Hassan Ndugwa - founder of Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum
Hassan is the Executive Director at Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum, an organisation he co-founded in 2011 after surviving the 2010 FIFA world cup bombings in Kyadondo, Kampala Uganda. His mission is to contribute positively towards his community by involving himself and his peers in processes contributing to a tolerant and peaceful society. He’s been deeply involved in initiatives to fight violent extremism, and the radicalisation of young people. Hassan is a 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow and is among the 10 global advocates selected by the Kofi Annan Foundation and One Young World to counter violent extremism in the world through their “Extremely Together” initiative. He is also one of the pioneer members of the Generation Change Global Fellows programme implemented by the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). Hassan has contributed to the global counter-terrorism agenda through participating in various global CVE meetings and conferences organized by global and continental bodies like the UN, AU, IGAD, Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, amongst others.
Rosanna: Can you tell us about your journey to starting the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum and the work you do at the forum?
Hassan: On the fateful evening of July 11th 2010, I joined three of my friends to watch the World Cup finals match between Holland and Spain, which was being broadcasted live from South Africa on giant screens at the Kyadondo Rugby grounds in Kampala. Little did I know that this was about to turn out as the darkest moment of my life. As we enjoyed the match and the music that was being played all night, around the 78th minute, I heard the loudest sound of my life. Two bombs hit the venue in quick succession. Looking on my left -hand side all I could see was a huge dark smoke and bodies in pieces. Amidst loud screams and wailing I started running for my life, stepping on bodies that had fallen off the white plastic chairs in the rugby ground. A few minutes, I realized my body was covered in blood. A bomb fragment had hit me and left a gaping wound on my left cheek. I was driven to hospital that night by a good samaritan where I still saw bodies struck in half. Covered in human flesh, I was stitched well that night and discharged in the morning. Final count, over 74 lives were lost and over 80 sustained injuries.
While watching the news at home, headlines indicated that Muslims had killed people watching the football match and Muslim youth were paraded as suspects and accomplices to the attack. The Alshabab Extremist group that claimed responsibility of this attack also claimed to be doing this in the name of Islam. I felt this was misrepresenting the Islamic faith that I believe preaches peace. This is when I became angry and wondered why a young person would abandon their future to join extremist groups that preach supremacy. Why someone would become a suicide bomber and kill innocent people? Why would someone believe that when you kill another person you get a direct passport to heaven?
This marked the beginning of my engagement in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) and peacebuilding work. I joined my fellow survivor Ahmed Hadji to start the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum (UMYDF) with a mission of reducing youth attraction to violent extremism. We wanted to be part of the solution, and since 2011 we’ve been engaged in various programs and activities geared towards promoting peace at the community, national and international levels.
In Uganda, Youth are defined as those between 18-30 years of age and the UMYDF’s programs over the years have targeted them. At UMYDF we implement programs providing positive alternatives to youth at risk of being recruited into violent extremism activities through vocational skills training, engaging religious leaders of all faith communities to preach peace, capacity building with government and civil society organisations in P/CVE, research studies in Violent Extremism and conflicts, advocating for youth and women inclusion in P/CVE policy making and programming, and disrupting hate messages through strategic communications, and more.
Rosanna: The involvement of women seems central to the work that you do - how does the involvement and empowerment of women build stronger communities?
Hassan: It’s true women’s inclusion in peace building efforts and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) is core to our work because the involvement of women as ‘policy shapers, educators, community members and activists’ is essential to preventing violence. We know that women have influence on men, children, religious communities, media, market places and work places. We want to ensure women’s participation in peace building is not narrowed down to them being mothers but rather active participants and decision makers in government and policy change.
We try to debunk existing stereotypes about women’s involvement in violence and peace building efforts through our research studies. For example, there is a reliance on the stereotype that women are inherently more peaceful and moderate influencers in communities as the basis for seeking their inclusion in national security efforts. Existing research has indicated that terrorist organisations have targeted women for recruitment for decades, but violent extremism and terrorist radicalisation is persistently misconceived to be a male issue. Such stereotypes can either sideline women in efforts to combat violent extremism or lead to their inclusion in ways that may perpetuate these stereotypes.
