The Namibia Youth Peace and Security Network (NYPSN), in collaboration with the National Youth Council (NYC) and the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture (MEYISEC), has officially launched its two-day Dual Capacity Programme on Namibia's Action Plan for Youth, Peace and Security.

Conversations are aimed at connecting demographics, governance, justice and long-term national stability, as well as promoting youth inclusivity in Namibia's peace and security agenda.

Youth Minister Sanet Steenkamp emphasised that leaders should be at the forefront of investing their time, energy, and expertise in mentoring and coaching the youth to be better because they represent the future of the country.

She stated that the youth should be included in resolving any instability that threatens the democracy of any country; they will bear the highest costs when national peace is compromised.

"Our young people belong at the centre of our peace and security agenda. Now, I think our parliamentarians will agree with me on it. You are at the centre of our peace and security agenda, not as a problem that we need to manage, but as a generation that is directly affected by instability and whose most essential needs in your soul you have the means for, you have the brilliance for, and you do not limit yourself."

Founder and President of NYPSN, Jessica Uiras, said that young people deserve to feel that their voices matter and that participation should be influential in Namibia's Peace and Security agenda.

"Across this country, young people are serving in communities. We are meeting in schools, we are volunteering in churches, and we are organising in civic spaces. We are speeding up during elections, creating awareness online, and challenging injustice where we see fit. Much of this is peacebuilding in any shape or form. Even when it is not always called by that name, it is peacebuilding and peacekeeping that we are already doing as young Namibians in the country."