From Nairobi to Home: Lessons in Care, Memory, and Peace

In October, Peace Direct convened Peace Connect in Nairobi, bringing together more than 600 peacebuilders from over 90 countries. The gathering created a rare space for collective reflection, care, and solidarity, and a delegation of CSPPS was present.

We would like to share with you a blog written by Natalia Peláez Pérez from our Colombian CSPPS member Fundación LATIR in which she shares powerful and intimate account of her experience. Her blog traces a journey that begins with the emotional weight of listening to stories of conflict, displacement, and trauma, narratives that ground statistics in lived human pain. As she describes, this shared vulnerability quickly becomes a space of connection, reminding participants that their struggles and hopes are deeply intertwined.

Natalia reflects on how Peace Connect emphasized self-care as a political act, inviting peacebuilders to pause, breathe, and acknowledge the exhaustion that often goes unnoticed. 

Throughout the event, she also found strength in community. She shares how encounters with the CSPPS network and the legacy of peacebuilders like Hibo Yassin revealed how memory, solidarity, and human connection sustain the work far beyond formal sessions. She explained that the CSPPS–UNOY discussion on localizing the YPS Agenda further reinforced a key insight: peace is defined in everyday life by the communities who live it, and that storytelling is itself a form of political action capable of bridging distances and bringing policy to life.

As she returned home, Natalia carried with her a renewed sense of purpose and a deep appreciation for the slow, patient work of peace. Her reflections capture the heart of the YPS Agenda: centering care, amplifying local voices, and recognizing the transformative power of shared stories, priorities which are outlined in the Youth Recommendations to the YPS Agenda published ahead of the event. 

Find out more about Fundación LATIR’s work here. 

You can read her blog by clicking on the document bellow ⤵️