United Network of Young Peacebuilders

What United Network of Young Peacebuilders does

United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 and headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, that operates as the convener of a global network of 138 youth-led peacebuilding organizations across 68 countries. Its functional role is to act as a network intermediary: it recruits, trains, and supports grassroots member organizations, coordinates cross-border collaboration, and channels youth perspectives into multilateral policy forums on peace, security, and human rights. The organization does not sell commercial products or services; instead, it is grant-funded by institutional donors including SIDA, the European Union, UNFPA, the Irish Government, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. UNOY's principal intellectual asset is its Youth 360 Methodology, a framework for designing peacebuilding interventions that address multiple dimensions of young people's lives simultaneously. Operational outputs include the annual Young Peacebuilders Festival, regional advocacy campaigns, capacity-building curricula, and policy submissions to UN and EU bodies.

The organization employs 62 staff at its Hague headquarters, supplemented by a distributed network of member-organization personnel and volunteers. In 2025, UNOY reported that its network collectively reached over 26 million people, reflecting both programmatic scale and the network-effect leverage of aggregating many small grassroots actors under a single reporting umbrella. The organization was awarded the 2025 Youth Carnegie Peace Prize, a material reputational milestone. UNOY has launched a 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, signaling a five-year horizon for continued membership expansion, advocacy capability buildout, and geographic extension (including the Young Peacebuilders Festival's move into Nepal in 2026).

The business model is a classic non-profit intermediary structure: aggregate institutional grant funding, allocate a portion to internal operations and the headquarters team, and disburse the remainder through training, sub-grants, convenings, and advocacy to member organizations. There is no pricing model in the commercial sense, no go-to-market motion, and no revenue mechanics beyond grant drawdown. The key risk variables are donor renewal cycles, donor concentration, and the network's ability to demonstrate measurable peacebuilding outcomes to justify continued funding.

Name

United Network of Young Peacebuilders

Legal name

United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY Peacebuilders)

Website

https://unoy.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

UNOY Peacebuilders is a non-profit network of 138 youth-led peacebuilding organizations across 68 countries, founded in 1989 and headquartered in The Hague, providing training, advocacy, and convening to advance youth-led peace and human rights globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Peacebuilding Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)

Keywords

• Youth peacebuilding network
• Conflict transformation services
• Peace capacity development
• Youth advocacy programs
• Peacebuilding grant funding

Headquarters

HQ city

The Hague

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Grants and Donor Funding: UNOY receives strategic and project funding from institutional donors including governments and multilateral organizations. The organization does not charge membership fees and is not a funding agency itself, but rather focuses on securing global grants that can benefit all members collectively.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY Peacebuilders) is a global membership network of 138 youth-led peacebuilding organizations operating across 68 countries. It delivers capacity development, peer-learning, advocacy for the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda, and mini-grant funding through programmes such as the Young Peacebuilders Forum, regional Youth Advocacy Teams, and the Youth 360 methodology.

Product overview

United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) operates as a network of 138 youth-led peacebuilding organisations rather than a traditional product company. The network's offerings include: the Young Peacebuilders Forum (YPF) as the flagship networking event; regional Youth Advocacy Teams (Americas, African, Asian) that advance youth-led advocacy for the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Agenda; the FSUM (Financial Support for UNOY Members) grant programme providing mini-grants to grassroots initiatives; the Youth 360 Methodology developed with partners for resource and capacity building; and research publications including the Catalyst for Change report. The network also produces strategic plans, annual plans, annual reviews, and various knowledge resources including publications, podcasts, and blog posts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Americas Youth Advocacy Team (Am-YAT): Regional advocacy team uniting young peacebuilders across the Americas to strengthen youth-led advocacy and advance the implementation of international and regional YPS frameworks. Launched in May 2024.
• African Youth Advocacy Team (A-YAT)
• Asian Youth Advocacy Team
• Young Peacebuilders Forum (YPF)
• FSUM (Financial Support for UNOY Members)
• ALLY (Amplifying Leadership of Local Youth)

