Launch of Auckland City for Peace toolkit marks inaugural Youth Awards

Media Release

27.11.13

The Peace Foundation and the Auckland Council launched the Auckland City for Peace toolkit at a special event in Auckland yesterday, which also marked the presentation of the inaugural Auckland City for Peace Youth Awards.

The launch of the toolkit is a milestone for Auckland as part of its peace building efforts locally, nationally and globally. Auckland was declared a ‘City for Peace’ on 15 December 2011 after deputations had been made to the 21 Local Boards by the Auckland Peace City Committee, supported by peace, justice and human rights groups.

Toolkit researcher, Claire Speedy, said the Auckland Peace City Toolkit had been developed as a tool for local boards, communities and organisations to utilise as a living resource. “The toolkit is full of practical activities and initiatives which can be accessed, implemented or adapted for different audiences across Auckland’s communities to build a culture of peace, social justice and human rights.”

“It’d be fantastic to see businesses and public sector organisations in Auckland take up the challenge of Auckland being a City for Peace by integrating the peace city principles into their own organisations, and becoming active in this space,” Claire added.

Members of the public can obtain copies of the toolkit in pdf format from The Peace Foundation website www.peace.net.nz

The event also marked the presentation of the inaugural Auckland City for Peace Youth Awards that aim to recognise and encourage contributions of young people to peace service and leadership in their community.

Karan Banker, who has been a peer mediator and mentor at Mt Roskill Grammar School, won the award in the age group 13-18 years, as he has also contributed to other peace activities in his school and the community.

Leicester Ismail, Ali Ali and Naima Ali were chosen as the winners for the 19-24 years age group. These young people had played instrumental leadership roles in the mural project ‘A Sense of Place’, collaborating with other youth of different ethnicities.

The winners each received a framed certificate, peace resource kit, and membership of the Youth Peace Ambassador Programme, to provide free training on teen communication, conflict resolution and mediation programmes while also giving them opportunities to lead and participate in peace activities and events in the region and nationally.

Head of the judging committee and Councillor, Dr Cathy Casey, said it had been her great pleasure to assist the Peace Foundation in judging the Auckland City for Peace Youth Awards this year.

“It was fantastic to see young people involved in helping to make Auckland a tolerant and more peaceful place. With such great young leaders already making positive social change amongst the diverse communities our future is in very good hands indeed.”

A special award for ‘Service to the Community’ was also presented to Fiona Anderson, who had organised a free camp for over 40 young people by mobilising different sectors of the community to support her initiative.

The Peace Foundation Council members, local boards and the Auckland Council members appreciated the outstanding achievements of the young winners toward building and strengthening peace in their communities.

ENDS

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