A blog post by Forest Whitaker on International Youth Day 2023
After a decade spent working in communities that have suffered from conflict, insecurity and instability, I’ve seen countless times that the path to positive change can only be taken if young women and men from these places can be empowered to lead the way. Their commitment can be highly contagious, their power boundless, and their potential limitless.
My decision to launch WPDI was largely motivated by encounters with former child soldiers in Uganda. These young adults had been robbed of their childhoods: their education had been crippled, their dreams had been destroyed, their innocence had been broken, and their humanity had been consumed by violence. Some of them suffered from physical injury, most of them were suffering from social exclusion and economic vulnerability, and all of them were suffering or had suffered from psychological fragility and mental trauma. If any human being had the right to lament fate and despair, it was them. But I was amazed to see that they didn’t lament their lives. Instead, I saw in them an intrinsic desire to better themselves and their communities. I was incredibly impressed by their strength and ambition, and wondered: how can we find hope when all we’ve ever known is despair?
Meeting these young people represented a turning point in my life. It changed my perception of the human condition, not just because these individuals had lived through hell – in a way, they reminded me of the neighbors and classmates from my childhood who fell victim to the emerging gangs in South Central Los Angeles – but also because their outlook had remained positive. They wanted to make sure future generations would never have to endure what they had. And in this, I realized that I could help. They were pointing a path to me, a direction that I had been searching for decades and hadn’t been able to identify on my own.
These youths possessed the seeds for long-term resilience and transformation, but their quest still required access to skills, to guidance, and to resources. And even more importantly, they wanted my trust – both in their vision and in their capacity to enact it. They wanted to be acknowledged for the positive lasting changes they can bring about in their present – not in their future old age – but today, when they are young and boast dreams that seem impossible to many adults.
This is why WPDI prioritizes programs for young people: providing them with a platform for creative expression, with skills for changing themselves and their community, and with resources that they can utilize for their projects. Eleven years since the creation of WPDI, it’s clear that trusting young people from conflict-affected and underprivileged communities has paid off. Take our cohort of 260 young leaders, the WPDI Peacemakers: they implement projects on our behalf, conducting community dialogues to mediate local conflicts, and teaching conflict resolution in schools. By doing so, they can typically reach around 30,000 people in their geographical areas. Individually, each of these young women and men can then reach out to around 120 more people, showing the multiplier effect which is at the core of WPDI. This impact makes for a very clear and simple message: young people can and must be trusted to address the pressing challenges that their communities face.
This year, International Youth Day calls for our attention to the climate emergency. A global response to climate change is becoming increasingly critical, for the sake of our planet and all those who inhabit it. This is a terrifying outlook, and I can see many parallels between this global crisis and the local conflicts which have shaken the marginalized communities where I work. In both instances, the threat can seem so extreme, so insurmountable, that it can seem overwhelming. And yet, young people have shown that they can be leaders: people capable of envisioning long-term solutions, and working together towards a common goal and a brighter future. Who better to lead the way than young people around the world? It can be Greta Thunberg, WPDI Peacemakers, or the countless young activists that launch initiatives all over the world. We all need to open our minds to the possibilities that they open for us.
Today, let us finally come to terms with the fact that climate change compels us to collectively rethink how we manage, produce, and consume anything — including energy, food, materials, and methods of transportation. It seems overwhelming, but I am inspired by projects around the globe that put youths at the heart of social transformation. We must look at such projects, learn from them, and multiply their impact. Young people need to be at the heart of the process. It is essential. As a global community, we need to promote the exchange of ideas and listen to solutions proposed by young people. Through my work with WPDI, I have witnessed firsthand the resourcefulness of young people in conflict-affected areas. They are keen to transform, to improve, and to secure their world. We have to look to them for inspiration, because with young people, there is always hope.
On this International Youth Day, listen to the views and projects led by our Youth Peacemakers in Uganda, South Africa, and Mexico: