Music and creativity have the power to give voice to young people. Peace Tracks puts this into action using a participatory, trauma-informed, and arts-based education model that centres youth leadership, emotional safety, creativity, and cross-cultural learning.
They convene refugees and global youth from across the world in countries such as Lebanon, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Palestine, Jordan, and Morocco through virtual platforms to write songs and create music videos together. This model unlocks youth empowerment - allowing them to dialogue with different youth from different parts of the world, and express themselves through music.
Having a program that uses music, which is something they love and they use naturally, gives them the opportunity to be empowered to speak their thoughts about the things that they feel powerless about.
“My experience working with the youth is that with so much conflict in the world and challenges like climate change and political division… hearing them makes them feel powerless in that situation, and I can imagine that it is discouraging. Having a program that uses music, which is something they love and they use naturally, gives them the opportunity to be empowered to speak their thoughts about the things that they feel powerless about. It is not only empowering but also healing, and it helps them realise that their voices matter and they have the right to share what they feel,” explains Sandra Rizkallah, Co-Founder of Peace Tracks.
One concern that has arisen is how youth from such different contexts will interact with one another. What will happen when you put a young person in the United States in dialogue with a student in Jordan?
In reality, Peace Tracks approach shows that when you enter a space with compassion, everyone can feel respected, acknowledged, and supported. For example, some students brought up the fact that “peace” can be an oppressive term in some contexts - because peace defined by someone else can have a different meaning for another person. So it was important for participants to define what peace means for them.
At the end of the programme, students put on a livestreamed “concert”, and share their music videos.
Peace Tracks Spring 2025 Livestream Concert
In addition to the asynchronous and synchronous curriculum Peace Tracks has offered since 2021, Peace Tracks is now including in-person group sessions when partnering with local organizations working with youth living in areas of conflict, in refugee camps and/or who do not have access to technology. These in-person meetings address the digital divide by Peace Tracks providing internet access, devices, interpreter support, and safe, welcoming spaces. When partnering with an organization in a location where it is not safe or possible to provide in-person group sessions, recorded oral and/or written song ideas and lyrics from the youth can be shared with the Peace Tracks global youth cohort who, with guidance from Peace Tracks music teachers, will collaborate in turning their lyrics and ideas into songs and music videos.
No prior music experience or formal training in music theory is required to participate in Peace Tracks. The technology used is designed to be user-friendly, allowing beginners to create music using a built-in library of loops and beats.
Social Innovation Academy (SINA) takes youth empowerment to the next level, building communities that are co-owned and co-run by disadvantaged and refugee youth. In SINA Communities, 50-100 scholars learn and run the community together, many living on site. Their responsibilities range from from finances and logistics to conflict transformation.
If a scholar who is responsible for meals does not wake up early enough to provide what will be cooked that day then we may have a delay in meals and we will hold them accountable to find out why.
How SINA Works
Everything is self-organised and everyone is assigned a role, so scholars are responsible for managing every aspect of the community (i.e., water, food, logistics, electricity, etc.) “It helps scholars learn and gain experience and build skills that they need to run their own enterprises and also hold each other accountable. If a scholar who is responsible for meals does not wake up early enough to provide what will be cooked that day then we may have a delay in meals and we will hold them accountable to find out why. So through feedback and supporting each other daily, we grow and improve to become the best version of ourselves,” explains Tonny Wamboga, Operations Lead at SINA.
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SINA Scholars Brainstorming
By giving youth complete responsibility over their environment, they develop critical skills that prepare them to start their own social enterprises and become financially self-sustainable. During a typical day, scholars undergo a variety of activities, sessions, and coaching depending on the stage of the programme they are in. In the beginning, scholars focus on overcoming limiting beliefs and goal-setting. Over time, they move forward to developing skills by identifying challenges and solutions in the community. Once they have undergone professional development, they can begin testing social enterprise ideas before moving on to more advanced enterprise acceleration.
SINA Scholar Experience Map
SINA was founded in Uganda in 2014, where there is high youth unemployment, regardless of the education you receive. The concept was designed to equip young people with the skills to create their own jobs and livelihoods. “Entrepreneurship shouldn’t be seen as a fall back option, but as a viable option for the future.” Now they have 23 communities across Africa and Nepal, with expansions soon coming to and Syria and other parts of the world. Thanks to their programme, over 120 social enterprises and 2000 jobs have been created.
SINA Mpigi Community Constructing with Plastic Bottles
Similarly, YESfest started with the desire to shift young people’s mindsets about environmental issues. “We believe that there is something missing in terms of engaging young people with environmental issues. There’s a disconnect between themselves, their communities, the planet, that seems to have been normalized,” explains Alex Bell, founder of YESfest.
In response to this challenge, they created YESfest, an Eco Summit event for young people aged 8-10 to become climate champions through joyful, hands-on quests that blend environmental action, wellbeing, and community.
YESfest focuses specifically on this younger age group because they want to awaken an individual sense of agency before cynicism and apathy or “eco-anxiety” becomes too overwhelming. Their hope is to create a mass cultural movement that centres around joy and play in order to inspire young people to take care of the planet.
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