June 9, 2023 – Following on from his week-long visit to WPDI centers around Uganda, WPDI founder and CEO, Forest Whitaker, led a WPDI mission to South Sudan to visit programs and exchange directly with beneficiaries, stakeholders and WPDI staff in Juba. This was a memorable and meaningful moment for everyone, as it was Forest’s first visit to the country since the end of the pandemic.
Forest, accompanied by Executive Director Caroline Descombris and Chief of Staff Valentine Goret, was warmly welcomed by the local communities who have hosted and benefited from a multitude of WPDI programs since we began operating in the country in 2012.
His first activity was the launch of a WPDI Peace Tournament, the most important point in the yearly cycle of our Peace Through Sports program, supported by the Swedish Postcode Foundation. Focused on the theme of “Promoting Peace and Social Cohesion Through Sports”, it brought together 24 football teams: 12 male and 12 female. The tournament featured a special event which was attended by the Deputy Governor of Central Equatoria State, the Head of UNESCO South Sudan, and the President of the South Sudan Football Association.
For Forest, having the opportunity to open the Tournament was all the more emotional because it brought back the memory of the program’s inception. It was in the context of a mission he had conducted in the country, visiting a UN Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Juba, that he had the idea of tapping the convening power of sports to foster peace and reconciliation among victims of forced displacement. Many young people in the camp were growing restless and engaging in destructive behavior due to a lack of structure and purpose. Moreover, feelings of hate and revenge were festering.
The idea of Peace Through Sports emerged as a way to offer camp residents a constructive outlet for their energy while also creating a safe space to learn essential values and address their traumas. It is also a platform for participants to learn about teamwork and discipline, as well as self respect and mutual respect. With its current 54 teams, both male and female, and including all South Sudanese tribes, the program has become a unique and popular platform to showcase how sports can empower individuals while creating conditions for promoting values, attitudes and behaviors of tolerance and dialogue from which long-term peace will prevail one day.
Another important part of the trip was the visit to our WPDI Community Learning Center (CLC) in Juba. The center is the hub of all WPDI community-based activities in Central Equatoria State, where we run educational programs including Conflict Resolution Education, Business and Entrepreneurship and ICT. It is from this center that WPDI staff and Youth Peacemakers operate, disseminating skills and knowledge and deploying grassroots peacebuilding and entrepreneurial projects, in view of creating a domino effect of positive transformation in our target communities. Not only do these centers provide crucial learning opportunities to young people, women and other marginalized communities, they also provide a safe space for creativity.
Forest was able to meet some incredible local artists at the Arts & Crafts room at the CLC. After his visit to the center, he visited the Kaluma Baby Shop in Juba, one of the small businesses supported by WPDI through our Business Bootcamp program, which offers graduates of our Entrepreneurship courses the opportunity to enter Business Plan Competitions and, for the winners, to receive a start-up capital as well as advice and backstopping.
Forest’s visit to Juba also included a number of meetings with partners and supporters of our programs in the country, all equally committed to the construction of conditions for lasting peace in the world’s youngest country that has suffered from over a decade of instability, violence and conflict. This included an event organized by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, who have been supporting our programs in South Sudan for the past four years.
Forest also held important meetings about the future of WPDI projects and peacebuilding in South Sudan with the Minister of Peacebuilding in South Sudan Hon. Stephen Par Kuol, the SRSG and Head UNMISS in South Sudan Nicholas Haysom, UNICEF South Sudan Representative Hamida Lasseko, former NBA player Luol Deng and the Luol Deng Foundation team, representatives from the US Embassy in South Sudan as well as the World Bank, and the team from our partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Throughout his exchanges with South Sudanese officials and citizens or his discussions with partners, Forest was able to measure the extent of the progress made by WPDI on the ground since his last visit before the Covid-19 crisis. The enthusiasm and excitement expressed by so many individuals demonstrated the value of the vision he has instilled in WPDI. However, these exchanges also revealed that the road to peace and sustainability remains a complex path to navigate in a country whose potential for change is still largely untapped. While this mission has reminded everyone at WPDI of the need to be ambitious and forward looking, it also has had a galvanizing effect that will encourage our volunteers and staff for the months and years to come.