October 19, 2026

From Algorithms to Peace: A Youth Advocacy Lab for Democratic Resilience Study Session

We are pleased to announce a new chapter in Roots peacework journey: Youth Peace Advocacy. As a first step in this direction, we have secured a collaboration with the Council of Europe Youth Department to deliver the session “From Algorithms to Peace: A Youth Advocacy Lab for Democratic Resilience”, which will take place in April 2027 at the European Youth Centre in Budapest. This initiative marks an important milestone in our work, building on our longstanding commitment to peace education while expanding our focus towards youth-led peace advocacy. By equipping young people with the knowledge, skills, and tools to engage with emerging digital challenges and democratic processes, we aim to expand their knowledge in peacework and strengthen their capacity to influence policies, promote democratic resilience, and contribute meaningfully to sustainable peace.

YMCA Europe, with its expertise in peacework, digital equity, and advocacy, is well positioned to respond to evolving contexts and new challenges through impactful initiatives. Roots for Peace programme brings 20 years of experience in peacebuilding and conflict transformation and has a strong presence and established trust in conflict-affected communities with the capacity to develop effective tools and methodologies for peacemaking. Complementing this experience, YMCA’s advocacy work is rooted in the lived experiences of young people, translating their perspectives and needs into concrete policy proposals and ensuring that youth voices are represented in the institutional spaces where decisions about their futures are made.

“From Algorithms to Peace: A Youth Advocacy Lab for Democratic Resilience” study session will aim to strengthen democratic resilience and social cohesion among young people in Europe by equipping youth workers and advocates to respond to AI-driven disinformation and hybrid threats, and by integrating conflict-sensitive communication into peacebuilding practice as a core instrument of democratic transformation.

Objectives

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Map how AI-driven tools, including deepfakes, bot networks, and micro-targeted messaging, fuel hybrid warfare and disinformation campaigns in conflict and frozen conflict areas, drawing on concrete case studies and situating these within a broader understanding of hybrid threat frameworks and their societal effects.
• Develop practical, adaptable tools for community resilience, including peace-reinforcing communication strategies, dialogue facilitation guides, and awareness campaign frameworks, that counter polarisation, strengthen local connectors, and support communities in maintaining social cohesion under information pressure.
• Design and implement conflict-sensitive communication strategies grounded in Do No Harm principles and the Implicit Ethical Messages Analysis, promoting trust, inclusion, and mutual recognition across digital and offline platforms in ways that actively contribute to reconciliation and democratic participation.
• Design evidence-based advocacy strategies targeting digital platforms, national governments, and European institutions, including the EU and the CoE, to advance the enforcement of ethical AI standards, algorithmic transparency, and human rights protections in high-risk conflict and post-conflict contexts.

This study session represents a natural and necessary extension of YMCA Europe’s long-term programme, one that brings together the organisation’s most established competences in service of one of the most pressing challenges facing European youth and democratic society today.

The open call for participants will be published in the second half of November, for interested young people from both YMCA and non-YMCA backgrounds to take part in this initiative.