Dr Meikko Forones1
1Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Biography:
Meikko holds a doctorate in International Relations from Monash University, where his research focused on giving voice to children in vulnerable situations, particularly those affected by armed conflict. His doctoral project investigated the agency of conflict-affected children in the Philippines and their role in peacebuilding within their communities. Drawing on his background as a child-rights practitioner, Meikko worked with Save the Children Philippines, leading initiatives to support children impacted by conflict and natural disasters. His work in these challenging environments helped shaped policies and interventions that addressed children's immediate needs while also empowering them to take part in community-level initiatives.
Abstract:
Children in conflict zones are often portrayed as passive victims, a narrative that predominates in media, humanitarian, and UN reports. While acknowledging their vulnerability, this representation oversimplifies their lived experiences and agency. This research challenges such reductive depictions by exploring children’s agency through the lens of their everyday lives, offering a more inclusive framework for understanding their roles in peacebuilding.
Grounded in the notion of everyday peace and the agentic understanding of childhood, this study explores how children in the conflict-affected ‘SPMS Box’ in the Philippines navigate their lived realities. Using a Children and Youth Participatory Action Research approach, this study collaborated with a local youth organisation to conduct field observations, and interviews and drawing activities with children.
The findings reveal that children possess a nuanced understanding of conflict and actively navigate its challenges. Through everyday acts of diplomacy, empathy, and care, they build relationships within and across conflict lines, fostering resilience and social cohesion. These seemingly small acts, while not directly altering strategic outcomes of conflict, hold the potential to disrupt divisive narratives of conflict and can create meaningful change for their communities.
This study contributes to the theorisation of everyday peace by highlighting children’s informal power mechanisms and subaltern agency, demonstrating their capacity to shape and influence their immediate and relational worlds. In repopulating the concept of everyday peace within the context of children’s experiences, it enhances this notion, highlighting the valuable, albeit often underestimated role of children in creating peace in the context of their everyday lives.