In collaboration with several active social-civil organisations, the New Thinker Youth Civil Organization (NTYCO) hosted a national poetry festival titled “One Voice for Peace” on June 12, 2021, in Kabul province. The festival brought together fifty poets from ten provinces of Afghanistan. Approximately 50 young poets, previously recognized as outstanding poets through the organization’s previous programs in ten provinces of the country, competed and recited their poetry in the final program. Moreover, around 300 writers, university professors, cultural figures, media representatives, civil society activists, women’s rights activists, and social-civil officials attended.

The primary aim of this festival was to convey a message of peace through poetry to the warring parties, with young poets aiming to express their desire for peace and their aversion to war through their verses. During the festival, young poets recited their poems on peace and peacemaking in front of the program’s judges, media, and attendees. Three of them were selected as the top three winners of the national poetry festival “One Voice for Peace” by the program’s judges. They were honored with trophies, cash prizes, and certificates of appreciation from the New Thinker Youth Civil Organization (NTYCO).