How a Nation Reconciles After Genocide Killed Nearly a Million People

Programs run by the Volunteers of America and Ohio Means Jobs|Cleveland-Cuyahoga County focus on employment, not only as a workforce issue, but also as a way to keep young people out of trouble and lower youth violence. Such programs have the research to back them up. An analysis done for The Plain Dealer by Case Western Reserve University shows a correlation between the youth idle rate, based on teens who are neither in school nor working, and youth violence.

The Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse, or Yiavha, brings together Nigerians from ethnic groups with a history of conflict and violence to help them find common ground through community storytelling. The organization has held more than 60 storytelling sessions in Nigeria’s Plateau state and has trained more than 300 youth to become peace ambassadors tasked with organizing their own storytelling events.

The Realness Project works with incarcerated people in Colorado to build skills in effective communication, "authentic relating," and conflict management. Roughly 90 percent of participants in the organization's workshops say it helped them grow their emotional ability to handle conflict, and about 78 percent said the experience gave them more confidence during job interviews.

After years of war left the city of Mosul without the greenery it had come to be known for, an initiative called Green Mosul organized a volunteer tree-planting campaign that aimed to bring together people of different backgrounds and religions and rebuild community bonds. Through the project, volunteers planted roughly 17,000 trees, and plans are in the works to replicate the effort in other post-conflict cities.

Project Rebound helps formerly incarcerated students navigate and succeed in pursuing their higher education goals. The program works with potential candidates, whether they are incarcerated or have completed their sentences, and provides aid in meeting basic needs like gas, food, shelter, as well as legal advice referrals and navigating technology. By 2021, 14 California State University campuses plan to be using the program. As of 2016, there were 180 students participating in the program and the number more than doubled by 2019.

A very special 15-person book club in Battle Creek, Michigan is using the book club format to discuss hard topics like race. The conversations steer profound, intimate, and personal, and many members testify to how much it has changed them. In addition to having read 68 books, the group also performs social justice work such as donating to the Equal Justice Initiative, rolling bandages for doctors in the DRC, and donating food and goods to local pantries.

After kids spend time in one of New York City's community-based incarceration facilities, they are enrolled in an "aftercare" program, which includes group meetings and mentoring, to help with the transition. As Milwaukee continues to reform its youth prison system, it is looking to New York as one promising model to consider.

A highly popular German sports club named Borussia Dortmund is taking advantage of its fanbase and following to promote anti-extremist messages, praise diversity, and celebrate inclusion. They do so in a variety of ways, including elevating and supporting independent fan initiatives like ballspiel.vereint!, requiring fan clubs and members to sign statues that reject far-right ideology, hosting educational field trips to former concentration camps for youth, and donating over a million dollars to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

Intense and violent conflict between herders and farmers has long plagued the Nigeria's middle belt region. Community members and a humanitarian organization are taking steps to mend these complicated relationships, however, through organized meetings on neutral ground that allow the herder and farmer to talk about forgiveness and shared interests.

Young individuals who have lost loved ones to violence and live in violent areas are likely to perpetuate these trends. 'Becoming a Man' and 'Working on Womanhood' are programs that involve mentorship, behavioral therapy, and other skill development in order to help teenagers find a healthier path.