YMCA Europe Roots for Peace Workshop
Representatives from World YMCA were invited to join YMCA Europe’s Reflecting on Peace Practices workshop in Brussels from 9-12 December 2019. In total, 24 people attended the event ranging from sponsors and donors to YMCA leaders from Africa, Latin America and conflict regions across Europe.
Participants had the opportunity to share stories about their involvement with peace work in their localities and discussed how elements from the Roots programme could be replicated on other continents. The group also visited European Parliament to meet with MEP Andor Deli from Hungary along with representatives from the European Youth Forum and European Commission about how YMCA can better partner with European organizations in regard to peace work.
During the plenaries, World YMCA Director of Communications Palmer Hestley and Executive Secretary for Global Projects Adrian Davies were invited to share World YMCA’s global strategy and present the Movement’s resolution on peace and justice adopted at the 19th World Council. Both had been involved with the Roots programme prior to joining the World YMCA team and were each awarded with a Roots Peace Medal for their dedicated service along with Antonio Merino, General Secretary of YMCA Latin America and Caribbean.
The big highlight of the workshop came when Juan Simoes Iglesias, General Secretary of YMCA Europe, signed contracts with key donors from Bread for the World and YMCA Germany to continue the Roots programme beyond 2019.
World YMCA would like to thank YMCA Europe for giving our staff the opportunity to join the workshop and congratulate the Roots team on all your efforts. The future is certainly bright.
Learn more about Roots for Peace.