Peace Voices Map 2026
One Question, and the Many “Peaces” It Connected
In the lead-up to the International Day of Peace on September 21, the Goi Peace Foundation brought a single question to young people aged 13 to 30 around the world:
“What does peace mean to YOU?”
A very simple question, with no right answer.
What we hoped for was never to hand down a single definition — to say “this is what peace is.”
We hoped that young people living in different places, cultures, and circumstances would look at peace through their own experience and their own view of the world, and put “my peace” into their own words.
And we hoped they would listen to one another’s different voices — and perhaps discover a peace they had not seen before, through someone else’s eyes.
The many “peaces” that arrived from around the world
“Peace means freedom to learn, the power to speak my mind, and the confidence to let my voice be heard.”
(Uzbekistan)
“Peace for me means living without fear, beside my loved ones and with respect for all.”
(Iran)
“Peace is when we can sit together, eat together, and laugh together — despite our differences.”
(Kenya)
“Peace begins when we choose dialogue over division and turn empathy into action.”
(Armenia)
The freedom to learn. Living without fear. Laughing together across our differences. Choosing dialogue over division.
From one question came many different “peaces,” each one reflecting the world and the life its speaker knows.
This Map was not made by young people alone
Today, the Peace Voices Map carries the voices of 268 young people from 45 countries.
This reach is something the Goi Peace Foundation could never have achieved on its own.
People who invited one young person to answer.
Teachers who brought the question to their students.
People who carried it from school into the home.
Organizations that spread it through their communities and networks.
And young people who not only shared their own Peace Voice, but passed the question on, friend to friend.
What you see on the Peace Voices Map are the voices of young people aged 13 to 30.
But behind each of those voices are people over 30 — teachers, schools, families, and organizations and communities around the world working, in their own ways, toward the same peaceful future.
It is because of each of those connections that this Map exists today.
That is why we feel this is not only a map of young people’s Peace Voices. It is also a map of connections — created each time one voice was received, one person listened, and the question was passed on to someone else.
What began with one question
“What does peace mean to YOU?”
The question was one.
The answers that came back were not.
What this journey reminded us is that peace does not require us all to have the same answer. Connection can begin when each of us puts our own peace into words — and listens to someone else’s different “peace.”
To everyone who has helped build the Peace Voices Map with us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
And above all, to the young people who looked within their own experience and worldview to find “my peace,” and sent that voice out into the world — thank you.
Thank you for sharing your voice.
We will hold each voice gathered on this Map with care, nurture the connections that have grown from them, and continue carrying this question forward — from one person to another.
“What does peace mean to YOU?”
The Goi Peace Foundation