We are Young Community Mediators; a group established with the purpose of equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to become peer mediators, empowering the youth of society to play a greater role in addressing conflict in the community around them thus helping to create a brighter future.

Are you a young person frustrated with the portrayal of youth; the negative association between youth and violence, crime and conflict? Perhaps you are a member of your community who seeks to restore hope and bring about positive change? Or a youth worker who observes the challenges faced by young people in overcoming conflict?

Do you desire to see a change in yourself? To better the community you live in? To equip young people with the knowledge and skills they require to mediate conflict?

Although youth mediation is still in its infancy in Ireland, the UK, Spain and virtually non-existent in Romania and Slovenia; We, Young Community Mediators recognise that knowledge is power and that education is the tool that we can use to change the world, and this change can start at our own doorsteps.

Our aim is clear 

Given the challenges faced by youth in modern society, we have devised training and a toolkit which will not only encourage young people to become internal peacemakers, but also help inculcate a sense of social responsibility. In so doing the project will work towards the Erasmus+ priority of “promoting empowerment, participation and active citizenship of young people”.

We hope to achieve this by:

• Providing young people, community leaders, and educators with convenient and effective training to address the issue of conflict within the community.
• Offering clear guidelines on strategies which offer the best solutions to achieving more harmonious communities.
• Presenting our training in a relevant and user friendly format.

The benefits for you 

We hope that Young Community Mediators will provide young people with the knowledge, skills and experience to address conflict in socially responsible manner. However, there are additional benefits of the program for the individual and wider community on both a local and international scale.

• Provides a relevant service which equips young people to address challenges in a dynamic society.
• Contributes to social cohesion and in the long term, economic development.
• The YCM Regional Alliance structure will provide a permanent forum for stakeholder collaboration for peer-to-peer youth mediation; ensuring greater continuity in addressing conflict.
• Provide a toolkit which can be applied internationally to catalyse similar improvements in youth led community mediation in other regions.