CAP: An Overview

CAP’s Mission Statement

CAP’s mission is to uphold the rights of children and youth living in conflict and earlypost-conflict situations and to support their participation in peace building in ways relevant to their experiences of war.

CAP’s approach is based on an “ethic of care” and the recognition that the realization of rights requires the ability to care for oneself, others and the world – we are all subjects of the same rights. It understands that today’s wars create special needs and abilities in young people as a result of their experiences as combatants, witnesses and victims. A second assumption is that young people’s participation in upholding their rights has value for themselves and their communities as well their future roles as responsible citizens of their countries.

Organization Review

Children/Youth as Peacebuilders was established in 2000 to engage with and for war affected children and youth. In the past ten years CAP has worked with students, refugees, former combatants and internally placed young people from Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burma, Cambodia, Colombia, Northern Uganda and Rwanda.

A guiding principle of CAP’s work has been the development of good practice in child and youth participation. Rather than a “bottom up” or a “top down” approach, CAP aims to create dialogue and exchange of knowledge between community work, led by youth, and international mechanisms to provide protection and support.

CAP’s key programs focus on the prevention of sexual violence, reconciliation and peacebuilding, monitoring violations against children and a beginning program on protection of the natural environment. Work on these topics has been integrated with leadership training and human rights education.

CAP’s Work

CAP’s work is project led rather than service oriented. This includes tangible goals, a useful approach for focusing energy and identifying effective activities. Methods emphasize participatory research, popular education, peer support, youth led structures, cultural techniques, and art as a medium for research and expression. Main accomplishments:

• Coordination of the international youth delegation (16 countries) for the Winnipeg International Conference on War Affected Children (Sept 2000). This was followed by a project to test models for youth participation, resulting in two publications: A Kind of Friendship: Working With and For War Affected Young People and Youth as Peacebuilders. (2001 – 2004)
• Development of a special program ($3 million) for war affected children in Africa for the Canada Fund for Africa. (created by then Prime Minister Chretien) (2003 -2005).
• CAP has an extension collection of artwork by young people from Angola, Bosnia, Burma, Cambodia, Colombia, Northern Uganda and Rwanda. These materials have been featured in exhibitions in Germany, Sweden, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, including the Nobel Peace Exhibition Centre. CAP is advising the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on its upcoming displays on children’s rights and is likely to be supplying images for these exhibits.
• In September 2008 CAP Uganda organized a silent march to honour the children who died in the region’s war. This march was featured on the front page of Uganda’s national newspaper.
• In the past two years CAP’s programming has focused on issues relating to sexual violence against young people. Its publication, Vicious Circles: Sexual Violence Against Young People in Cambodia, Colombia and Northern Uganda gained considerable attention. This has led to public education programming in Northern Uganda; a new project based in seven regions in Colombia; an invitation to present to Canada’s Senate Committee on Human Rights and a partnership with Save the Children on a project working with former girl combatants in Colombia.

CAP’s participatory approach; proven commitment to children’s rights; capacity to achieve programming goals; skills in youth community work and its ability to work both independently and in partnership with others.

As a small ‘niche’ organization CAP has the flexibility to implement special initiatives less possible for larger, more service oriented organizations. It did this through the Vicious Circles study and also accomplished this in a recent project to demonstrate the value of youth participation in the implementation of UN Security Resolutions 1612 and 1882.

CAP Programs: Examples of Our Work

• Possibilities for Change: Combating Gender Violence
• Public Education & Advocacy Work
• Community Work
• Promotion and Protection of Young People’s Rights
• Reconciliation

Our Work: Overview

Objectives

CAP’s programs are dedicated to the rights of young people in conflict/post-conflict countries and their contributions to peacebuilding to restore themselves, their families, communities, and countries.

Overall Approach

Our methods emphasize human rights, cultural approaches and techniques, youth involvement; respect for youth voice and the development of youth leadership.

Many of our projects combine contributions to community life with peer support and public education. We maintain that peacebuilding must involve all aspects of community life.

Who CAP Works With

CAP works with young people living in conflict and post-conflict organizations. CAP works with refugees, internally displaced children and youth, students, migrant workers, former child soldiers, human rights educators and religious workers.

Where CAP Works

CAP has programs in Colombia, northern Uganda, Cambodia, Burma-Thailand and links with organizations in Angola and the Philippines. We are in the process of developing new programs in Central America and South Asia.

CAP works with a variety of organizations: youth only groups, international organizations, national agencies and community groups. A main requirement is that a group must support strong involvement of young people in the defining of issues, the development of strategies to address these problems and the implementation of activities.

CAP is organized regionally with programs in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. Local/country organizations are part of a regional structure. This regional structure has been designed so that groups in the same region can share information; learn about the regional dynamics influencing today’s civil wars; participate in joint skills training activities and exchange perspectives on peacebuilding issues.

CAP’s Work at the Community, Regional and International Level

Community Level: This focuses on youth initiatives that respond to priorities identified by children and youth living in conflict situations. In keeping with CAP’s commitment to equality, all youth groups receive the same amount for their community projects.

Regional Level: This component focuses on leadership training and information sharing amongst the CAP groups in a particular region. This includes human rights training, comparative research projects, exchanges and regional meetings. All CAP groups are members of a regional structure.

International Level: At the international level CAP organizes research, public education and advocacy based on the priorities set by the community level work. This includes a quarterly publication, presentations at international conferences, special projects, learning circles and seminars.