In pursuit to solidify and create more impact towards promoting social cohesion, the Youth in Action network from South Sudan hosted a 3-day advocacy training workshop for over 20 young people and faith actors in juba, South Sudan.
Arigatou International – End Child Poverty, Norwegian Church Aid – Regional Peace Programme and the South Sudan Council of Churches accompanied youth in the workshop in support of their advocacy journey. The workshop sought to not only equip the young people with practical skills and knowledge on advocacy but also provided a space for young people to reflect on their advocacy journeys with the intention of coming up with advocacy action in their communities. campaigns towards promoting social cohesion.
“Youth In Action means young people taking charge of what they want to see. It means youth taking action to promote peace, take up leadership in the community” remarks by David Ludiong, the Youth In action leader in South Sudan, at the beginning of the workshop.
The advocacy training responded to David’s sentiments, emboldening the actions and leadership of young people with skills to create meaningful change in the community. The workshop exposed the diverse knowledge and wide impact the young people had created in their communities.
From hosting sports events, peace camps to dialogue sessions; young people and faith actors in South Sudan demonstrated being fervent champions to building cohesive communities in South Sudan. This was as well echoed by Tut Thomas, Secretary General of the South Sudan Council of Churches.
“The youth have been journeying with us towards promoting Peace in South Sudan”. Tut Thomas.
The young people together with faith actors lauded the training workshop as an opportunity to bolster their engagement in advocacy processes.
“Advocacy is an important tool for us as South Sudanese youth to use to promote peace, amplify our voices and address issues in our communities in non-violent ways” Sunday Wani, youth, South Sudan.
The workshop provided an opportunity not only to equip the young people and faith actors with skills and comprehensive knowledge on advocacy but also created a networking and conversational safe space for young people and faith actors. By creating a safe networking and conversational space, we strengthened our networks and partnerships in South Sudan, particularly the Youth In action network.