About Us

The Youth Partnership for Peace and Development (YPPD) is a youth empowerment think tank established in 2005 to enhance the capacity of young people and their communities to promote Peace, Human Rights, Health, and inclusion of marginalized groups, as well as the creation of open societies that promote sustainable development. Since its establishment in Sierra Leone, the organization has been able to increase young people’s understanding to finding practical approaches to building wholesomely functioning societies that promotes peace and mutual co-existence while deepening voices and actions which demands equity and accountability for all. It maintains the view that young people can be agents of positive change and works for ways of enabling youth to step forward for social transformation.

The overarching goal of YPPD is to contribute to the endeavors of supporting youth development, peaceful conflict resolution, stability, sustainable development, peace and democracy in Sierra Leone. It works to increase the capacity of vulnerable groups through training, partnership, advocacy, enhancing the youth knowledge base and equipping them with livelihood skills.

YPPD’s work is inspired by the daily struggles of our communities and the enormous opportunity that exists in collaboratively working with others in the search for sustainable solutions.

The organization is registered in Sierra Leone as an Indigenous Non-Governmental Organization with the Ministry of Planning, as well as youth-serving agency of the National Youth Commission

YPPD’s mission is to build capacities and empower young people together with their communities in overcoming exclusions and poverty for transformation and sustainable development. We will work with others as partners to ignite, inspire, influence and transform systems and structures which holds back development.

YPPD envisions a society where young people regardless of their social status are empowered and capable enough to lead, participate and influence change processes in order to gain access to equal opportunities as stakeholders across all sectors of mainstream development.

At the heart of YPPD’s programs is a theory of change which acknowledges the need for actively empowered and ignited young generation with credible pathways for interaction with society and its governance system. By enabling and empowering youth as invaluable change agents, YPPD believes in enriching their experiences, creating and exploring the right opportunities to facilitate their participation, leadership and learning, as well as the right tools and voice to engage on their own issues while building an inclusive and peaceful society.

Whether it is about influencing policies or bringing capacity and access to essential services in education and health, YPPD helps to connection people and the areas where change is most likely and sure to happen. Our programs are uniquely designed to meet the growing and emerging needs of people, their structures and communities we work. These programs are crafted to reinforce and strengthen young people’s capacities, facilitate dialogues for action, provide voices to so they can stand to take action and redistribute power bringing the most vulnerable groups to a forum where they can be heard, respected and incorporated mainstream society and development.

While we currently focus on grassroots empowerment, we are beginning to incorporate civil engagement and policy advocacy into many of our programs. In this process we directly reduce risk factors that lead to crime. Through our crime prevention drive, we determine what primary interventions are needed in addition to identifying the key conflict drivers and stakeholders necessary for sustainable solutions. With our current conflict prevention and intervention design, as more and more young people (men and women) become engaged, they will become obvious leaders of change while becoming socially responsible and active citizens contributing to an inclusive, peaceful and just society.

Operating in 8 DistrictS

The current programs of the institution operates in four districts: Bombali, Kenema, Moyamba, Kailahun, Bo Western Rural and Urban and Pujehun respectively.

Launched the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 in Sierra Leone - March 2017

For the first time since the Resolution was adopted in December of 2015, YPPD through funding from the Civil Society Platform for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding was able to launch UNSCR2250 at the national level.

Reached 500 youth with liveligood skills

As one of the post-conflict youth agencies, through partnership with UN-HABITAT we have been able to reach young people with diverse skills that will improve economic outcomes for them and their families

Founded and hosts the National CSO Network on Water and Sanitation since 2010

Partner of the institution's qualition building drive and desire to deepening advocacy in the WASH sector, WASH-Net was established in 2010 to provide that opportunity for wider state and non-state actors engagement.