March 10, 2022 (Kadugli, South Kordofan State – Sudan): IGAD-MSU concluded a three-day workshop which ran from 8th to 10th March in Kadugli, South Kordofan State -Sudan. This was the 2nd out of the series of three workshops, of its kind to be done by MSU in Sudan. The main objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of Member States’ local administration officials, native administrators, women, and youth to engage in peacebuilding activities.
The participants of the workshop included representatives from the Local Government, local administrators, executive directors, cease-hostilities mechanisms, Humanitarian Aid Commission, Youth Resistance Committees, local administrators, princes of tribal administrations, Reconciliation Mechanisms, Women and Youth Representatives; all of which work within the thematic areas of conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
IGAD has always advocated ‘getting closer to the people’ of the Member States, hence MSU prioritised reaching and engaging with grassroots at the peripheries, giving them easier access to Knowledge, capacity building and skill development.
The workshop provided a platform and space for the participants to learn about conflict and peacebuilding. They engaged in discussions on current conflict examples in Sudan, methods of conflict resolution, avenues of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence concepts, governance and sustainable development concepts, in the framework of peace-making, and peacebuilding and societal dialogue as a way to bridge post-conflict challenges. The workshop also shed light on CSO’s role in peacebuilding and advocacy, gender mainstreaming, peacekeeping operations, natural resources sustainable management and its role in peacebuilding. Other concepts that were explored include the Do No Harm concept, and Environmental Sensitive development projects
At the end of the workshop, the participants highlighted the challenges faced in the 6 post-conflict peace-building phases and came up with recommendations to ensure the participation of local administrations/conflict resolution committees will commit to conflict prevention, reconciliation approaches that promote peaceful coexistence.
The workshop was conducted with financial support from the European Union Trust Fund (EUTF) through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) under the IPPSHAR Program
