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Blessed are the peacemakers

Studies show that peace deals have a 35% higher chance of success when women are involved. To that end, PWRDF is supporting the work of a KAIROS (Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative) program to facilitate Healing and Rebuilding our Community workshops within the National Women’s Program in South Sudan. PWRDF has invested $20,000 in the program because it conducts training very efficiently at the community level.

“We are adding value to the project already being supported by KAIROS without creating another layer of partner management for the National Women’s Program,” says Naba Gurung, PWRDF’s Humanitarian Response Coordinator. PWRDF is a member of KAIROS, whose connections to local organizations makes it an excellent partner in programming and advocacy.

The acute nature of the South Sudan conflict necessitated quick action: training community activists who already knew the people and were able to work within community systems. These activists are affiliated with the Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Commission (JPRC) of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan.

In 2016, PWRDF partnered with the South Sudanese diaspora in Canada to support two women activists to receive training of trainers on Healing and Rebuilding our Community in Rwanda. In 2017, PWRDF helped organize two community-based HROC workshops in Bor with the Winnipeg Women’s Resource Centre (WWRCB). About 50 women from Wau in the troubled Bahr-el-Ghazal region of western South Sudan are currently being trained to engage in peacemaking activities. And most recently, PWRDF supported six South Sudanese social activists to travel to Rwanda for the HROC training of trainers.

“We’ve seen from other countries that training and re-energizing the local peace builders is effective,” Gurung adds. “Particularly effective is intense training of trainers, a method developed by the Quakers who tested and used it in Rwanda and Burundi with great success.”