Interview with Kessy Ekomo-Soignet, a peacebuilding expert in Africa

Martine Kessy Ekomo-Soignet has over four years of experience in development. As a peacebuilding expert, she is now at the Central African Republic working with civil society and focusing on youth organisations. She has previously worked for UNDP and UNESCO.

Before working at the Central African Republic, Ekomo-Soignet served as a project officer for the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), trying to raise private funds in Europe and Africa to improve the health conditions of isolated African communities,

She completed the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in 2014 and was one of 100 Fellows competitively selected to participate in an 8-week internship in the United States following the Mandela Washington Fellowship academic institute.

- What inspired and empowered you to become an expert on youth, peace and security?
Firstly, I have been inspired by the dynamic engagement of other young people from Africa, specifically in Rwanda and Kenya because I realized that they are playing an important role in maintaining, preventing and/or building peace in their countries.

Young people represent over 60% of the population of my country, the Central African Republic, but they are not among the top priorities of government authorities. Thus, it was important for me to be closer to my peers to try to understand them, their daily life, their inspiration, their views on the future we want for our country and to act together to end cycles of violence.

My two keys questions when I started to work on youth, peace and security were:

• What can we do to help young people to emerge and be active in their communities at the local level as agent of peace and security? My perception of peacebuilding takes a bottom-up approach and every day I witnessed the community’s willingness to do more and to do the right thing.
• How can I help to ensure that the voice of my peers is heard at the national and global level, to change the narrative on the role of young people in conflicts we are facing?

I was aware that education empowered me, provided me with the tools, capacities and knowledge that I can use to help my peers and to be listened to by national authorities. Knowledge of English helps me gain access to the global level to advocate and raise awareness on the situation in CAR.

- What recommendations and programs can be put in place to promote youth and peace?
My recommendations are: think local, think community, think leadership, think cross-border.

In terms of programming, I suggest having more local and community-based initiatives that engage young people, something which will give them an understanding of leadership, accountability and ownership. It will also help them to have a better understanding of community challenges and opportunities, and the value of interconnectivity and social cohesion.

I also deeply believe in the impact of cross-border initiatives which help young people to enhance their comprehension of interconnectivity and advocacy. My suggestion is based on my country’s context, but it can also be used all around the world: a conflict which started in one country always affects neighboring countries by displacing populations (such as women, children and young people) or due to neighboring countries housing armed groups. Partnerships, exchange programmes and action plans must be developed between young people from all sides of a conflict so that they can advocate and act together to end violence.

Using local media to champion “anonymous young peacebuilders” is also a key approach to promote youth and peacebuilding. It is crucial to give them a voice and a face.

- From your perspective, what role do the youth play in peacebuilding?
Firstly, I think that we must understand the meaning of peacebuilding for young people. We think of the future, success, change and development. We are dreaming big which makes us build peace programmes differently, out of the box. From my perspective, young people like women peacebuilders, bring more humanity and local success to peace programmes. The gap between leaders and communities is huge. Most of the young people think that those leaders talk a lot but are not present and active in the community. Young people are more pragmatic, patient and innovative in the way they mobilize, sensitize people and design projects. Unfortunately, most of the time, their creativity does not fit inside the “box” designed by donors or governments so they do not receive enough support. That is why it is important to think about innovative ways to finance youth peacebuilding initiatives and give us a space where our ideas can be considered, valued and implemented.

- In what ways do innovation and technology have an impact on youth and peace?
Technology opened a new pathway for young peacebuilders, as they are no longer anonymous; they can broadly showcase the work that they are doing on the field. For example, they can create App to reduce violence or to alert communities and they can interact with other peacebuilders.

But the impact of innovation and technology changes from a context to another. The case of CAR is typically one where the impact is not felt. Indeed, access to electricity remains a huge issue as only 36% of my country have access to it. The Internet is a luxury for most of the country, let alone having a smartphone. Therefore, it remains difficult for young people to showcase their actions using these tools.

Innovation and technology are possible only if companies or the government invest adequately. The private sector must play a role in peacebuilding by supporting innovative ideas from young people in countries where they cannot access new technologies. The private sector can help to develop their innovation potential.