Initiating Solidarity and Trust in South Sudan

16 September was a great day for IofC South Sudan as volunteers in its Youth in Solidarity programme started a five day mini-forum under the theme ‘Initiating Solidarity and Trust in South Sudan’.

H.E Dr Nadia Arop Dudi, Minster for Culture, Youth and Sports gave the honour of officially opening the forum.

In her opening remarks, she urged the youth of South Sudan to take their role in nation-building seriously, and to work for peace and reconciliation. She encouraged them to take the knowledge gained from the workshop to youth in rural areas where they have become a source of insecurity. She also reminded the forum of the importance of involving the South Sudanese Diaspora who can be potential spoilers of peace.

She asked to be served with the resolutions and recommendations of the forum and promised to support the youth in their solidarity efforts.

Youth from the ten States of South Sudan and different youth organizations are represented. The majority are Peace Mobilizers (from the training conducted by IofC in April). It is good to see many of them back, enthusiastic and happy to be part of the forum. Seven of the States representatives reported to the forum on progress of the implementation of action plans that they developed during the Peace Mobilizers’ training.

For the next five days the youth, with the support of many experienced practitioners who will be presenting in plenary seasons or mini-workshops, will be exploring how they can make a difference as individuals to transform society and contribute to nation building. Five Africans from Workshop for Africa have come to help the programme.

The opening of the forum was reported on the National News both in Arabic and English.

A report of the forum on the allAfrica.com website can be seen here >>.

Angelina Teny

Initiatives of Change South Sudan