On the other hand, we see women as targets for violence, for example, terrorist organisations have tried to limit girls’ access to education, curtailing access to healthcare and services and perpetrating acts of violence such as rape, abductions and forced marriages.
We believe communities can be stronger when women are at the forefront of resolving conflicts because of their unique, compelling voices and their proximity to community issues places them as first and credible responders. Most importantly, we focus on women taking leadership roles and making decisions in peacebuilding.
So, our work has focused on studying the trends of women involvement in violence, capacity building for women’s organisations and leaders to prevent violence in their communities, increasing their leadership, participation and influence in P/CVE policy making and peace processes through advocacy.
“We believe communities can be stronger when women are at the forefront of resolving conflicts because of their unique, compelling voices and their proximity to community issues”
Rosanna: Please could you tell us a bit more about the school Peace Clubs and how they have helped different communities?
Hassan: Peace education is at the core of the work we do. We believe in the principle of “catch them when they are still young”. We seek to nurture the next generation of peacebuilders through our peace education work.
We have taken a proactive approach by engaging in schools and communities without prior experience with conflict as a way to further strengthen community defences against violence. Peace Clubs are great platforms through which youth can take action to advance peace in their communities. UMYDF equips youth and teachers appointed by school head teachers as Peace Club Patrons with knowledge and best practices in starting and managing successful school Peace Clubs. Through Peace Clubs, we introduce youth and youth workers to key concepts and knowledge in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and prevention of violent extremism.
We currently manage eight peace clubs in the capital Kampala and in Yumbe district, with two peace clubs within secondary schools in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement (the largest refugee settlement in Africa)
We have a process for starting the Peace Clubs. After identifying at-risk communities that have experienced incidents of violence like school strikes, or inter-communal violence, UMYDF works with duty bearers like local government officials, religious leaders and security actors to identify schools that would be most suitable for a Peace Club initiative. Students who enrol in the Peace Clubs receive intense and participatory training in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and prevention of violent extremism.
Peace Club students share this knowledge with the wider school community through sharing peace news and quotes at school assemblies, through talking compounds (messages planted in various corners of the school compound), through school drama and art and peace day activities they organise within the school in commemoration of the International Day of Peace and International Day of Tolerance.
Peace Club patrons and students have been inspired to pursue life-long careers in peacebuilding, students have helped start Peace Clubs in other public schools, Peace Club activities have been adopted into school calendars, and Peace Club students have become trainers of school prefects bodies.
New peace building practices have been adopted, for example, the introduction of a Reconciliation Week where conflicting groups in the school are referred to the Peace Clubs for mediation and negotiations every Tuesday. There has also been introduction of weekly story telling sessions about students’ lives, aspirations, dreams and fears in the school.
The Peace Clubs have improved teacher-student relationships while helping students to develop self confidence and critical thinking skills. They have also contributed to community development and safety through various activities such as community service in markets, roads, hospitals, and climate change mitigation practices such as tree planting.
Rosanna: Have you found that stakeholders at the national and international levels willing to involve youth peacebuilders in decision-making processes?
Hassan: Whereas there seems to be willingness at the international level to engage youth peace builders as seen by the adoption of the United National Security Council Resolution 2250 (UNSCR 2250), the case is different at the national level. Huge gaps exist because of leaders’ perceptions of youth as naïve, inexperienced and in need of guidance by elders, which enables exclusion. Young people are reluctant to bring their ideas to meetings for fear of being punished by their elders, and those in leadership positions in politics, society or the economy are often not willing to make space for the younger generation.
Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) is gaining traction at the global level, as demonstrated by the EU conference on Youth, Peace and Security: Promoting Youth in Peacebuilding in 2018 and the Council Conclusions on the role of young people in building a secure, cohesive and harmonious society adopted in the same year. Despite this global recognition of the importance of young people’s roles in external action, at the national level, there is no structured mechanism for youth engagement. National governments face concrete challenges when it comes to including youth systematically, particularly ensuring that those involved are representative of wider youth demographics.
