“I am very happy with what WPDI is doing for our younger generation. I will rally behind WPDI and provide all the support within my reach to advance the peace agenda in schools and beyond. I am delighted because WPDI is empowering young people with mediation and conflict resolution skills which they will use to help their communities,” Hon. Cirisio Zacharia, Central Equatoria State Minister of General Education and Instruction, South Sudan
February 1, 2023 – Achieving lasting peace means that deeper transformations of culture must happen in society, which is a key role of education. In countries torn apart by violence, insecurity, economic uncertainty and geopolitical instability, that which most of us take for granted might seem out of reach: ie. prospects for economic development, safe and secure access to education, relatively peaceful, even amicable relations among citizens.
In South Sudan, decades of conflict have adversely affected generations of young people, resulting in the destruction of important elements of the country’s social fabric. This is exemplified in the latest conflict that South Sudanese people are still struggling to put behind them, a civil war that started two years into their newly-gained independence in 2011 after years of conflict with their northern neighbors of Sudan. . The resultant effect of chronic conflicts is that there is a deeply rooted mind-set of violence and conflict that was passed on to the younger generations, and which manifests itself through various forms of gang violence, including enrollments in armed groups, cattle raids, revenge killings or bride abductions. Young people are disproportionately impacted by these phenomena, both physically and psychologically, which is having a negative impact on the prospect for future stability of the world’s youngest nation.
In order to tackle these burning issues, WPDI, in partnership with the Education Above All Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, has been running a Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution initiative for young people in the country aimed at helping them become activists committed to the struggle for lasting peace.
Between May and November 2022, 1,650 pupils in the Juba, Yei River, Terekeka and Lainya counties of Central Equatoria State successfully completed our holistic peace education program conducted by WPDI’s trained network of Youth Peacemakers. The certified program focused on strategies of conflict resolution, community dialogues and peer mediation, giving participants specific tools to tackle the spread of violence and instability in their schools and their communities.
Many participants claimed that the program would change their approach to dealing with tensions and conflicts arising in their environments. “I am glad because the peace education program has created a positive change in my behaviors and attitude. I used to fight a lot whenever I disagreed with someone because I could not control my emotions, but now I have learned about managing emotions and using dialogue and mediation to resolve conflict rather than using violence which creates destruction. I also used to hate people from other tribes because I was told that they were bad, but this peace education program has helped me to love people from all ethnicities,” said Suzana Pamela, 20, from Yei Day Secondary School.
WPDI encourages participants to put the knowledge they have gained into practice and remains committed to continue supporting peace education, community dialogues and grassroot peace initiatives in South Sudan. Empowering children and young people is the key to disseminating into South Sudan the civic and ethical values, attitudes and behaviors that form the backbone of a lasting culture of peace and nonviolence.
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