Luke Dowdney

Fight for Peace, Brazil

Organization Focus
Fight for Peace (FFP) was founded in 2000 in the Complexo da Maré favela in Rio de Janeiro, as a community-based response to the arming and employment of young people by drug trafficking gangs. FFP has since become a global youth development NGO that adopts a public health approach to violence prevention, delivering localised primary, secondary and tertiary level interventions to prevent and reduce youth violence.

My plans with the 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Award
Over the past 17 years, FFP has grown from a grass-roots initiative in Rio to become a global NGO with over 150 staff delivering a comprehensive, research-based methodology towards youth violence prevention at a community-wide level. With this expertise and proven track record, FFP will use funds from the prize to invest in advocacy work to increase awareness of the issue of youth violence, and galvanise support to catalyse our existing violence prevention strategy as a template for other communities. Funds will be used for advocacy-focused staff, implementing targeted social-media campaigns, participating in international development forums and events, and building key international development partnerships.

How will my work change children’s and youth’s lives?
Advocacy work will help us scale the impact of our Five Pillars methodology, which addresses youth violence across the following levels:
Primary: FFP delivers a holistic, integrated set of activities (Combat Sports, Education, Employability, Support Services, Youth Leadership) that improve all young people’s physical and mental well-being, and connect them to opportunities in education and employment.
Secondary: FFP addresses the drivers to youth involvement in crime and violence, supporting young people to become resilient to risk factors and overcome challenges, and ensuring their socio-economic inclusion.
Tertiary: FFP supports young people already involved in crime/violence, and provides pathways to sustainable exits through education and employment.