Annual Report

2020

Letter from

Our Founder & Chairman

HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan

Dear Friend,

This past year was an unprecedented year for everyone around the world, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Despite the hardships, at Generations For Peace we were able to prove our resilience and strengths, through good governance and innovation, redesigning our programmes to adapt to the challenges and changing needs caused by the pandemic, whilst staying true to our mission, values, and overall focus on providing real and sustainable impact. Take a moment and join me in celebrating the progress and successes achieved despite significant challenges throughout the past year.

2020 has shown us that amidst the many obstacles thrown in our way, we must remain flexible and innovative. To continue our peacebuilding efforts and mission in a time of physical distancing and remote work, we were able to administer rapid COVID-19 assessments to our volunteers globally, to ensure their safety and accommodate any emergent needs. In addition, we completely digitalised our curriculum and trainings to ensure meaningful online interactions and to ensure continued knowledge transfer, capacity-development and mentoring online during lockdowns, establishing and proving an important new capability for GFP to use hybrid (online and on-site) learning experiences to further our peacebuilding efforts. Beyond online training and mentoring, we developed activities to engage target group participants online – even sharing sport-based activities for online engagement – giving our volunteers and participants around the world the opportunity to continue to interact digitally with GFP, even amidst lockdowns.

Amidst the pandemic, we continued to significantly innovate and modernise our peacebuilding efforts and activities: launching Code for Jordan, our first-ever coding-based peacebuilding programme that engages Jordanian and Syrian youth to learn coding and enhance public service efforts in partnership with local Municipalities; launching new youth-led dialogue spaces engaging Municipality officials and community police representatives for community resilience and human security; and launching our first-ever Media For Peace programme engaging media organisations, journalists and social media influencers to strengthen competencies in media sensitivity including media ethics, fact-checking, conflict sensitivity, gender sensitivity, conflict transformation and peacebuilding. We also developed new curriculum content on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, introduced a new GFP programme Quality Assurance Process, and further expanded our donor collaborations and partnerships with different organisations such as the US Department of State, Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, RDPP, UNFPA, and many more.

By successfully adapting to the ‘new normal’ resulting from the pandemic, we left lasting impacts in communities around the world. Let the numbers speak for themselves: we completed 23 GFP programmes that reached 223,544 target group participants in a series of activities that engaged each participant for over 36 hours of high-quality contact; organised our first-ever online Advanced Training which brought together 75 participants from 13 countries around the world – almost double the number of participants from previous years – with multi-track content responding to participants’ needs; and convened the second edition of our annual Amman Peace Talks, this time entirely online, with 9 guest speakers from 7 different countries, each sharing their experiences within the theme “Peacebuilding Amidst Pandemic: Addressing the ‘Violence of Exclusion’ Amidst COVID-19”.

Globally, GFP is deepening our strategic engagement in the United States of America. We concluded our first-ever pilot programme in the US – “Chicago Youth SOAR” – which sought to strengthen youth resilience to the violence in the South Side of Chicago and showed significant measurable impacts and demands for the programme’s expansion. A follow-on programme called Chicago Youth INTERACTS is now planned, extending the scope to engage African-American youth from the South side with Arab refugee youth on the North side of the city. In Los Angeles, in February 2020, we were invited by the City Recreation & Parks Department to facilitate sessions on Sport for Peace and Development at their annual Los Angeles Youth Summit. We are proud to have contributed to the historic passing of the world’s first-ever domestic Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Act into the US Congress, in collaboration with our partners in the US YPS Coalition, and we entered into a new internships partnership programme with the prestigious Washington Center to recruit interns for our fundraising, outreach, and advocacy efforts in the US. The context of deep polarisation, gun and gang violence, violence extremism, racism, and structural inequality presents many opportunities for GFP, and we are scoping a range of ways to contribute and new partners to work with. To assist this, we engaged NPAG for a professional search to recruit Board Members for a brand new GFP US Board of Directors, to facilitate and guide our strategies for programming, thought leadership, and fundraising in the US.

The pandemic remains an ongoing threat to the global community, but we must not forget about the impending dangers of climate change. Throughout 2020, GFP continued to implement and plan climate change and environmental educational efforts and maintained our certified “net-zero” carbon footprint. We also continued to support youth education and efforts to empower young people to lead community activities that advocate against plastic use and towards environmentally sound practices. We believe that peacebuilding and environmental protection efforts go hand-in-hand, and we have begun developing new GFP curriculum on the topic of Climate, Conflict, and Environmental Peacebuilding.

