Peace Building and Community Cohesion Project, Fas 2

The UNDP led project Peace and Community Cohesion, PaCC II, implemented 2020-06-01 - 2024-03-31, has come to an end with strong and tangible results: most indicators surpassed set targets. Examples of results achieved includes: Indicator 1.1: No. of functional Peace Committees established/ strengthened (Baseline: 116. Target 2023: 168). In 2023, 11 more Peace Committees established/ strengthened and trained. Indicator 1.3: Number of local government officers with increased skills on transformational leadership and conflict management (Baseline: 47. Target 2023: 450 ). In 2023, 532 (150 female) cumulatively. 95 leaders (35 female) in 2023 through 2 trainings conducted in Bor and Kuajok Indicator 2.1: Number of people receiving Psycho-social support for trauma from trained volunteer counselors (Baseline: 167. Target 2023: 200). In total 27,843 to date. In 2023, 677 individuals (333 female) were reached through psycho-social support and trauma healing training, awareness, and support. Indicator 3.5: Gender affirmative action bill developed in an inclusive manner and presented and debated in parliament (Baseline: No). In 2023, the Bill was developed and presented to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs for review. Transformative change for gender equality is at the forefront of the project, by design and though implementation, ensuring equal representation and participation in all activities and thematically mainstreamed in capacity building. PaCC is supporting women to learn about their rights, strengthen their capacities, are given conditions (training and startup capital) to start their own businesses, raise their voices, engage and participate actively in their communities. This focus is confirming the important role women play for peace-building, and how their active participation in the social and economic life of their community contribute to strengthen the resilience not only of themselves and their families, but also of the whole community. This contributes to reducing the risk of violence and conflict and increases the chances for development, and hence reduces the risk of humanitarian needs, and as such it is an good example of the important interplay between humanitarian aid development initiative and peace-building. PaCC also contributes to policy development at national level: an international expert was hired to support the Ministry of Gender Child and Social Welfare to develop the draft Affirmative Action for Women's Representation Bill, 2022, while the Ministry planned and mobilized stakeholders for national consultations in the process of developing the bill. In 2023, the Bill was presented to the Parliament. Together with UNWOMEN, joint work is being done to elaborate a national action plan on gender and security reform. The PaCC activities also contributed to capacity building, training, awareness raising related to the inclusion of 2% of persons with disabilities in the party list in relation to the drafting of the amendment of the Election Act. The project has provided technical and financial support to the Ministry of Peace-building (MoPB) to develop the draft National Peace-building Policy, draft Standard Operating Guidelines for peace partners and set up a Peace-building Coordination Forum for implementing partners for a more coordinated and strategic implementation of peace-building activities and to implement the national Peace-building. The PaCC team hopes that the future PaCC project (phase 3 from March 2024) can support a Peace-building Bill to guide the final transitional period (ending February 2024). Support was also provided to the South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission to establish an Early Warning Early Response unit, with a 'situation room' that manages the incoming alerts from the AlertMe application developed within the project previous years. The app, which can be used by a semi-literate person, is already used by local peace actors (often peace committees) in 5 states. In 2022, over 800 alerts were reported, the majority were incidents of communal violence and revenge killing, followed by gender based violence and cattle raids The PaCC II has assisted refugees and returnees at the places where the project is present, mainly border points: Aweil, Wau, Renk, Malakal, Bentiu and Ruweng Administrative Area. No project activity has been impacted negatively by the influx of refugees and returnees following the Sudan war, but UNDP is aware of the new dynamics following the inflow and is ready to expand the emergency response by focusing on conflict prevention between the returnees/ refugees entering South Sudan with cattle and the South Sudanese cattle keepers and farmers along the international boundaries. Some activities are already conducted such as: social cohesion activities, refresher training to 24 trainers in these areas to provide individual and group-based psycho-social support (PSS), reintegration activities to avoid creating new camps and manage peoples expectations etc. Based on results from the previous phase, PaCC I, it can be seen that the projects have had a positive impact on cattle related conflicts, which are now more often successfully avoided or de-escalated through the traditional conflict resolution mechanism under the auspices of UNDP's civil society partners. The social economic activities for women, organised within the project, improved both inter-communal relations and the livelihood of the participating women. Furthermore, through coaching and mentorship, youth and persons with disability improved their skills, permitting them to gain greater confidence for participation in peace and governance processes. As noted in the Midterm Evaluation (August 2022), the success comes as much from the design and proper implementation, as the PaCC leadership and commitment. The project is building upon local ownership, working with and through existing structures and actors, with a listening ear towards the needs of the communities, resulting in strong community engagement. The PaCC team has also built a strong relation with the government, academia and implementing civil society organisations, which increases the chances for longer term sustainability and impact.

The overarching objective (outcome) of the project, aligned with the UNDP South Sudan Country Programme Document, is that the South Sudanese population, particularly the most vulnerable groups, benefit from strengthened peace infrastructures, increased cohesion, reconciliation, trust and accountable governance at all levels. This goal will be reached through achievement of three outputs: 1. Infrastructures of peace at the central and local levels are enabled to manage conflicts and foster peaceful co-existence; 2. Communities have structures to encourage trauma healing, reconciliation, violence reduction and reinforce social cohesion; 3. Peace processes are engendered and conditions of women, youth and minority participation in decision making improved. The main target groups are youth, women, persons with disability and minority groups in seven so called conflict clusters around Bor, Wau, Aweil, Bentiu, Malakal, Torit and Rumbek.  Behaviour and attitudes at communal level will be changed through strengthening of capacity and increased participation of these groups in decision making and other key processes.