As AllAfrica examines issues of peacebuilding in Africa, in collaboration with African media partners, researchers and research organizations, in an effort to give voice and visibility to the work of African scholars and researchers in universities and policy institutes, we speak to Shuvai Busuman Nyoni, the Director of the African Leadership Centre, based in Nairobi, about the importance of preparing and equipping the next generation for peacebuilding in Africa.We spoke with her at the conference Next Generation African Peacebuilding: New Voices, New Networks and New Strategies at Wilton Park in London.

I think an important aspect of peacebuilding for the African continent is preparing the next generation of Africans who will lead in peacebuilding and any work peace related.

I think there is a lot to be said for the agitation, for inclusion, for involvement, for peace itself, that young people across the African continent have been doing. It's not new, I think for generations all the way back to the struggle against colonialism we have seen young people in the role they played in peacebuilding in social change, or in demand for social change, and for the establishment of justice and fairer, more equal societies across the African continent.

I think one of the really important things is a focus on preparing the next generation in various ways, equipping them with knowledge, and the ability to generate knowledge, from their own lived experiences.  And then equipping them with the ability or the capability to translate that knowledge into relevant policy, actions for decision-makers and policymakers to take up in order for change to come about.

And then thirdly to accompany them on this journey, or along a process, of what it will take to be sometime in the future a policymaker, a decision-maker, a practitioner, a research, a scholar on peacebuilding in Africa.

AllAfrica's reporting on peacebuilding is supported by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.