Whilst we are so fortunate to have accomplished many of our goals and expand our networks throughout the past year, we are acutely aware of the pain and pressures suffered by so many, and we deeply sympathise with those who have lost their family, friends, and loved ones due to the pandemic. The systemic vulnerabilities and inequalities highlighted by the pandemic, and the long-term mental health and economic impacts, make our grass-roots mission more important than ever.

I want to end by extending my sincerest respects and gratitude to our GFP family around the world, who work hard every day to create positive change in their communities. GFP’s consistently impressive ranking amidst NGOs worldwide is impressive validation of your efforts, and credit also to all our partners and donors who support our work. We face 2021 more determined than ever to continue GFP’s journey of innovation and impact together.

As always, pass it on!

Who We Are


Generations For Peace (GFP) is a leading global non-profit organisation dedicated to sustainable, youth-led peacebuilding and conflict transformation from the grassroots.

We empower volunteer leaders of youth to promote active tolerance and responsible citizenship in communities experiencing different forms of violent conflict around the world.

Mission:
To empower youth to lead and cascade sustainable change in communities experiencing conflict, through world-class, free education in conflict transformation and the use of sport, arts, advocacy, dialogue, and empowerment for peacebuilding.

Vision:
Sustainable peace in actively tolerant communities through responsible citizenship.

Drivers of Change

Our Values

Youth Leadership

We believe youth have a vital role to play in leading social change and transforming conflict in their communities.

Community Empowerment

We believe in working at the grassroots, supporting youth to build on local strengths to help communities transform themselves into tolerant, peaceful societies.

Active Tolerance

We believe peace is a process driven by active understanding, dialogue, and positive engagement with others, founded on trust and respect.

Responsible Citizenship

We believe social change begins with personal responsibility and is sustained when people are actively engaged in creating the shared future of their community.

HQ Staff

Field Coordinators

HQ Interns

Countries Reached

Volunteers Trained

Lives Impacted

GFP tools


Our Volunteers

 

Through the success of its cascading model, Generations For Peace has trained a ninth generation of volunteers who live and implement programmes in high-conflict contexts across Asia, Europe, and North America to address:

– Inter-tribal, -ethnic, and -religious conflict
– Violent extremism
– Gender equality
– Post-conflict trauma response, reconciliation, and reintegration
.Exclusion of minorities (including Internally Displaced People, refugees, and people with a disability)
– Challenges of integration in multicultural society

They use Sport, Arts, Advocacy, Dialogue, and Empowerment For Peace as peacebuilding vehicles to empower children, youth, and adults to transform conflict and build lasting peace.

“Volunteering with GFP improved my levels of tolerance and ability to understand others’ feelings. I acquired leadership skills and can now motivate my fellow community members to create positive change!”

Puvaneshvaran Sothika

GFP Volunteer in Sri Lanka

Volunteering inspires me because it proves that societies only work well when everyone contributes to a cause. I am happy to volunteer with GFP to provide my services to those in need.”
.

Jelani Othman

GFP Volunteer in Yemen

Volunteering inspires me because it proves that societies only work well when everyone contributes to a cause. I am happy to volunteer with GFP to provide my services to those in need.”

Hatixhe Qazimi

GFP Volunteer in Republic of North Macedonia

OUR LOCATIONS

Generations For Peace has trained young volunteers in 51 countries around the world. In 2020, our active programmes run by those volunteers touched thousands of lives and left positive impacts on communities in 17 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

____ Active Generations For Peace programmes countries in 2020. These countries include Afghanistan, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Palestine, Republic of North Macedonia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United States, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Satellite Offices: 

  • Nigeria: in Kaduna 
  • South Sudan: in Juba 

Local Registrations:

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina: in Sarajevo 
  • Nigeria: in Kaduna  
  • Somalia: in Garowe and Mogadishu 
  • South Sudan: in Juba  
  • Sudan: in Khartoum 
  • Zimbabwe: in Harare 


Jordan Programmes Highlights

Generations For Peace is proud to call Jordan the home of our headquarters, where we hold many international trainings and bring together and host GFP volunteers from around the world. Jordan is also where we hold our largest programmes. We are active in schools and youth centres across each of the Kingdom’s 12 governorates, directly engaging more than 220,000 thousand children, youth, and adults each year and promoting sustained behavioural change.

Despite the pandemic and consequent implementation of lockdowns, curfews, and physical distancing measures, Generations For Peace quickly adapted to digitalise our activities and ensure the continuity of our Jordan programmes.

