Laying the foundation for peaceful, stable, and resilient communities in greater Tonj

GRANT RECIPIENT

World Food Programme (WFP)

IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS

United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Peace Canal (PC) , The Organization for Children Harmony (TOCH) and The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)

COVERAGE

Tonj South, Tonj North and Tonj East Counties

BUDGET

US$ 12,273,540

Duration

August 15, 2022 - August 14, 2024

DESCRIPTION

Efforts to address conflict in Tonj over the last two decades have generally not adopted an intentional, sequenced, and community-led peacebuilding approach. Resolutions are often not implemented, with no visible peace dividends or mechanisms to contain new incidents. The suppression of norms of restraint has removed safeguards from customary institutions, which is exacerbated by ongoing impunity. Peace attempts often lack resourcing and scope to cover the maximum geographic and social extent of prevailing conflict dynamics.

The project, during inception, situates dialogues in a systematic process. Partners engage those directly responsible for violence and work to strengthen community structures and practices for conflict management. The Greater Tonj conference, to be held after these consultations, will articulate the negotiated position of all stakeholders, including key issues and proposed mechanisms for addressing them. The broad programmatic parameters already proposed based on initial analysis will be streamline and aligned with the inter-group agreement on priorities. Selected resilience and stabilization interventions will be implemented.

Those responsible for initiating violence will be engaged across all pillars and youth (and women) associated with armed groups will be targeted for resilience and livelihoods programming. Partners will create forums for women to build confidence and formulate strategic approaches to influence male dominated spaces, while targeting women deliberately for resilience interventions as part of a longer-term gender transformative agenda.

THE THREE PILLARS

RECONCILIATION

The overarching objective is to strengthen community-level peace infrastructure to manage conflict related issues, by pursuing an iterative and cumulative process of community engagement, dialogues and inter-connected follow-up activities. The strategy is oriented towards a system that addresses four dimensions: prevention, warning, response and rebuilding. Interventions include establishing and strengthening local mechanism for conflict management; emphasising continuity in the personnel who are taking up roles in the community mechanisms; progressively linking community mechanisms and local government structures; discussing sustainability with the communities and the government.

STABILIZATION

Partners strengthen the rule of law and engage communities and local authorities to make political decision-making more inclusive. The consortium works with women’s and youth groups to formulate peace strategies based on which they advocate for their reconciliation and livelihood needs with the local authorities. Formal and traditional local leaders, on the other hand, participate in capacity building exercises that enable them to deliver better governance outcome. The programme supports alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, particularly to resolve the rising number of land disputes related to the increase in returns. Finally, partners establish Police Community Relations Committees and rehabilitate traditional and civil courts in each of the four target counties

RESILIENCE

Under the pillar, RSRTF will support communities to rebuild their livelihoods and improve their resilience. Interventions will be designed to intentionally strengthen the prospects for peace since experience has shown that immediate and incremental contributions to peace through livelihoods activities are not only achievable in conflict hotspots, but they also represent meaningful contributions to resilience. Enhancing access to livelihoods for youths, particularly, reduces the ability for elites to exploit local grievances and mobilize communities for organised violence. Furthermore, resilience to (conflict) shocks is strengthened when interventions reduce the impact of violence on household and community assets, while simultaneously enhancing access and mobility. Such incremental gains in stability (if not peace) help build a foundation for more expanded efforts to achieve positive peace, through complementary or sequential programming by RSRTF partners and others. The interventions will include Food for Assets, asset developments, livelihood interventions as peace dividends and sources of peace, market linkages, and skills building.