Youth, Peace and Security Library (YPS Library)
The Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Library is a digital platform designed to bring together academic and policy resources for youth peacebuilders and their allies. At its core, the platform serves as a global mapping of YPS coalitions, making visible the networks of young people and organisations driving the YPS agenda across regions.
While youth coalitions have been central to advancing YPS over the past decade, there has been no single, accessible space that captures where they are, how they are structured, and how they connect to broader policy processes. The YPS Library responds to this gap by documenting and mapping these coalitions, alongside a curated repository of research, policy documents, and organisational profiles.
This mapping function is not only descriptive. It provides a way to better understand how the YPS agenda is being operationalised in practice—where coalitions exist, where gaps remain, and how ideas, strategies, and advocacy efforts travel across contexts. In doing so, it contributes to a more grounded and relational understanding of the YPS ecosystem.
Beyond the map, the platform brings together a wide range of resources, including academic publications, policy reports, expert profiles, and multimedia materials. Users can explore key themes such as youth participation, prevention of violence, peace processes, social cohesion, and climate security from a youth-centred perspective.
Developed with the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS), the project reflects a broader commitment to making research more accessible and more useful for those doing the work on the ground. With financial support from Research Impact Canada (RIC) and the University of Manitoba’s Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice, the YPS Library is part of a wider effort to bridge research, policy, and practice in the peace and security field.
The goal is not only to share knowledge, but to strengthen connections across the YPS community and make visible the collective infrastructure that sustains the agenda globally.
Updates and new resources will continue to be added as the platform evolves. Stay tuned!
About the Research Team
The YPS Library is led by Katrina Leclerc (University of Winnipeg / Saint Paul University) and Shayne Wong (University of Manitoba), in collaboration with the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS). The project builds on ongoing collaboration with youth coalitions and peacebuilders globally, whose work forms the foundation of the platform itself.
Katrina Leclerc is a PhD candidate and part-time professor in Conflict Studies at Saint-Paul University, and sessional lecturer at the University of Winnipeg, where her research focuses on gender- and age-sensitive peacebuilding, youth engagement, and inclusive policy in conflict-affected contexts. She has advised governments and UN agencies on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas, and is widely recognized for bridging academic and practitioner spaces.
Katrina Leclerc
Co-investigator
Shayne Wong is a PhD Candidate in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba and a Researcher at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. She is a peace and security researcher and practitioner whose work analyses the intersections between gender, forced migration, and the peace and security agendas. Shayne is a co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS).
Shayne Wong
Co-investigator
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Imogen Fraser (she/her) is a young researcher interested in Youth, Peace and Security, disarmament and demilitarisation and using global solidarity to connect young peacebuilders around the world. She is currently a research assistant at the Research Network for Women Peace and Security (Canada) and Network Coordinator at the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS). Imogen is also passionate about the power of sport for creating peace.
Imogen Fraser
Graduate Researcher
Blanche is a bilingual social impact leader, youth advocate and psychotherapist, working at the intersection of mental health, equity, linguistic rights, and youth engagement. She brings a systems-level, intersectional lens to advocacy, community leadership, and program development, with a strong focus on youth-led change. She is a core team member of the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS). Blanche holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Blanche Monabeka
Contributor
Naiki is a co-founder of Observatorio de Juventudes Unidas por la Paz (OJUP). She holds degrees in International Relations and Political Science from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico. She is passionate about programming, research, and gender issues. As an activist, she is committed to building a better tomorrow for young girls and women across Mexico and Latin America. And, as a feminist, she believes in a feminism that is inclusive for all women and that listens their experiences, irrespectively of their identity or ethnicity.
Naiki G. Olivas Gaspar
Contributor
