Youth Volunteers who have been working with the Center for Development and Governance (CDG) for some years now. Following the two day online advocacy Plan held from Nov. 26-28 and consecutive revisiting of the plan with volunteer asocial media infulencer the CDG has been been conducting online advocacy on nexus between Peace vis-a-vis Human Rights, Rule of Law and Good Governance based on the victims account in conflict affected areas of Oromia. Therefore, this platform was held at the CDG head office on Friday May 1, 2026 to discus the online advocacy performance over the last three months. In their discussion they looked into achievements from a strong perspective; some challenges or gaps noted; and how to correct or improve them during the remaining plan period.
The “CDG Social Media Influencers Team” appreciated the efforts of advocacy activity they engaged in sensitizing peace against the violence taking place in different parts of our country in general and Oromia in particular. They pointed out that the neutral approach used without blaming actors of conflict/violence responsible for the violence was a much better approach, which would make the antagonistic forces could make note of the damages to ponder over restoring peace. The issue of peace which many feared and avoided has now gained better attention at least with those who gained access to the images and information disseminated via the social media the CDG selected.
Volunteer Youth indicated that according to performance indicators, there was progress in reaching more audience, particularly reaching those non-followers. It was stated that online through CDG social media platforms, they reached over half a million audience with shares of more than 1,800 indicative of progress compared to the previous indication. In terms of the span, those who kept on watching for one minute to one point two minute accounted for 70%. Content performance in the stated period was high, indicating fast dissemination which even attracted non-followers to share, they said. This figure is much higher if those reached through the volunteer youths’ network is included.
The Youth Volunteers advocacy for peace is an integral part of the Project titled “Enhancing Multi-Stakeholder Engagement and Action to Address Governance Issues” funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).