RēSearch
Rē empowers the co-generation of knowledge with community-level stakeholders and global partners.
A Child Shall Lead Us: Preventing Domestic Violent Extremism through Youth and Congregations
Rē: The Regenerative School partnered with the Institute for Youth Ministry, Princeton Theological Seminary to engage young people and faith communities across the USA in research and creating solutions to deep social divisions that can lead to violent extremism.
The symposium was hosted on May 20, 2021, featuring five panels that brought together global changemakers, including young people themselves, committed to peace, justice, and youth-led change by launching grassroots movements, policy changes, and international collaborations. Highlight reels (SHORT) and full-length (LONG) recordings can be found below.
Panel B: “Learning from Youth: Evolving Responses in Preventing Violent Extremism from Global Youth Peacebuilders.” SHORT | LONG
Panel C: “Research as a Resource: Engaging Youth in Participatory Action Research to Transform the Conversation.” SHORT | LONG | Rē SPOTLIGHT
Panel D: “Leading with Youth: Leveraging Congregations to Help Young People Prevent Violent Extremism through Youth and Community Development.” SHORT | LONG
Panel E: “We Make the Road by Walking: Toward a Congregationally-Supported, Youth-Led Peacebuilding Movement in the U.S. – Lessons and Experience from Afar” SHORT | LONG
In this short video, Dr. Felix Bivens, Co-Director of The Regenerative School shares lessons learned and next steps from the symposium.
ALLY Research Paper: Peace, My Heart
This research paper is the outcome of a participatory action research process, which was the first component of the Amplifying Leadership of Local Youth (ALLY) program. The 30-month program is implemented by a consortium of partners—The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, Finn Church Aid, United Network of Young Peacebuilders, Rural Development Society in India, Centre for Communication and Development of Bangladesh, Youth Development Foundation in Pakistan, and Sri Lanka Unites.
The first comprehensive analysis of youth-led peacebuilding in the South Asia region makes clear the commitment of young peacebuilders to challenge violent extremist discourses.
In a complex and fragmented region, where violent extremism (VE) has long been an issue, there is little understanding of the push and pull factors of South Asian youth towards VE narratives and youth-led approaches to preventing violent extremism (PVE). This research contributes to filling the gap of region-specific resources for PVE, as well as strategies and locally-led initiatives for more sustainable and context-specific solutions. Moreover, this is the first research endeavour in this context that uses participatory action research to leverage the unique experiences and expertise of young peacebuilders.
Coordinated by United Network of Young Peacebuilders’s (UNOY) Mridul Upadhyay and supervised by lead researcher and Rē’s co-director, Felix Bivens, the ALLY researchers emphasize the incredible commitment of young peacebuilders to deal with the complexity and dangers of VE in the communities in which they live.
Click here for more information and to download the research paper.