In collaboration with the Jordanian Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth, and UNICEF, Generations For Peace created 14 videos of Sport For Peace sessions and activities used within both the Maharati and Nashatati Programmes, describing how the activities can be done safely at home amidst the lockdowns. These videos were disseminated both online using various digital media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, and via the Ministry of Education’s online Darsak platform, benefiting over 656,000 students and youth across the Kingdom.

Generations For Peace maintained our commitment to working to achieve and promote gender equality through the Youth Initiatives for JONAP 1325 Programme, a separate but complementary programme to Nashatati and Maharati, in partnership with UN Women. The programme builds capacity for and raises awareness of the Jordanian National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (JONAP 1325) by highlighting the role women play in the peace and security sectors. Despite being shifted to be carried out online after the COVID-19 outbreak, the programme reached over 42,000 youth, both females and males, across Jordan.

2020 highlighted the importance of online interactions and digital engagements. Investing in these concepts, Generations For Peace in partnership with UNDP, carried out the first-ever online Dialogue For Peace Programme, named the Community Resilience and Human Security Programme. The pilot programme aimed to build and promote strong relationships between local youth, community stakeholders, and community police representatives in order to enhance community resilience and human security.

Generations For Peace also kicked-off its new partnership with ProgressSoft Corporation, a global innovative real-time payment solutions provider, on its first code-based peacebuilding programme, Code for Jordan. The innovative programme aims to improve Jordanian and Syrian refugee youth’s economic, political, social and cultural participation within Jordanian society by providing young software coding graduates with practical experience and technical knowledge within their field of expertise, engaging with their Municipalities to solve local public service challenges, whilst improving their communication, problem solving, and leadership skills – all necessary to flourish in the workplace. The programme is expected to reach over 2,000 people across the Kingdom.

Finally, Generations For Peace launches its first-ever Media For Peace Programme in partnership with the US Embassy in Amman. The programme aims to promote peacebuilding values that are integral to good media practice and encourage positive counter narratives that encourage inclusive dialogue, support peacebuilding efforts, and foster social inclusion and cohesion. Over 50 media representatives, including journalists, reporters, editors, producers, news anchors, photojournalists, and media and journalism students, were trained in order to increase understanding of peacebuilding and competencies in presenting the news and other complex issues. The training also aims to increase media literacy as a strategy that can be utilised to change the way people are affected by violent content and news.



INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES HIGHLIGHTS

Throughout 2020 and amidst the challenges of the pandemic, Generations For Peace maintained 18 active programmes across 17 different countries, leveraging innovative peacebuilding tools to engage children, youth, and adults to transform conflict and build peace in diverse conflict contexts across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America.

Europe

In the Republic of North Macedonia, our local GFP team of volunteers brought together 30 Macedonian and Albanian adults for a series of inter- and intra-group Dialogue For Peace sessions. Participants had the opportunity to engage in and increase pro-social interactions, discuss issues of mutual concern, and build trust amongst each other thanks to the newly acquired skills needed for active tolerance, all within safe spaces.

 

MENA

In Libya, Generations For Peace partnered with the Libya Youth Center to train and build the capacity of five of its staff members to lead sport- and arts-based peacebuilding activities before launching a Sport and Arts For Peace Programme engaging 30 local youth. The Programme aimed at increasing acceptance amongst and bringing the gap between tribal and political divides, building stronger understanding and acceptance between various and opposing youth groups.

In Palestine, our GFP team continued its implementation of the Sport and Arts For Peace Programme, which aims to strengthen life skills, build acceptance, and foster cooperation amongst students ages 12-15. Interacting and engaging in safe spaces, students of different backgrounds (economically advantaged and disadvantaged; refugees; students from rural areas and city locals) participated in innovative activities that gave an outlet for students to express themselves and increase their self-esteem.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite lockdowns and curfews across the country, our GFP team in Nigeria safely led its Arts and Advocacy For Peace Programme, which aims to build acceptance, improve interactions, and increase skills in developing and disseminating peace messaging that address inter-ethnic and inter-religious violence. Programme volunteers and participants also held events in their local communities to engage with community members and share what they had learned, impacting over 400 people across the country.

Abiding by safety precautions and procedures specified by the local government, the GFP team in Rwanda carried on with its Advocacy and Arts For Peace Programme in Kigali, which aims to build acceptance, foster cooperation, and combat political violence amongst youth by reinforcing values such as cooperation, trust, teamwork, and active tolerance. Throughout 2020 alone, the programme reached over 440 people.

