Funding Peace

The Real Stories of Peace: Funding Peace.

Meet Brisky from Zimbabwe. He works with young people to ensure the sector looks to them when building peace.

Zimbabwe’s long-standing history of conflict, rooted in British colonial rule and extended through post-independence power struggles, has left deep social scars. The path to sustainable peace demands the international community to support and strengthen local action. 

For true, lasting peace, the international peacebuilding sector must recognise the power of Zimbabwe’s youth and local communities. Without direct investment, peace efforts will never be truly inclusive. Brisky works directly with young people, amplifying their voices allowing them to build a future of long-term stability by addressing the root causes of conflict. 

“I would love to see a peacebuilding sector that is fully funded…[and where] young people’s potential is fully tapped into.”

Working alongside Community Solutions Zimbabwe (CSZ), Brisky advocates for the already present “community structures being utilised [in] peacebuilding.”

Through CSZ, Brisky is committed to supporting young people to fully utilise the power and expertise they have. Recognising that young people are currently acting as peacebuilders in informal settings, Brisky wants them and the international community to see this and support them in formal settings. 

“I would also love to see a peace building environment where young people’s potential is fully taped into…young people are [working mostly in] informal peacebuilding. But at the formal spaces, young people are not the peacekeeping machines.“

Whilst seeing the importance young people hold in peacebuilding, Brisky is an advocate for supporting the mental wellbeing of all in communities. Without having inner peace and mental fitness, peace cannot be truly sustainable.

We must all support our friends, neighbours and family to feel peace and to see those effects benefit the wider community and country.

‘If the community is peaceful, then…the country, the continent and also the world can also be peaceful. So, the building block starts from within going outside.’ 

For peace to be truly long-lasting, it must start locally, the international sector must support and fund local initiatives and people to build this peace. Through their membership with United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY), CSZ and Yeukai are working to impact the wider sector to support local peacebuilders.

“The community structures that are there within our community should be used as platforms of peacebuilding.“

For Brisky, peace starts from within. Ensuring we pass our peace on to the next person to build a peaceful community, country, and world.