02/10/2025
Friday 27 September 2025 was special. South Sudanese youths who desire to build a peaceful, united, prosperous nation constructively, not only made history but portrayed themselves as ambassadors of peace and champions of good governance.
Multiethnic youth representatives from youth-led and youth-focused national non-profit and non-political organizations who are members of the South Sudan Youth Constitutional Working Group(SSYCW), held a National Youth Summit at Glory Regency Hotel in Juba to validate a "Youth Position Paper titled " Federal Governance in the yet-to-,be enacted permanent constitution of South Sudan," as stipulated in the Revitalized Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS) 2018.
The Summit, conducted under the auspices of the Agency for Humanitarian Assistance and Development-AHD, was funded by PAX with grants from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Power of Voices Project 2025.
The Youth Position Paper on South Sudan's permanent constitution to be enacted outlines four major issues which the constitution making mechanisms of the constitution making process should take into consideration to foster everlasting positive peace in the country, namely: (a) adaptation of a federal governance structure that is efficient and in conformity to the cultural diversity of South Sudan, (b) power representation and power balance, (c) fiscal federalism and resource sharing, and (d) land, employment, and citizens rights.
The youth focused on these issues because empirical evidence shows that violent armed conflicts in the Greater Sudan are linked to various ethnic communities accusing each other for excluding one another from access to public economic resources and opportunities such as political positions, jobs in the civil service and the private sector, land, and so forth; grievances which can be addressed by putting in place distributive justice mechanisms in a system of governance that is federal or with substantial devolution.
The Summit also marked the end of AHD's five-year advocacy project on South Sudan's permanent constitution making process in partnership with PAX, because the financial support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs was only for a 5-year period.
However, the youth believe that constructive dialogues that help South Sudanese to iron out their differences through the enactment of a nation-wide people centered convenant, a permanent constitution, can build a more everlasting positive peace than resolving grievances through violence or carrot and stick.
Therefore, AHD and the said youth peace ambassadors are exploring ways of building synergy with other interested peacebuiders to engage the grassroots in public consultations on the content of the said permanent constitution, and on the key issues the youth have highlighted in their position paper.
Those who are interested in supporting constructive peace ambassadors in this regard are most welcome to work with us.
In a special way, we sincerely thank PAX for Peace, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the people of Netherlands, for standing with South Sudanese youth in pursuing everlasting peace through constructive dialogues rather than violence. May the Almighty God bless you abundantly.
for Peace Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Sudan South Sudan Church Aid(FCA) of Peacebuilding of Federal Affairs Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) Whittaker Peace and Development Initiative #
