We are proud to present to you the five finalists of the UCLG Peace Prize 2022!
After revising all applications from 23 different countries with a wide range of inspiring peace initiatives, the following finalists will present their peace initiative at the UCLG World Congress in Daejeon. Congratulations to:
- Mersin, Türkiye: following a huge influx of refugees, the municipality launched a Peace and Harmony Initiative to build peace, increase awareness of co-existence, and prevent potential conflicts between the host community and refugees through e.g. intercultural learning and peace education.
- Mishiha, Burundi: through Growing Peace Clubs in schools, Mishiha aims a pursuing gradual and radical transformation of young people into responsible and trustworthy members of society, which will lay solid foundations for peace.
- Monterrey, Mexico: establishment of Comprehensive Care Centres for Adolescents with the aim to reduce youth recruitment by criminal groups. The centres help teenagers in dealing with trauma by offering psycho-social support and socio-productive workshops.
- Palmira, Colombia: by moving away from military approaches that have dominated Colombia’s response to violence, Palmira introduced PAZOS (Peace and Opportunities), a strategy of comprehensive violence prevention, which prioritizes resources for youngsters who are the most susceptible to gang violence.
- Recife, Brazil: established community peace centers, COMPAZ, aim to promote citizenship, human rights and a culture of peace in the outskirts and slums of Recife. Beyond that, COMPAZ partners with the government to make sure citizens are guaranteed access to justice.
Once more we want to highlight the importance of local governments in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction in fragile contexts all over the world.
The finalist have all created a video in which they explain the impact of their initiative and it is now up to the jury to decide who is going to win the prize. We are extremely looking forward to the UCLG Word Congress from 10-14 October in Daejeon, Korea, where the finalists’ videos will be shown and the winner will be announced!
In the run up to the congress we will provide you of more information about the five finalists on our website and our Twitter page!
