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Youth as Architects of Social Change pp 301–337Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Youth as Architects of Peace? Street Mediation at the Norwegian Red Cross and Other National Red Cross Unions

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Abstract

In this chapter, we present and analyze the case of Red Cross Street Mediation as an innovative example of peer-to-peer youth work on capacity building, conflict transformation and self-formation. Street Mediation has developed and spread throughout Norway since 1998 and is furthered by youth delegates from other Red Cross national societies in various contexts such as Colombia, Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Romania, and Denmark. Central questions that we would like to investigate in this chapter are: What are the core elements of the methodology, structure, and knowledge that this program fosters; what sort of enabling environments are needed for Street Mediation (and the like) to be a resource for youth innovation and social change? How do young people appropriate these skills and apply them to their own lives and networks in different sociocultural contexts? Which unintentional effects might arise, and are there any dangers in terms of training youth as conflict mediators and social change agents with relation to societal structures of conflict and violence?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lateral thinking was introduced by the physician and psychologist Edward de Bono as a term for creative and non-obvious ways of finding solutions to convoluted or wicked problems (De Bono, 1995, 2000). Instead of a “vertical” step-by-step logic, de Bono suggested to step outside the usual way of handling problems. As an example, Street Mediation opposes the policing way of handling street gangs by forcefully disbursing them. Instead Street Mediation handles street gangs as a group of peers that need each other for support and safety, but at the same time as they also need another direction of being and acting.

  2. 2.

    http://rocainc.org.

  3. 3.

    The data for this case is gathered from Foss’ former work as national adviser for Street Mediation in the Norwegian Red Cross, including several meetings with the volunteers at work and some of the main stakeholders during 2015.

  4. 4.

    The data on this case is from Foss’ Ph.D. dissertation (Foss, 2016, pp. 97–143).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Østfold University College, Halden, Norway

    Espen Marius Foss

  2. Oslo and Akershus University College, Oslo, Norway

    Ida Hydle

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  1. Espen Marius Foss
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  2. Ida Hydle
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway

    Sheri Bastien

  2. Oslo and Akershus University College, Oslo, Norway

    Halla B. Holmarsdottir

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Foss, E.M., Hydle, I. (2017). Youth as Architects of Peace? Street Mediation at the Norwegian Red Cross and Other National Red Cross Unions. In: Bastien, S., Holmarsdottir, H. (eds) Youth as Architects of Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66275-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66275-6_12

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