Saumya Aggarwal is a peacebuilder and social entrepreneur who started her journey by using arts and dance for awareness and advocacy. She co-founded Youth for Peace International with a vision to create peaceful communities by empowering young people. She facilitates prejudice reduction and conflict transformation programs and policy advocacy initiatives focused on meaningful youth engagement. Her experience has been in facilitating community based dialogues in fragile contexts, integrating youth perspectives into public policy, designing mental health and trauma healing initiatives and supporting refugee rehabilitation and violence prevention. She is also engaged as the Asia coordinator for UNOY and has worked with various UN agencies and INGOs like United States Institute of Peace, GPPAC, Seeds of Peace.
Mridul Upadhyay
Trustee & Chief Advisor
Mridul Upadhyay is a youth peacebuilding and inclusive governance practitioner with over a decade of experience establishing youth participatory mechanisms. He advises YfPI leadership and previously served as Regional Youth Peace & Security and Youth Political Participation Coordinator at UNDP Asia Pacific, and Asia Coordinator for the United Network of Young Peacebuilders. His work spans UN agencies, the US Institute of Peace, Search for Common Ground, and the Commonwealth. Mridul advances peace through education, advocacy, research, networking, community dialogue, and capacity-building for individuals, youth-led organizations, public officials, and UN entities.
Mannat Dhillon
Program Lead
Mannat Dhillon is a peacebuilding practitioner and youth engagement specialist with over seven years of experience in experiential learning and leadership development. A former YfPI and ALLY Fellow, she has facilitated 30+ multi-day workshops across India, including in Manipur, Nagaland, Kashmir, and Kerala, working with young people navigating complex social contexts.
She has represented youth voices at global platforms such as the UNESCO ECOSOC Forum and Peace Connect, Nairobi. Her work focuses on fostering dialogue, empathy, and critical reflection in diverse settings. Mannat believes in the power of transformative spaces to equip young people with the skills and confidence to lead in their own unique ways.