Youth structures designed to represent young people’s interests are often politicised, do not last long, fail to be representative of the diversity of youth and lack public support. As a result of this limited public support, youth peacebuilders and their organisations are dependent on the funds they receive from external donors and their activities are shaped by donor priorities.
It’s important to note that young people do not constitute a homogeneous group - there are various demographics such as young women, youth with disabilities, refugee youth, youth in urban and rural areas, youth from religious and other minority groups amongst others. Where they are involved in peace building and decision-making processes, the interests of other groups may not be well represented unless all dempgraphics are considered.
The security centric approach to peacebuilding by national governments alienates young peacebuilders from making a significant contribution to the sector. Governments are reluctant to involve youth peacebuilders in decision-making because they believe peace and security is solely a security domain that requires military interventions.
“The more we nurture and instil values of humanity, peace and reconciliation in the younger generation, the greater the likelihood of building a safer future for everyone.”
Rosanna: What are the unique challenges and opportunities of involving youth in peacebuilding?
Hassan: Youth in their diversity face several limitations in terms of engaging in peacebuilding and advocating for their needs with decision makers. More specifically, young women tend to face challenges in accessing information, participating in civic processes, public life, development and decision-making processes. This contributes to the position of powerlessness in which many young women find themselves.
Youth can lack the relevant knowledge and skills in peacebuilding such as mediation, negotiation, prejudice awareness and reduction, biases and stereotypes, self-awareness and conflict resolution, which limits their bargaining power and technical ability to influence decisions or resolve conflicts.
Youth organisations involved peace work are not trusted by governments and donors which denies them opportunities to make significant contributions to peacebuilding efforts.
Leadership gaps exist in many youth peacebuilding organisations which makes involving them in peacebuilding difficult, as they lack harmonised positions and consensus on key issues.
However, the opportunities are significant. Involving youth in peacebuilding guarantees a peaceful future for the world. The more we nurture and instil values of humanity, peace and reconciliation in the younger generation, the greater the likelihood of building a safer future for everyone.
Youth form the majority of populations in the Global South, which means their involvement in peacebuilding will contribute to addressing the problem of youth exclusion; specifically, the lack of recognised spaces and platforms for young people to share their ideas and opinions about conflicts and their impacts.
Creating mechanisms for young people representing the diversity of their peers to have their voices heard in peacebuilding will help to address conflicts and violence by creating an enabling environment for diverse opinions to be heard. Young people will have the chance to influence national and international peacebuilding efforts, drawing on the priorities of their fellow youth. In turn, International and National programmes and policies in peace and security will be better designed to respond to the specific problems faced by young people, including marginalised ones.
Involving youth meaningfully in peacebuilding and key decision-making processes will make their participation impactful, strengthen their capacities and their structures, increase funding for youth initiatives and prevent them from being used as vessels of propaganda and hate messages. Engagement with youth peacebuilders helps governments and international bodies to enact the required changes. This can be achieved through increased consultation, coordination and collaborations with youth networks and civil society platforms. Consulting youth peacebuilders can lead to the opening up funding instruments for Youth Peace and Security initiatives that are flexible and accessible to all youth, including those who face multiple forms of marginalisation.
Do you want to learn more about Hassan’s work and peacebuilding?
Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum website
United Nations Youth Peacebuilding and Resolution 2250
A short video introduction to peacebuilding and conflict resolution
Afghans for Progressive Thinking website - a youth-led Afghan organization that promotes peace and critical thinking among youth and children in Afghanistan.
The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War by Scilla Elworthy, the renowned and Nobel Prize nominated peacebuilder (book)
Manal Omar’s TED Talk on ‘Women at the negotiating table - the missing piece in peacebuilding’
The TEPI podcast episode ‘Moe Sasaki - Cross-cultural Communication, Violence & Youth Voices in Peacebuilding’
‘Youth-led Peace: the role of youth in peace processes’ by Asli Ozcelik, Yulia Nesterova, Graeme Young, Alex Maxwell (report)
