Peacebuilding and Trauma Healing Workshops in South Sudan

• In Event: Navigating violence, trauma and safety

Proposal

Relevance
For the first time in the history of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide have surpassed 100 million (UNHCR, 2023). This staggering number equates to 1 out of every 74 people on earth being displaced. Out of this number, 35.3 million people are refugees who were forced to flee persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations and nearly half the world’s refugees are under the age of 18. Educators can play a pivotal role in identifying, challenging and addressing these inequities. Moreover, peace educators can play a key role in advocating for peacebuilding and trauma informed programs to build awareness and contribute to a more peaceful future. Without acknowledging and addressing the state of conflict and forced migration with a sense of immediacy, we collectively fail as a society to protect the world’s most vulnerable and contribute to the ongoing turmoil and instability throughout the world.

This paper will discuss a school and community-based peacebuilding and trauma healing program that was implemented in South Sudan in 2019 and 2023. The research and training program evolved since 2010 and included research and training with schools and university teacher education programs, community members and non-government organizations. Lessons learned in two pilot phases of training and through ongoing research, contributed to the development of the community-based training program discussed in this paper. Due to travel related restrictions during the pandemic, there was a gap between the two phases of training and plans are underway to conduct additional workshops in 2024.

Problem
The post-conflict situation in South Sudan poses significant challenges for educators and community members as they work to rebuild the nation after years of civil unrest. According to the Ministry of General Education and Instruction in South Sudan (2012), “decades of neglect and years of civil war have left the country with a shattered infrastructure, a large diaspora of some of its best talents, and generations of youth who have never had the opportunity to attend school” (p. 13). The quality of education in the vast majority of schools is low due to lack of resources, facilities, ongoing insecurities and an extreme shortage of trained teachers. In addition, cultural biases and gender-based violence constrain the progress towards equality for women and girls.

Methodology and Framework
Brofenbrenner’s Bioecological Model (2001) describes how ecological systems interact with one another to influence the development of a person. Using this model provided a structure for the research design and it allowed us to investigate the various systems to gather a more comprehensive and multi-ecological perspective of the issues affecting the community. Contributing to the development of the workshops were two pilot teacher training programs in 2012 and 2014 held in Juba and Aweil and 20 semi structured interviews conducted with teachers, students, non-government organization representatives and faculty members. Following the pilot programs, a week-long peacebuilding course was taught in Juba, South Sudan in June, 2014 with 40 pre-service and inservice teachers, faculty members, ministry representatives and non-government organization representative. Collectively, the research and previous teacher development training programs helped to plan the curriculum and format for the community-based trauma and peacebuilding workshops. Discussed in this paper are the findings from three community training workshops in Wau, Rumbek North and Cueibet. The Wau training included 50 community members and was held in January 2019. The Rumbek and Cuibet training were held April 2023 and included a total of 106 participants. Community Peacebuiding and Trauma Healing Workshops were organized with Women for Women of South Sudan and Math Awar Dhieth Organization (MADO) Lakes State-Rumbek.

Findings and Opportunities
Findings from participants in South Sudan overwhelmingly note the need for more trauma and peacebuilding education throughout all ecological systems. Educators, school administrators, community members, university faculty, and those working in government and non-government all emphasize that more education is desperately needed if the country is to achieve stability and heal from the long- term effects of war. It is unrealistic to expect that the world’s newest country will have the infrastructure and expertise to offer a full range of psychosocial and educational support to meet the needs of the community. While the short introductory workshops just touched on the vast array of needs in this area, participants in all sites noted the importance of learning about trauma and strategies for personal healing.

Conflict, violence, and loss have affected the entire community and participants discussed the need for more understanding about how trauma affects the body, how to cope with loss and death, and strategies to use for self-expression, stress reduction and relaxation. Community members emphasized the need to have greater understanding of these issues so that they too could provide support to the younger generation, many of whom seem to experience a sense of hopelessness about their futures. Education is viewed as the only means to build a stronger and more peaceful society, but participants noted the difficulty in paying school fees and the providing for their family. Girls and women being forced to marry to provide money and food for their family was also a major detriment to girls’ education.

Impact
Research that explores how the community and school systems can work in partnership with other ecological systems to support the needs of refugees is limited. Knowledge about best practices for supporting those affected by war and violence will help to establish programs and services to build peace and foster integration and intercultural understanding. The current global state of violence and mass displacement is unprecedented and now, more than ever, the need for peace education is paramount if we hope to create an interdependent and sustainable world. Peace education has an important role in creating a more just and equitable world and all educators need to be agents of peace who promote nonviolence, respect, understanding, and compassion for all individuals in society.

Authors

• Jan Stewart, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba

• Elizabeth Aluk Andrea, Manitoba Women for Women of South Sudan Inc