Nagwa Shoeb, director-general of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement, speaks to Nevine El-Aref about youth empowerment as a prerequisite to peace, development and justice During a three-day Sharm El-Sheikh International Youth Forum (IYF) last week, Nagwa Shoeb was busy at work. Characteristically, Shoeb sported her cheerful smile, roaming the corridors and halls of the Sharm El-Sheikh Congress Centre on her way to a session or solving a problem. All this, in her capacity as the director-general of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement (SMWIPM). The movement is a non-profit, non- governmental international association established in 2003. It focuses on the positive and holistic aspects of peace, helping to forge alternative communications networks, developing capacities, creating avenues for cooperative action and making silent voices heard. The movement's main objective is to enhance the conditions conducive to sustainable peace and human security. It also strives to harness the energy and creativity of all individuals, especially women and youth, in building peace and enhancing human security. An integral part of this mission consists of creating well-defined channels through which they can voice their needs and promote their peaceful aspirations, as well as expand their opportunities to participate fully in their societies. As a pivotal step in its series of youth- oriented programmes, the movement organised its first IYF entitled "The Power of Youth for Peace" under the slogan "Youth speak, we listen". The forum brought together more than 1,000 people -- among them 800 youth from 100 different countries with diverse languages, religions, backgrounds and experience -- who are committed to the one goal of building a more united and peaceful world. Shoeb told Al-Ahram Weekly about the forum's outcome and the movement's plan of action to promote the culture of peace among the young. "I am really exhausted, but am pleased with what has been done," she revealed. "It is an awesome event which met all our expectations and more." Since its creation, SMWIPM "has always claimed to focus on women and youth, but this is probably the very first time it has done something on the issue of youth," she added. The idea behind IYF is to bring together a large group of young people from all over the world to learn, talk, understand and exchange knowledge with each other. Therefore, the movement was targeting those who already have previous experience in the field of development or peace building to attend. "We addressed national and international associations, NGOs and organisations asking them to recommend participants who are active in peace activities or in community, economic development, health or social work," Shoeb recalled. Therefore, almost all those who came to Sharm El-Sheikh represented groups who already had their own ideas, philosophy, successes and failures. "The gathering became an amazing hub for learning, exchanging experiences and ideas," she noted, adding that most participants asked what they could do as young people. Evidence that the forum is by the youth and for the youth, pointed out Shoeb, was that they took the lead role in ceremonial speeches such as at the opening ceremony when young participants related their experience in social activities. Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, founder and chair of SMWIPM, preferred that the young take over the formal launch of the forum, "and this from day one set the tone of the IYF," believes Shoeb. The director of SMWIPM also feels that the forum is a turning point for the movement, because now it will focus on young people between the ages of 18-25, who represent the future as well as the present. "And as we heard from their experiences, they have much wisdom that we should really listen to and learn from," stated Shoeb. "Moving forward will require several actions and activities." Mrs Mubarak announced at the forum that SMWIPM will form an international youth unit, which will naturally be represented in Egypt. "There are many Egyptian participants, facilitators and volunteers of outstanding calibre," noted Shoeb, "and we hope they will participate in the newly formed unit." The movement has yet to decide what goals this youth unit will pursue, but one of its main aims will certainly be the launch of the Cyber Peace Initiative (CPI). Already, a memorandum of understanding was signed last week between SMWIPM and the International Telecommunication Union, the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development, Microsoft International and Cisco Systems, in addition to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The memorandum aims to drive the CPI forward and activate it on both regional and international levels. CPI will enable the movement to use the Internet as a tool for building peace, social development and forming a focus group to work on the safe usage of the Internet. "Everyone seems concerned about safe uses of the Internet and what we can do to help youth, parents and adults deal with this new technology," the director of SMWIPM explained. "The movement has a lot of work to do, and I think the forum is a great launching pad with a lot of momentum and energy for us to capture." Other youth-oriented programmes and activities sponsored by SMWIPM in the past include youth camps focussed on disseminating a better understanding of the culture of peace, and stimulating youth participation in its realisation. According to Shoeb, the movement also strives to provide youth with the tools, resources and opportunities to make a genuine difference in their societies. This approach entails building their capacity to define peace for themselves and what it may bring to their lives. Moreover, it calls for the creation of well-defined channels through which they can voice their needs and promote their objectives, as well as sustain efforts to integrate their perspectives and ideas into dialogues and actions, she added. "Over the last few summers, we organised a number of summer youth camps and programmes in schools for students and teachers, where a manual for teachers was developed on how to teach peace," stated Shoeb. "This is really enormous." Altogether, the movement has been focussing on young people, with mostly local and a few regional projects, but IYF is needed to introduce ideas, experience and knowledge, as well as finding ways to expand SMWIPM's network. "We hope to be able to implement our ambitious programme according to Mrs Mubarak's inspiration," said Shoeb. "She is a great mother for everybody; and the way that young people related to her was amazing. As she said of herself, 'I am always young at heart'." In the immediate future, SMWIPM will form the youth unit, seek ways to activate the CPI, and deliver the movement's message to the grassroots through NGOs. "We will probably be looking for NGOs which have similar ideas, but they might be working in very specific fields such as health, illiteracy programmes, clean water or sewage," Shoeb revealed. "But we can weave the message of respect of others, diversity and inter-cultural understanding into their work." The movement would help give them the tools, language and skills to enable them to communicate this message to a much wider group. On the other hand, long-term projects for the movement include school programmes, especially that education is one of Mrs Mubarak's top priorities and was highlighted at the IYF. "It isn't just teaching the culture of peace in schools, but educating in communication skills, respect of the other and understanding that we are not all the same, but we are equal," explained Shoeb. "Also, thinking about one's community and how to give back." According to her, introducing these ideas in schools at a very young age should make youth less selfish, more understanding of others and not be afraid of the unfamiliar. "Part of our role is to organise workshops to train teachers to instill the idea of peace in students, but in a subtle and interactive way," noted Shoeb. "Peace then becomes a behaviour, and an integral part of our life." This message should be dispersed among all institutions such as churches, mosques, schools and universities, she added. At the IYF's closing ceremony, young delegates asked for an annual forum, but Shoeb feels it's too early to decide what the next gathering will be. While last week's forum was successful, perhaps the next event will be organised in a different format more focussed on workshops and building skills, teaching the young how to connect with the community, lobby and become advocates. "It will all depend on how the international youth unit will be formulated, how we capture ideas and energy," stated Shoeb. "When you come out of such an overwhelming event, one wants to do everything," she remarked. "But realistically, if we focus on one or two ideas, do them well and grow step by step, I think we will able to achieve concrete and fantastic results for the movement." Perhaps one of main tasks of SMWIPM's youth unit will be to organise such events, since the young have the energy and will to do it, suggested Shoeb. The director of SMWIPM believes that the forum has already communicated an important message, namely that "youth do, indeed, have the power, and we should listen to them." She concluded that, "the young should be taken as partners by governments, decision-makers, the business community, civil societies and other groups. They need to be seen as equal partners at the table, since they constitute and contribute to our present and future."
