Invest in Community-Led Conflict Solutions in South Sudan

I'm fundraising to support Peace Canal (see more below!) to raise the funds for a permanent office in Juba, South Sudan. Why fundraise for that, when there are so many ongoing needs on the ground? To do effective work, it needs coordination, stability and enough energy to focus on what matters most. Many NGOs are constantly preoccupied with basic running costs, lurching from one project to another. Office rental in Juba is expensive; usually it has to come out of project costs from donors, and once the project is over, that's it.

Having a permanent office will give them one pillar of organisational stability that extends beyond the support one project can offer.

More organisational stability means they can focus more energy on the work they are passionate about: peacebuilding at the grassroots, within and between communities of Lakes, Jonglei and GPAA. Before I come to what that work is, for some tangible inspiration on what the office will be like, here we go (the design is by Mahali, a South African based outfit that has done amazing work on the continent):

And what about Peace Canal and their work in communities that this stability in Juba will support?

People living in traditional pastoralist communities in South Sudan are yet to see a meaningful, sustainable, material peace. Peace Canal exists to put the focus of peacebuilding efforts back on them.

Cattle raiding, abductions and violence between communities is displacing and dividing communities across the country, piling further trauma on a decades’ long civil war. Agricultural activities are not able to make the most of arable land, and whole communities, including innocent children and the eldery, are caught up in cycles of retribution between rival groups.

A huge portion of South Sudan’s population currently require humanitarian assistance, whilst implementation of the peace agreement on the national level remains slow, leaving many people in uncertainty and insecurity.

Many international organisations are working to address the needs of conflict-affected communities, but few can sustain a presence over the long term in the communities most at risk of violent conflict.

Peace Canal is a South Sudanese NGO made up of local advisors, drawn from conflicting communities in Lakes, Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area. With a deep understanding of local contexts and the trust of the communities where they work, they are at the fault lines of violent conflict. They are shaping sustainable solutions together with these marginalised groups.

They support local communities to strengthen dialogue structures with their neighbours, giving a foundation to solve their grievances and commit to peaceful collaboration.

Since its creation in 2021 under the UK-funded Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund, Peace Canal's has successfully facilitated the cattle migration process in Greater Rumbek, resulting in the peaceful movement of around one million cattle over consecutive years without serious incidents of violence; they've provided rapid response and support to discourage violent mobilisation of armed groups between the Dinka Bor, Lou Nuer, Gawaar Nuer and Murle communities in Jonglei and Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA); and they’ve been a key partner in driving forward structural responses to conflict, including: the Pieri Peace Process and the subsequent Inter-Communal Governance Structures in Jonglei-GPAA; the Akut de Door and the Cattle Migration Management process in Lakes.

International organisations currently attract the bulk of humanitarian aid, whilst national NGOs often lack sufficient and sustained funding to keep going. This crowdfunding campaign is to support Peace Canal raising the capital they need to build a permanent home in Juba. This will ensure they have a reliable base for operations in the years to come, can stay focussed on strategy and not survival.

Find out more at https://www.peacecanal.org

Due to international private financing restrictions currently in place on South Sudan, Peace Canal is unable to accept foreign donations directly. As the Team Leader of the Peace Opportunities Fund, I am receiving donations on behalf of the organisation, with the full amount to be transferred to Peace Canal at the end of the campaign. Please contact me through this page with any questions.