The agentic capacity of youth as peacebuilders is now not in doubt. In this paper we used a mixed methods research to explore the views of elite youth concerning the challenges to youth engagement in peacebuilding. The study population included 120 females and 183 males. Out of the 303, we noticed that 145 had some experience with conflict while 26 were active fighters. From the results, we argued that there are three strands of factors affecting youth engagement in peacebuilding. First, youth are mobilised by political forces (actors) and traditional leaders. Second, youth are excluded from peacebuilding initiatives because they are conceptualised as troublemakers. Thirdly, the youth lack peacebuilding skills. Therefore, peacebuilding organisations, institutions and networks should actively train youth in peace programming initiatives. National architectures of peace should organize peacebuilding capacity training programmes for youth and engage them actively in peacebuilding initiatives.
Keywords: Challenges, Youth, engagement, peacebuilding