Products and services

• Young Peacebuilders Forum (YPF) UNOY's flagship networking event for young peacebuilders that builds partnerships, shares knowledge, and develops regional networks through peer-to-peer cooperation on conflict transformation.
• Americas Youth Advocacy Team (Am-YAT) Regional advocacy team uniting young peacebuilders across the Americas to strengthen youth-led advocacy and advance implementation of international and regional Youth, Peace and Security frameworks through research, campaigns, and grassroots peacebuilding.
• Financial Support for UNOY Members (FSUM) Mini-grant programme providing accessible funding to support local youth-led peacebuilding initiatives and strengthen grassroots peace efforts among UNOY members.
• Youth 360 Methodology Participatory, youth-sensitive methodology developed with Search for Common Ground and UNAOC to resource small youth organisations with tools for active peacebuilding through training, mentorship, and participatory grantmaking.
• ALLY: Amplifying Leadership of Local Youth Programme amplifying young people's constructive voices and agency in addressing factors of violent extremist narratives in South Asia, with focus on Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
• Catalyst for Change Research Report Research report exploring youth leadership in rights, diversity and social cohesion across the Americas, developed by 25 young peacebuilders from the Americas Youth Advocacy Team.
• African Youth Advocacy Team (A-YAT) Regional advocacy team from Africa that conducts advocacy missions, fundraising trainings, and forums engaging policy officials and youth peacebuilders across Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.
• Asian Youth Advocacy Team Regional advocacy team from Asia that advances the Youth, Peace and Security agenda through advocacy missions, capacity development, and regional activities for UNOY members.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 26 million people positively impacted by member peacebuilding work in 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.

• Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivil society partner in the peacebuilding ecosystem. Co-funded the Young Peacebuilders Forum 2019.
• Search for Common GroundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed the Youth 360 methodology with UNOY and UNAOC. A leading organization in peacebuilding that collaborated on designing the participatory approach to resource youth-led organizations.
• UNAOC (United Nations Alliance of Civilizations)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developed the Youth 360 methodology alongside Search for Common Ground. UN inter-agency initiative that partnered with UNOY to create tools for youth peacebuilders.
• Fundación LatirstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerColombian organization co-leading the Colombian YPS Coalition and supporting the development of Colombia's National Action Plan on YPS. Partnered with UNOY's Americas Youth Advocacy Team.
• Fundación Escuelas de PazminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerColombian partner organization that co-organized intergenerational dialogue on WPS and YPS agendas with Fundación Latir and UNOY support.
• Youth Network for Peace and DevelopmentstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost organization for the Young Peacebuilders Forum 2026 in Kathmandu, Nepal. UNOY member organization leading regional coordination.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Peace Direct: INGO that supports local peacebuilders and operates a global network of peace organizations (including the Local Peacebuilding Partnership). Shares UNOY's focus on resourcing and amplifying grassroots/local peace actors, with a comparable donor-backed, network-mediated model.
• Search for Common Ground: One of the world's largest peacebuilding INGOs, operating in 30+ countries on conflict transformation. UNOY co-developed the Youth 360 methodology with Search for Common Ground; both target youth-led peacebuilding and partner with UN/multilateral institutions, making them the closest direct peer in mission and methodology.
• Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC): Global civil society network working on conflict prevention and peacebuilding with member-based governance and regional advocacy hubs. Functionally parallel to UNOY as a membership network of peace organizations, with whom UNOY co-funded the Young Peacebuilders Forum 2019.
• Generations For Peace: Jordan-based peacebuilding organization focused on youth-led peace through sport, arts, and dialogue. Directly comparable to UNOY's Tejiendo Futuros model (arts/sports/STEM + peacebuilding) and shares the youth peacebuilding donor base.
• Restless Development: Global youth-led development agency working in 12+ countries with a hub-and-spoke model of youth-led programming. Highly comparable to UNOY on youth-led participation, capacity development, and donor-funded project delivery, with overlapping funder profiles (FCDO, EU, Nordic donors).
• Search for Common Ground (US HQ) — Youth and Peacebuilding portfolio: Search for Common Ground's youth-specific programming portfolio (Young Ambassadors for Peace, Hear Me Too) directly parallels UNOY's youth-peacebuilding programs and shares the same institutional donors.

Broad incumbents

• World YMCA: Global youth-focused membership network with a comparable federated governance structure and youth-led leadership development mission. Shares UNOY's commitment to youth empowerment but operates in a broader physical-fitness and civic space rather than peacebuilding specifically.
• Conciliation Resources: International peacebuilding organization focused on preventing violence and supporting inclusive peace processes. Similar mission and donor base to UNOY but more focused on track-2 diplomacy and senior practitioners than youth-led membership.
• International Alert: Long-standing peacebuilding INGO working on security, gender, and conflict sensitization globally. Overlaps with UNOY on policy advocacy and peace-and-security programming, but serves a broader professional/security-policy audience rather than a youth-led membership.

Others

• United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) — itself: Listed as the anchor; omitted — see other peers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/UNOYpeace
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/united-network-of-young-peacebuilders
• Instagraminstagram.com/unoy_peacebuilders

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about United Network of Young Peacebuilders