Facing similar challenges related to the pandemic, our GFP team in Sierra Leone managed to continue its Sport and Arts For Peace Programme, which engages two youth gangs – Members of Blood and Stay Black members (ages 15-28) – to address tension, aggressive behaviour, fighting over political and social dominance in Kabala to mend broken relationships and build trust. The programme integrates life skills that aim to create a safe space for the youth gang members to improve their interaction, develop respect, and foster trust amongst the members of the two groups. The youth went on to disseminate messages of non-violence and peace to the broader community, impacting over 700 people.

 

United States of America

In its second year of implementation, the Youth SOAR (Sport and Arts for Resilience) Programme aims to reduce levels of youth violence in Greater Grand Crossing neighbourhood in the south side of Chicago, Illinois. In partnership with Gary Comer Youth Center and with support from Laureus Sport For Good Foundation USA, GFP trained eight youth volunteers to build their capacity in planning, designing, and implementing sport- and arts-based peacebuilding activities to spur behavioural change. These volunteers went on to deliver 25 sport and arts activities, engaging local 100 local youth who are most vulnerable to violence to strengthen their resilience to violence and increase youth’s sense of belonging to a positive peer group. Throughout the trainings and subsequent community engagement events led by the youth themselves, over 900 youth have benefited from this programme.

 

 

INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING

Advanced Training 2020

Amidst the pandemic, Generations For Peace recognised the extraordinary achievements of GFP volunteers leading grassroots peacebuilding programmes in their own communities around the world. By adapting quickly to the global situation, GFP successfully converted the entire Advanced Training to be delivered online whilst doubling the number of training participants. We virtually welcomed our highest number of participants yet – 72 experienced volunteers – from 13 countries to Amman, to take part in GFP’s tenth annual Advanced Tr­­aining.

The first-ever online training focused on transformative leadership required for peacebuilding programming in a post-COVID-19 world. With a range of topics, including advocacy, communications, fundraising, and protection, the training also shed light on real-life experiences with violence and exclusion from our very own volunteers.

This year’s Advanced Training also witnessed new additions to the customary Generations For Peace curriculum that has been delivered in the past. The overall sophistication of the training was increased through the inclusion of specialized tracks that were tailored to address various local needs in parallel to the plenary sessions available to all participants. The Specialised Tracks, which included Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (PMEAL), Fundraising and Outreach, and Communications were developed to meet the specific learning needs of volunteers depending on their role in their implementation team and offered participants the opportunity to hone their skills in the areas that are most relevant to their function.

RESEARCH. KNOWLEDGE. OUTREACH.

Research

In 2020, we continued our field research focus on the areas of local peacebuilding, prevention of violent extremism (PVE), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Heavily impacted by COVID-19, our field research approach and methods needed to be adapted, too. Within the framework of the EU Horizon2020-funded CONNEKT project, we have published a report on the national approaches to violent extremism in Jordan and engaged in assessment of macro-level drivers of radicalisation and violent extremism which will be subject of the report to be published in 2021. The research conducted amongst 1,000+ Jordanian 14 to 18 years old girls and boys across Jordan consisted of two interlinked topics that served as complementary devices to unpack apparent and underlying characteristics of masculinity and femininity: gender values, experiences, and perceptions; and perceptions of female perpetrators of violence. These two topics both focused on gender but used two different approaches to unearth the obvious and the more nested perceptions of gender in Jordanian society: the first topic was direct and explicit in its focus, while the second used the conceptualisation of a behavioural extreme—violence—to capture the implicit boundaries of gender roles and canons in Jordan. In addition to informing GFP’s gender programming in Jordan, the produced report has also helped inform GFP’s programmatic and communications approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Knowledge 

This year was extremely productive in terms of curriculum development. New content on transformative leadership and transformative civic engagement; participatory action research applied in community settings; advocacy and fundraising, and updated content covering soft life skills; protection; sexual gender-based violence (SGBV); and sport, arts, and dialogue, among others, have been particularly well received by GFP volunteers running their local peacebuilding programmes. These new elements were presented in a series of online workshops and capacity-strengthening sessions, helping apply new materials in programmes in Jordan and abroad.

Outreach 

In the year marked by global pandemic, the engagement with the field practitioners, academics, and communities of practice was shifted to virtual space, with 70+ working sessions, webinars, presentations, and consultations. Alone or as a member of various coalitions, alliances, or networks, GFP has shared its experience or contributed to creating new knowledge in various topics ranging from organisational capacity development and peacebuilding programming to polarisation and violent extremism, social inclusion, social cohesion, youth activism and leadership.


EVENTS

Amman Peace Talks

Generations For Peace hosted the first-ever entirely online Amman Peace Talks under the theme “Peacebuilding amidst the Pandemic: Addressing the ‘Violence of Exclusion amidst COVID-19’”. Despite physical distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event provided a unique online platform that brought together and amplified the voices of peacebuilders around the world. 

