Community Media Stakeholders Committed to Promoting Peace and Reconciliation

UNESCO in partnership with Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) conducted two community dialogue forums for peace and reconciliation in Yei River on 13 and14 July 2020 and in Torit between 28 and 29 July 2020, under the theme “Strengthening dialogue for peace and reconciliation in South Sudan.”

The forum was attended by over 90 participants drawn from the local media, government and its organized forces like the police, army and national security services, Civil Society Organizations, NGOs, women, youth, chiefs and members from the business community.

The peace forums aimed at strengthening the capacity of local peace actors to identify best practices, proven initiatives and scaling up on those processes to detect, prevent and mitigate communal conflicts. Attention was also placed on the media and its potential to offer alternative platforms for non-violent dialogue and reconciliation and building trust in the media and promoting professionalism and ethics in conflict sensitive reporting.

In his opening remarks, Hon. Luis Lobong Lojore, Governor of Eastern Equatoria State, described the forum as crucial in rebuilding trust and promoting peace and reconciliation in the state.