Katrina Leclerc was awarded the 2025 Research Impact Canada Engaged Scholarship Award for her project, Accessing Knowledge: Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Library.
ABOUT PROJECT
Youth, Peace and Security Is More Than a Policy Agenda: It’s a Framework for Transformation
In the peace and security field, young people are often celebrated as the leaders of tomorrow. But for those of us working in the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) space, it is clear that young people are already leading—often in the most challenging conditions and with the fewest resources. Through my PhD research and peacebuilding practice, I have come to understand that meaningful youth participation is not just an aspirational policy goal; it is a matter of justice, credibility, and impact.
My doctoral research looks at what young women activists themselves mean when they demand meaningful participation in decision-making on matters of peace and security. Drawing from feminist and decolonial theory, and grounded in fieldwork in places like Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Lebanon, I explore how youth are engaging with international policy frameworks like the UN’s YPS and Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agendas. Specifically, I ask: how are young people interpreting the term “participation,” and what does it take for that participation to move beyond tokenism?
This question is not just theoretical. I have worked alongside governments and youth movements to shape and implement national policies that take youth voices seriously. I co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS), served as a technical advisor to several governments on YPS and WPS National Action Plans, and led Canada’s most recent civil society dialogue process for its third Plan on WPS. I am proud that some of the initiatives I have helped lead have been cited as best practices by the UN Secretary-General.
But this work has also shown me the deep gaps that still exist. Too often, young people are consulted at the last minute, asked to sign off on policy that was written without them, or included as a checkbox rather than as true collaborators. When we talk about participation, we need to ask: Who sets the agenda? Who has decision-making power? And who is held accountable when participation is sidelined?
My work is about connecting the dots between grassroots mobilization, academic research, and national and global policymaking. I believe that research should serve the people most impacted by the issues we study—and in the case of peace and security, that often means young people who are rebuilding their communities every day. That belief is not just theoretical; it is grounded in my lived experience and the relationships I have built over the past decade with youth activists and peacebuilders around the world.
In many ways, the YPS agenda is still fighting for its place at the table. Despite major milestones since UN Security Council Resolution 2250 was adopted in 2015, many governments and institutions have been slow to translate commitments into practice. There are real tensions between grassroots movements and the institutions meant to support them, and those tensions need to be addressed openly, with care, and with accountability.
With the CCYPS, I am developing the Youth, Peace and Security Library, a digital platform to bring together academic and policy resources for youth peacebuilders and their allies. It is one step toward making research more accessible and more useful for those doing the work on the ground. With support from Research Impact Canada (RIC) and the University of Manitoba’s Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice, this project is being built with the same spirit of collaboration and justice that guides my academic and practitioner work. The goal is not just to share knowledge—it is to shift power.
Engaged scholarship is a powerful tool for social change. It requires humility, collaboration, and a willingness to centre those who are too often left out of decision-making. For me, it means listening closely to the experiences of young people and working alongside them to shape more just and sustainable peace processes. It also means acknowledging the limitations of academic spaces and finding ways to work beyond them—in communities, policy circles, and movement spaces.
The YPS agenda is not about checking boxes or creating new youth tables at old institutions. It is about reshaping those institutions so they reflect the realities, priorities, and leadership of young people themselves. It is about bridging generational divides, challenging the concentration of power, and co-creating a more equitable approach to peace and security.
As we mark key anniversaries in the YPS field and reflect on the work still ahead, I hope this research contributes to building bridges between research and practice, between generations, and across the many communities working toward peace.
ABOUT AWARD RECIPIENT
Katrina Leclerc is a PhD candidate and part-time professor in Conflict Studies at Saint-Paul University. Her research focuses on gender- and age-sensitive peacebuilding, youth engagement, and the intersection of research and policymaking in conflict-affected settings. Katrina is the co-editor of the forthcoming volume Youth Leading Change: Emerging Sites of Knowledge in Peace and Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), which explores youth as knowledge producers within the global Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda.
Katrina previously served as Program Director at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, where her work was cited as a best practice in multiple UN Secretary-General reports on YPS to the Security Council. She has advised governments in Canada, Chad, the DRC, Kenya, Lebanon, Nepal, and Rwanda on the development and implementation of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and YPS national policies. From 2021 to 2024, she also led a graduate research practicum with the NYU Center for Global Affairs, bridging academic inquiry with real-world peacebuilding practice.
She currently serves as chair of the Women, Peace and Security Network – Canada (WPSN-C) and as an advisor to the Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security (CCYPS).