U Move 4 Peace Youth department Pax Christi Flanders

U Move 4 Peace
Italielei 98A
Antwerpen, 2000
Belgium

+32 32251000
+32 32250799
um4pHiddenText@yahoo.com
www.um4p.be

Move 4 Peace (UM4P) is the youth movement of Pax Christi Flanders and aims to youth between 17 and 30 years old. Everything is done for and by youth. UM4P works on three levels where it creates encounters and dialogue peace projects between youth. Using art and expressive methods in peacebuilding is since two years a red line through all are activities.

U Move 4 Peace organises several activities, such as:

• On international level UM4P organises summer exchanges and trainings with youth from conflict areas such as Israel, Palestine, Burundi, DR Congo, Chechnya and Northern-Ireland. During ten days camps youth learns about the different conflicts and cultures, does political and touristic tours and gets tools to become a peace activist.
• On national level UM4P creates projects between youth from the different regions in Belgium being from Flanders, Walloons and Brussels. Through different methods such as art and discussions UM4P stimulates the dialogue and brings youth closer together.
• On local level UM4P works together with youth from different cultural backgrounds living in Belgium the multicultural society.
• Overall UM4P organises trainings and workshops on demand on themes from conflict management, theatre and conflict, peacebuilding, non-violent communication, for youth, schools and youth organizations and develops publications on themes and methods they are familiar with.

Biggest Successes

Two of our most successful activities were two international exchange programs.

One was in 2007 were we invited 50 youth from 8 partner organizations from Burundi, DR Congo, Russian Federation (Karelia and Chechnya), Israel (2) and the Netherlands around themes such as advocacy, gender, religion and conflict. Each partner organization contribute from it's own experience.

In 2009 we went to Nalchik in Russia to have a youth exchange training program on the topic of "Art and Peacebuilding". On this exchange youth from Chechnya, Belgium and Israel/Palestine shared their art and expression methods with each other.