The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Mohamed Elmehdi Ag Moulou, in charge of mission at the Ministry of National Reconciliation and Social Cohesion, with him, Pierre Saye, representative of the UNESCO Head of Office in Bamako, and some twenty participants from the Ministries of Youth and Citizen Construction; National Reconciliation and Social Cohesion; National Education; the Promotion of Women, Children and Families; and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), as well as resource persons.

In his speech, Mr Moulou thanked UNESCO for its support to the implementation of the peace and national reconciliation agreement. He recalled that the workshop was held in the logical continuation of the efforts of the Government and its partners in the search for peace and stability in Mali, for population welfare.

Mr. Saye recalled that young people are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda with its sustainable development goals and that UNESCO is acting on all fronts to support them as key actors, at local, national and global levels. According to him, humanitarian crises also affect women and girls "Aware that no society will prosper and no peace agreement will last unless women and girls are empowered to take action on peacebuilding and reconstruction, the PBF places this imperative at the center of all the efforts that the Government, the entire United Nations system and all peace actors have made to address fragilities, conflicts and violence, ". He also said that the role of the media is crucial, to allow a synergy of actions, essential in the context of the upcoming elections. "The involvement of everyone, especially local communities, communities and the State, is the essential credo for peace in Mali".

The exchanges led to the elaboration of a draft training manual for trainers of the project "Young Actors for Peace and National Reconciliation" with modules on conflict management, citizenship, intercultural dialogue, democracy, gender and Gender Based Violence (GBV) and cross-border trafficking. During the work, the participants also identified and validated, with the implementing partners, the activities as well as the implementation schedule and defined the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in the implementation of the project.

Funded to an amount of 1.4 billion FCFA by the Peacebuilding Fund of the Stabilization and Recovery Section of MINUSMA, this program aims to strengthen the commitment of young people and women as peace actors in order to strengthen social cohesion, community dialogue, living together and developing the potential of young people. The project, which will last 18 months, will be implemented in 25 municipalities in the Ségou and Mopti regions, in favor of 3,400 direct beneficiaries, including 2,500 young women and men, and 900 women.

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