The Peace Centre partnered with the Centre for Inclusive Governance, Peace and Justice (CIGPJ) in 2019 and the National Transformational Leadership Institute (NTLI) at the University of Juba in 2020 to train 46 young women leaders (from diverse CSOs, academic institutions and informal networks) in Juba, South Sudan. Building on this training, and addressing the capacity needs and identified limitations to young women’s meaningful participation, the Peace Centre organized a practical skilling session from 24th to 28th May 2021 in Juba to equip young women with skills to; Engage in digital spaces for national-level organizing and in regional and international processes occurring online. Learn and practice documentation and write for publication or influencing. Understand leadership in practice with a focus on subjects such as management of finances. And last but not least to increase knowledge of key women, peace and security thematic areas.

This training included six components delivered through in-person workshops which included engaging online that equipped young women to have stronger online presence and to participate in online spaces for their personal development and for advocacy, a necessity of the COVID-19 era. Participants practically learnt how to document their experiences, reflections, lessons and recommendations with each young woman being able to produce a product to be published thereafter. The young women were led into an examination of the gaps in implementation on UNSCR 1325, their causes and recommendations going forward. This sparked a conversation on the change they wanted to realize in their communities. As participants zeroed in on their goals, they were up skilled in power mapping of stakeholders; designing a clear advocacy message and corresponding advocacy activities. At the end of the session young women developed action plans to conduct lobbying and advocacy activities

Participants also went through practical leadership Skills that focused on strengthening personal leadership skills at individual level practical skills such as managing finances and personal branding in the digital world. The last component included Advocacy and Action Planning which considered the current context, existing influencing opportunities and the participants were lastly taken through wellness practices to be integrated into the training methodology using the Healing through Rituals guide to equip young women with tools to support their wellbeing.

In 2019, the young women leaders were trained on key concepts of gender and peace building, the national and global WPS frameworks, an introduction to advocacy and national-level entry points for young women to influence implementation of the R-ARCSS following which they worked individually and in groups to influence change in communities and in targeted institutions such as Prisons and R-JMEC. In 2020, the young women were also trained on public speaking and key wellness practices. They have since worked in groups to raise awareness on the 35% quota in the R-ARCSS within Protection of Civilian camps. In both years the trainees took part in an intergenerational dialogue with more experience women leaders from civil society, international organizations, political parties and government institutions.

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