Freshman organizes youth conference

This July, 20 Iraqi and 15 American teenagers will meet in Jordan to discuss the ongoing conflict in Iraq as part of the Youth Initiative for Progress in Iraq (YIPI) conference, which is partially run by University students and has received funding from several University departments.

The event is modeled after “Initiative for Peace: Focus on Kashmir,” a meeting between Indian and Pakistani teens in which participants talked about the conflict in the Pakistani province of Kashmir that Astrid Stuth ’11 helped organize while attending the Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong. That meeting included trust-building activities and allowed the participants to “see and understand the other side [of the conflict],” she said.

Stuth is the assistant conference coordinator and finance director for YIPI, which has received grants totaling at least $40,000 from sources ranging from the Wilson School to an anonymous donor.

The idea for YIPI emerged after Stuth discussed the weaknesses of “Initiative for Peace” with friend Michael Schoenleber, a current student at Li Po Chun, and the two decided to create an improved conference together. Schoenleber is the head conference coordinator and founder of YIPI.

The conference will take place from July 7 to 18 this summer at King’s Academy boarding school outside of Amman, Jordan, and the participants will be between the ages of 16 and 19.

While the majority of people working on the initiative are students at the United World College in Hong Kong, University students Cale Salih ’10 and Kalila Minor ’11 have assisted Stuth, whose duties include contacting individuals and organizations in the United States and training conference facilitators.

Stuth is headed to Hong Kong this Saturday to train the facilitators, who are mostly current students at Li Po Chun and hail from numerous countries, including the United States, Egypt, Australia, Israel, Iraq, Venezuela and Canada.

They were selected “based on their facilitation skills and experience from the ... Kashmir conference ... and/or on their interest and enthusiasm in conflict management,” Stuth said in an e-mail.

Stuth said she hopes that “Americans will come back to their home communities after the conference and talk about their experiences.” The main goal of the conference is for participants to “set up development projects in Iraq that are youth run and oriented,” she added.

Salih said that her goal for the project was to help “provide stipends that actually achieve something.” There are not “many initiatives for this age group of Iraqis,” she added. “Their interaction with the outside world is so limited.”

The endeavor is currently in its fundraising phase, during which the University has been “increasingly helpful,” Stuth said. After Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson sent an e-mail detailing the project to Acting Wilson School Dean Nolan McCarty, he e-mailed Stuth last Thursday to inform her that the Wilson School was awarding her $15,000.

Stuth then received an anonymous matching grant for $25,000. Dickerson and the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life also made a contribution of an undisclosed amount last Tuesday.

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“I have access to discretionary money, which I use to fund a variety of events and activities on campus, as well as to support students’ participation in conferences,” Dickerson explained in an e-mail.

Though the grants have been beneficial, Stuth is eager to raise more money. The conference is free for all participants because having a “diverse group of people is important to facilitating meaningful dialogue,” Stuth said. The money will be used to finance the flights, accommodations and food for all of the participants.