Despite this particularly challenging year and lockdowns across the globe, youth leaders and volunteers managed to lead innovative efforts to create positive changes in their local communities. The Amman Peace Talks 2020 highlights nine particularly inspiring young peacebuilders and peace advocates from seven different countries to share their experiences regarding the challenges and opportunities of promoting peacebuilding and spreading hope amidst the pandemic.


2020 RESULTS

Active Programmes

Active Countries

Active Volunteers

Local trainings on Peacebuilding

Hours of Peace Training

Hours of Mentoring Conducted

Local Peace Initiatives supported

Direct Programme Participants

Peacebuilding activities

Indirect Beneficiaries

Average contact hours per participant

of Participants Completed All Sessions

Reached Trough Media to Increase Visibility

Of programmes showed more than 25% impovment in Outcome indicators

Of programmes showed more than 25% impovment in Impact indicators

Research Outputs Circulated Internally

Research outputs published on GFP platforms

Partnerships Signed

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Our audited financial statements are publicly available on our website. GFP raises revenue by offering event management services and its well-equipped conference centre and auditorium in Sports City, Amman to clients including other NGOs, UN agencies, Embassies and companies. Revenue generated from such events supports our peace-building work.

For more information please visit our website: www.gfp.ngo/en/facilities or contact venues@gfp.ngo.

Source of Funding

2020 Source Of Funding  Amount (JOD) %
UNICEF           2,284,839 37.33%
Jordan Olympic Committee           1,000,000 16.34%
UN Women              538,175 8.79%
Novo Nordisk Foundation
(RYSE Consortium)
             213,439 3.49%
Revenue from Events              213,000 3.48%
RDPP              124,547 2.04%
UNDP                70,975 1.16%
Olympic Refuge Foundation ORF                67,450 1.10%
USAID                53,586 0.88%
Porticus Foundation                39,520 0.65%
EU                38,244 0.62%
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation – Jordan                37,895 0.62%
Online Donations                36,400 0.59%
Revenue from office space rental                31,278 0.51%
MBC FZ LLC                17,750 0.29%
UNFPA                14,200 0.23%
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation – USA                  7,100 0.12%
Interest earned                  6,766 0.11%
Other restricted funds                  6,387 0.10%
US Department of State                  4,932 0.08%
Gain on sale of property and equipment                  1,849 0.03%
  3,058,044  

Expenditure Growth

Expense Growth  Expenses
2020         3,394,168
2019         4,988,353
2018         4,026,963
2017         3,697,595
2016         2,647,468
Mission Direct Expense 86.21%
Mission Indirect Expense 13.79%

Funds Used

2020 Mission Direct Expenses JOD %
Programmes Direct costs 1,350,815 34.32%
Mission Direct Human Resources  1,343,740 3.18%
Mission Direct admin costs, media & communications 125,923 3.09%
Research 104,999 1.54%
Advanced Training 608 44.33%
Total:  2,926,085
2020 Mission Indirect Expenses JOD %
Mission Indirect Human Resources 228,678 49.68%
Depreciation  115,878 25.18%
Fundraising expenses 93,947 20.41%
Office overheads, utilities 8,941 1.94%
Recruitment and relocation costs 4,026 0.87%
Transportation, travel and other 3,902 0.85%
Communication 3,203 0.70%
Audit fees, bank charges and insurance 1,687 0.37%
Total:  460,262
2020 Other Expenses JOD
Loss on foreign currency exchange transactions 7,821

DONORS AND PARTNERS

VOLUNTEER. PARTNER. DONATE. SHARE.

We believe a more peaceful world is possible. We want to make it happen, now and for future generations.

We believe in active tolerance and that embracing diversity strengthens us. We are concerned about a growing culture of division, prejudice, and hate. We see people struggling to relate to each another and failing to respond to conflict and disputes without resorting to violence.

We believe in the enormous potential of young people to lead change. We are passionate about empowering them to transform conflict and reduce violence in their own communities.

We believe in measuring everything we do, so we can learn, adapt, increase impact, and ensure sustainability.

Our unique model is demonstrating real results with limited resources. We are just 13 years old, but for the last six years we have been consistently ranked within the Top 35 NGOs in the world.

We love what we do, and we’re inspired by our volunteers around the world. If you are too, please join us: volunteer, partner, donate, or simply share your story. Please…pass it on!

Generations For Peace is an international non-governmental non-profit organisation registered in Jordan, and a charitable tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit incorporated in the USA.