The Young Peacebuilders Guide To Tackling Harmful Narratives

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‘Young people prefer violence over peaceful means’, ‘young refugees are sexual harassers’, ‘young people are spreading hate online’ … the list of disinformation and hate speech on the fundamental role of young people in building peace goes on and on. These often unpunished harmful narratives are particularly worrisome, as they undermine the crucial work of young people in building peace and jeopardise their physical and mental health.

While a lot has been done to shed light on the phenomenon of disinformation, notably in light of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the infodemic that followed, European members of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY Peacebuilders) expressed lacking guidelines to dismantle harmful narratives targeting young peacebuilders and young people at large.

Aim

The Young Peacebuilders’ Guide to Tackling Harmful Narratives entails a concrete step-by-step methodology and tools to support young peacebuilders in their fight against harmful narratives, as well as four concrete alternative narrative campaigns that were developed by UNOY Peacebuilders members.

Rather than creating the umpteenth resource that sheds light on the issue of harmful narratives, this by-youth-for-youth guide is a collaborative document that encapsulates the work and input of 11 UNOY members who took part in UNOY Peacebuilders’ capacity development programme—Youth Promoting Peaceful and Cohesive Societies in Europe—held between April and June 2022, as well as the insights of experts in disinformation and media development at large.