Transformative Role of Youth-Led Movements in Peacebuilding: Innovations and Challenges in Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, youth-led social movements have been essential to post-conflict peacebuilding by tackling the aftereffects of the violence, including social disintegration, political marginalisation, and unemployment. With an emphasis on their contributions to sustainable peace and development, this research explored these movements’ innovations and difficulties. The study investigated how youth-led projects use creative tools like social media, the arts, and entrepreneurship to promote communication and reconciliation through content analysis of qualitative data from reports, government documents, and case studies. The findings showed that these movements play a key role in fostering grassroots involvement in government and mending societal divisions. However, issues such as restricted financial resources, deeply ingrained social mores, and a lack of political participation still exist. The study concludes that maintaining peacebuilding initiatives requires empowering the young through focused policies, mentorship programs, and financial assistance. Sierra Leone’s youth-driven movements underscore the transformative potential of engaging young people in reimagining governance and fostering long-term stability across Africa. To provide young peacebuilders with mentorship, technical assistance, and capacity-building, the study recommends boosting targeted funding for grassroots youth-led peacebuilding initiatives, institutionalising youth participation in national governance and peacebuilding frameworks through advisory councils and inclusion in decision-making bodies, and fortifying partnerships between the government, non-governmental organisations, and international organisations. This study advances scholarship by highlighting the gender dynamics and structural barriers that influence their effects and these movements’ transformative role in promoting political stability, reconciliation, and community development. Keywords: Youth-led social movements, Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone, Post-conflict innovations, Grassroots governance and reconciliation.