A young man from north east Nigeria where terror group Boko Haram attack every day, has been sharing what he's learned about tackling violent extremism with US government officials and peace groups in Washington.
Imrana Buba is the founder of Youth Coalition Against Terrorism, a Nigerian youth-led peace-building organisation.
His advocacy work has caught the eye of world leaders and now he's at the centre of discussions in the US about how to strengthen the role young people can play to reduce violence and oppose extremism in their countries.
Kate Fisher reports from Washington
IN: Violent conflicts
OUT: soc
DUR: 2'26"
SCRIPT:
Violent conflicts are concentrated heavily in countries with large youth populations - like Nigeria and South Sudan - so the input of young people is vital to achieving peace - two years ago the United Nations security council adopted a resolution on youth, peace and security working towards just that. Experts have gathered in Washington to discuss its progress. Imrana Buba told them about his experiences in Nigeria:
SOT: Imrana Buba, Founder
Youth Coalition Against Terrorism (Nigeria)
"We have bomb attacks on daily basis and when i look at nature of conflict most of victims are young people and most of the perpetrators are young people at the same time. That is what redefined my vision and inspired me to do something. We have established peace clubs in 46 schools. In total we have 600 members and they meet regularly."
VO: Young people make up 72% of the population in war torn South Sudan - So it's crucial to engage them in promoting peace says youth worker Jacob Bul:
SOT: Jacob Bul, Youth worker, South Sudan
"Most of us were born in war so why don't we step up and create a future for oursleves and when is that future starting? It's today. And we help the youth of south sudan to take up the ownership of our country"
VO: The panel all agreed that best way to turn young people away from violence was to involve them at every stage of the process:
SOT: Aubrey Cox, Senior Program Specialist, U.S. Institute of Peace
"The most effective programmes are youth developed, youth initiated, youth led. So the more that the internationalt community can support the more these youth led organisations will thrive"
SOT: Andy Rabens, Special Advisor, Department of State
"We have this unique moment based on the gains of the past couple of years to try to deliver this knock out punch in certain parts of the glosbe to this extremist ideology. And if we're gonna do that i really think we need to a better job of enlisting young voices"
VO: Something the panel says is becoming more and more important with 1 billion young people affected by violence every year across the world.
kate fisher, Washington