaining which hasinfluenced perception on how the public thinks and reacts to situations concerninggender and development, WPS agenda among other human rights issues. CoACT has continuously engaged journalists (targeting reporters, editors, in print, radioand television). In order to promote gender sensitive reporting on women, peace andsecurity (WPS) issues, increase the knowledge and skills on gender sensitive reportingon WPS issues. CoACT organized a training of journalists who were drawn from acrossthe country national and district level media houses including ; Radio one, Simba FM,Hot 100 FM, CBS FM, NBS TV, Arua 1 FM, Tembo FM, ETOP FM, and Messiah FM. John Achoda, a news reporter at ETOP FM in Amuria District, committed himself afterthe training to make fair and accurate writings of stories about gender and conflictsensitive reporting and mobilize women to always share their views and analysis duringinterviews, debates and other discussions. John acknowledges that the training was agame changer as far as his understanding on gender issues and reporting wereconcerned,”I did not have knowledge about gender and could not relate it tojournalism, but from the training I have learnt that gender sensitive reporting iskey and this will influence how I balance my documenting news bytes andreporting”. The training also caused journalists to appreciate the need to have all voices heard,editorial policies that take into account gender equality and embed gender concerns inprogramming, management and news reporting. As part of action planning, Journalistshave continued to organize and engage fellow staff and top management on the needto conduct business differently with a gender lens. This has sparked new positive shiftsat different media houses. For example, Tembo FM’s management in Kitgum districtappreciated the need to recruit more female news reporters and include womenpanelists on the station’s political talk shows which, had been dominated by men. Today, Tembo has become more deliberate in relaying gender-sensitive news stories,increasing coverage of issues salient to women and reflecting more female voices in itscontent.