Region of Context: Great Lakes Region
The region has a significant share of conflicts with the epicenter of these conflicts varying from country to country; notably Uganda ( 1981-86), Democratic Republic of Congo ( 1996-97) and Burundi ( 1993-2001 and 2003) The rest of the countries such as Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania have experienced intra-state conflict reflective in ethnic, religious and political tensions and ways of life.
The consequences of these conflicts have imposed on regional political, economic and social cultural costs. As a result, low economic productivity, destruction of property, depletion of natural resources, increased proliferation of small arms and light weapons are profound in the region. Yet youth in the region for a longtime have been used as agents of disorientation, political and economic pawns by those chasing and pushing for jacketed whims.

The youth have been abducted and forced to commit atrocities, forced into marriages as sex slaves, exploited as cheap labor and used as stones by politicians. Many youth today in the region, have been abducted are increasingly getting passionate with issues of peace building. They are using multiplicity of ideas and thinking as interpreted from post independence perspective to address these issues. This means they can be able to add value to the processes of conflict resolution if their efforts are clearly mapped out.