In a world grappling with conflicts, crises, and inequalities, the impact on young lives is profound. The vulnerabilities, risks and challenges related to drugs, crime, unsafe behaviors, violence, and mental health are issues that cannot be ignored.

 

Recognizing this, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has spearheaded the RiseUp4Peace educational initiative, in collaboration with education partners from India and beyond. Launched in February 2024, RiseUp4Peace is a vibrant community dedicated to strengthening education on peace, integrity, and the rule of law - all essential elements of SDG 16. Led by prominent education leaders and UNODC experts, the initiative focuses on building educator capacities, engaging young minds with interactive activity-based dialogues, promoting cross-learning, and co-creating educational interventions on peace, the rule of law, and integrity,

 

The initiative also promotes UNODC’s educational and youth empowerment tools and the Youth Empowerment Accelerator (YEA!) Framework.

 

UNODC strongly believes that investing in educators means investing in a generation of young people who will carry the torch of peace and integrity forward. This initiative aligns with key global and national policy frameworks, including the Kyoto Declaration, the Sustainable Development Goals and India’s National Education Policy 2020. UNODC's strategy for 2021-2025 identifies the meaningful participation and empowerment of children and youth as one of three cross-cutting commitments to be embedded into all its programmes, under the aegis of the UNODC Regional Programme for South Asia (2024-2028).