By Michel Nkurunziza

Competitive University students in Rwanda with projects aimed at peacebuilding on the African continent got prizes while others got funding to implement their ideas.

The "Big Prize of Peace" project was inaugurated by the Pan-African Organization for Peace and Conflicts Resolution (OPPRC) in partnership with seven private universities.

Three winners were on Friday awarded the " Big Prize of Peace" securing Rwf50 million to implement their projects in Rwanda and Africa in general.

The contest, which has been held in other African countries, comes to Rwanda for the first time; as a way of learning from Rwandan experience of building peace and security 30 years after the devastating 1994 genocide against Tutsi.

The competition, which has been conducted in other 12 African countries, attracted 400 university students in Rwanda- out of which only seven finalists (including four Rwandans) were awarded with trophies and certificates of whom three winners secured funding to implement their peacebuilding projects.

The competitors were tasked with designing projects on conflict resolution, governance, fighting terrorism, climate change, gender based violence (GBV) among others.

Ezekiel Nzuki, a Kenyan who is a Theology student from the Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA) and overall winner of the contest, designed the project dubbed " Daughters of Tomorrow: Africa's renaissance" which he said will promote African women's education to have capacity in peacebuilding for the continent.

He also designed another project called “Rwanda’s Growth: The Power of Making Progress".

Nzuki's project showed how other African nations can emulate Rwanda’s path to peace and gender equality to enhance sustainable growth.

"We have to invest in women's education to unlock Africa's full potential. I took Rwanda as a model of women's education considering the strides made so far. Educate a woman and you educate a nation. Educating women means increasing efforts in peace building in Africa and Africa is one. We need women who are lawyers, women who promote peace, women who can teach about history and conflict resolution"; he said.

"Africans should be proud of being Africans and never apologize for it and we have to empower the youth to build a united Africa,” he added.

Fred Junior Mugisha, a student from Mount Kenya University, who emerged third, designed the project dubbed, “Scramble Africa,” which highlights the impact of colonialism in Africa including divisionism.

“We aim to educate young Africans on the importance of peace and how to invest efforts into developing their homeland instead of migrating elsewhere,” he said.

Leila Drammeh emerged second with a project: Transforming Sub-saharan youth through entrepreneurship and peacebuilding.

" Eradicating youth unemployment is a strong pillar for peacebuilding in Africa. They need access to education and capital to make Africa more peaceful and secure," she said.

Callixte Kabera, the President of the Private Universities' Association, said: "This is a demonstration of African youth’s ability to build peace and resolve conflicts, shaping the future of a prosperous Africa. Universities should play a big role in peacebuilding by engaging university students, peace dialogues and education."

Abdoulaye Fallati, President of Pan-African Organization for Peace and Conflicts Resolution said Rwanda serves as a role model for sustainable peace and called on the youth to build on this legacy.

Fallati also advised the young Africans to learn to be innovative and proactive, and especially follow in the footsteps of President Kagame, whom he commended for his leadership, choosing peace and being a role model for Africa.

" The future of Africa is in the hands of youth. We can build the youth to deliver on innovative initiatives through education and government help. President Kagame is our model of good leadership to rebuild Africa," he said.