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IEP meets with Dalai Lama and youth peacebuilders

Recently, IEP was invited to join His Holiness the Dalai Lama and youth leaders to discuss peacebuilding.

The founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Steve Killelea, appeared as a thought leader at a youth leadership and peacebuilding event featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Held in late October in Dharamsala, India, Mr Killelea spoke at the event about the institute’s world leading data analysis metrics for measuring peace within countries and its unique Positive Peace framework — IEP’s model for building sustainable peace with eight socioeconomic factors based on the institute’s wealth of data analysis into what works in peaceful societies.

Since 2016, the United States Institute of Peace has invited a group of young people from conflict-affected countries to join the Dalai Lama in dialogue about the challenges and possibilities for non-violent peacebuilding in their countries.

Participants came from across the world, including countries such as Afghanistan, Burma, Central African Republic, Colombia, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and others.

The program and event aims to help youth leaders build the practical skills and personal resilience required to build peace in their own countries.

According to the United States Institute of Peace, the most violent and enduring conflicts are engaging young people on a large scale. Extremist groups target and recruit the youth in the wars of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where nearly 80 per cent of the recent deaths from violent extremism are young people under the age of 22.  The youth will be pivotal in breaking this pattern of conflict, the United States Institute of Peace says.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s personal experiences as a teenager thrust into a leadership role during Tibet’s times of conflict provide the program participant with helpful insight into the experiences of a young and lifelong peacebuilder.

Next up: Read about our participation in the “Light of Peace Ceremony” at Wat Phra Dhammakaya