The Global Peacebuilders is a seven months long youth leadership program led by Bambie Panta, Country Leader of GPW Nepal in collaboration with Global Peace Foundation Nepal. She is among the First winners of the Global Women Dream (GWD) grant. Bambie says that “She loves working with the youth. They are innovative and full of life.”
Shristika Bajracharya and 14 other Global Peacebuilders Fellows from Nepal created a video on International Day of Peace calling for action for peacebuilding in their communities.
With the credo, “Learn, Engage and Impact” the leadership program engages its fellows in activities that enhance their leadership potential and capability. The fellows learnt skills such as communication, leadership and entrepreneurship. They engaged in different creative service programs and volunteering initiated by each other.
In October they visited two orphanages and spent the afternoon with the children. They gave each individual child with gift boxes and letters of encouragement.
Similarly, the fellows were also proactive in their response to the Covid-19 lockdown. They contributed to the Project “Samudayik Sewa '' sharing food, medicines and essential items to needy families in their communities. Aruna Poudel, one of the peacebuilder who distributed foods and hygiene kits shared, “It felt great doing such social service in this pandemic...I couldn’t do much but I made perhaps a small but significant difference in someone’s life.”
Additionally, the global peacebuilders fellows helped spread awareness on Covid-19 and SMS (Social Distance, Mask and Sanitize) practices with different programs and an awareness video. They also visited a school and educated students on SMS and demonstrated the six steps of hand-washing.
The Global Peacebuilders fellows have thus been active agents of change and service for their communities creating a positive impact that promotes peace and service.
The fellows also contributed one session each on capacity building, service program and leadership facilitation. They actively took initiatives in organising and participating in virtual sessions as part of their capacity building. Shristika conducted a session on “Infodemic and Communication” as a part of her capacity program. Shristika is a paralegal who has been providing legal education to women to educate them about their rights and empower them. Another fellow, Sonu facilitated a session on “Spirituality” and encouraged everyone to have an optimistic outlook on life.
The Global Peacebuilders youths also learnt on topics such as nutrition, healthy eating habits, mental-wellbeing during pandemic, youth advocacy stress and emotion management and many more as part of their self-care sessions conducted virtually.