By Chris Todd, Communications Officer at Generations For Peace

2018 has been an exciting year for GFP! As we head into 2019, we’re taking a moment to look back and reflect on the last year.

Here are 18 GFP Highlights from 2018:

1. MBC Hope “Outstanding Partner” Award
In January, GFP attended the fourth annual “MBC Hope” awards ceremony, accepting the “Outstanding Partner” Award from MBC Hope (MBC Al Amal).

2. GFP ranked #30 NGO in Top 500 NGOs in the World
In February, we were ranked the #30 NGO in the top 500 NGOs, jumping four places and maintaining our status as the second-leading peacebuilding organisation and the leading Jordanian NGO.

3. Transformational Leadership in Iraq
In February, GFP conducted an innovative training on transformational leadership for 70 youth leaders from six cities in Iraq in partnership with UNFPA.

4. MADAD Youth Resolve Programme
In March, GFP launched the EU MADAD-supported Youth Resolve Programme in Jordan by conducting the Advocacy For Peace Training. Later, we hosted a Youth Resolve camp in Lebanon, uniting 120 Syrian, Palestinian, and Lebanese youth from 10 Lebanese communities.

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Young men and women in Uganda engage together in Sport For Peace activities to overcome GBV

5. Addressing GBV in Uganda
In April, GFP secured a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Uganda to combat school-related gender-based violence (GBV) by supporting local teachers and leaders as they use Sport- and Arts For Peace to reduce GBV.

6. Maharati Expansion
In May, GFP, the Ministry of Youth, and UNICEF launched the newly expanded Maharati Programme, which grew this year from 40 to 188 youth centres, directly impacting 45,000 youth across Jordan.

7. Chicago Rotary Presidential Peacebuilding Conference
In June, GFP President Dr. Mohanned Al Arabiat spoke in four sessions at Rotary’s sixth Presidential Peacebuilding Conference, which centred around the theme of “Basic Education and Literacy and Peace.”

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A local Jordanian teacher attends one of GFP’s Nashatati training sessions

8. Nashatati Expansion
In August, with the support of the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, GFP trained 400 teachers for the newly expanded Nashatati Programme, which has doubled its number of active schools to reach students in 200 campuses around the country.

9. UN Women Partnership
GFP entered into a partnership with UN Women in August, which helps us engage more than 600,000 Jordanian and Syrian refugee youth in sport-based activities to promote resilience and empowerment from a gender-sensitive perspective.

10. New Website
GFP launched a sleek new website – if you haven’t seen it yet, you can check it out here!

11. UNAOC Peacebuilding Workshop
We hosted a UNAOC programme in February and September as it conducted peacebuilding workshops with GFP for 20 youth from 12 Arab countries.

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Wala’ AlSmadi (left) and Zakaria El Baba (right) share their experiences with peacebuilders from around the world at the UN Palais de Nations on International Day of Peace

12. International Day of Peace
GFP was busy on International Day of Peace! Wala’ from Jordan and Zakaria from Lebanon spoke at the 2018 Geneva Peace Talks, while Ali from Jordan and Hannah from Nigeria (accompanied by President Dr. Mohannad Al Arabiat and Lindsay McClain Opiyo) joined a “Narratives for Peace” event co-hosted by GFP in New York.

13. GFPI Compendium of Participatory Indicators of Peace
In October, GFP’s Institute published a Compendium of Participatory Indicators of Peace, sharing a collection of community-sourced and verified indicators used across 27 countries from 2014 to 2017 to serve as a resource for peacebuilding practitioners around the world.

14. United in Diversity Nigeria
In October, GFP announced the second phase of “United in Diversity: Strengthening Inter-Ethnic and Inter-religious Acceptance in Kaduna State, Nigeria,” supported by the U.S. Embassy. The programme aims to increase tolerance and acceptance among different ethnic and religious groups in the region.

15. Dream Together Forum
In November, our Founder and Chairman, HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein delivered the Dream Together Seoul Forum 2018 keynote address in South Korea.

16. Geneva Peace Week
In November, our CEO Mark Clark moderated a panel at Geneva Peace Week titled, “Youth Perspectives on Peace, Peacebuilding, and Preventing Violent Extremism: Turning 2250 into Action.” Four young peacebuilders, including GFP’s own Aya from Jordan and Frosina from the Republic of Macedonia, shared their insights and experiences.

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Volunteers from Jordan accept the Samsung Generations For Peace Award for Quality

17. AT18 and Samsung GFP Awards
Our 2018 Advanced Training welcomed 35 volunteers from nine countries this November. The event concluded with the Samsung GFP Awards, which were given to  the volunteers from Nigeria, Jordan, Sri Lanka, and Lebanon, recognising their respective programme excellence in innovation, quality, impact, and sustainability.

18. Team Growth
GFP’s staff and volunteers have grown in 2018 – we’re now up to 64 staff and over 11,500 volunteers worldwide! Take a look at this video to see how far we’ve come!

Thank you to all who support us – our committed partners and donors, our dedicated staff, and our inspiring volunteers: Delegates, and Pioneers. It is thanks to all of you that we are able to continue expanding our impact to further build peace and pass it on!


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www.generationsforpeace.org