December 23, 2021 – We are proud to announce that WPDI will soon undertake a new set of peacebuilding and entrepreneurship activities in Central Equatoria State as part of a consortium with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a United Nations organization that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. Through the consortium, WPDI and IOM will receive funding from the United Nations’s multi-partner Reconciliation, Stabilization and Resilience Trust Fund (RSRTF) to conduct peacebuilding activities in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria State. As an interaction of the RSRTF’s Area-Based Programing (ABP) mechanism, the partnership will focus on four counties within the state in an aim to restore productivity to a highly fertile corner of the country as well as prevent and mitigate conflict resulting from displacement.
The South Sudan RSRTF’s objective is to provide strategic financing that lessens the destructive drivers of conflict and help develop more peaceful, and ultimately self-reliant, communities. To achieve this, the fund brings together UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other key stakeholders to pursue opportunities that promote transformational change. This approach is sustainable, inclusive, and community driven, all important factors that WPDI promotes as well.
Titled “Locally-Driven Solutions for Social Cohesion and Promoting Early Recovery in the Country’s Former Breadbasket”, the consortium is unique for the ABP mechanism in that it pairs IOM (the UN lead) exclusively with experienced local and international NGOs. Composed of five members with a rich history of engagement in southern Central Equatoria State, we hope to create synergies that will return stability and livelihoods to this important region of the country, located between the national capital of Juba and the border with Uganda. As a member of the consortium, WPDI will contribute by strengthening and expanding our existing Youth Peacemaker Network within Central Equatoria State, conduct community dialogues like the recent one our Youth Peacemakers conducted in Yei River County, and train and support the establishment of new small businesses.
In making final preparations for the project’s launch, the five consortium members are now in the process of establishing the roadmap that will serve as the interface between the consortium and local stakeholders, including local government, traditional authorities, and civil society). The project will start at a critical time when South Sudan is struggling to end the civil conflict that has torn the country apart. It is our conviction that by fostering social innovation and local initiative, our project can help communities of Yei, Lainya, Morobo and Kajo-Keji – and communities in South Sudan more widely – work towards this objective.