SSPC/Pact Sudan People to People Peace Building

Name: SSPC/Pact Sudan People to People Peace Building
Duration: October 2008 – October 2009
Donors: Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & UK Department for International Development

The Southern Sudan Peace Commission (SSPC) was established in 2006 to promote peace amongst the people of Southern Sudan and strive to consolidate the peace ushered in by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Pact Sudan, which has worked closely with the SSPC over the past two years, is already operational in the Transitional Areas (Abyei, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile). There are numerous links between the proposed program and Pact ongoing and previous activities in the Transitional Area.

The overall vision of this program is to support the SSPC in implementing its 2008-2011 Strategic Plan in order to build unity in cooperation with partners through south-south dialogue and people to people peace processes and pursue national healing and reconciliation among communities. This project will try to create synergies between the local government structures, some still nascent, and the grass roots structures that exist.

The SSPC currently has an established central office in Juba, Central Equatoria, and it has identified state level Directors in eight of the ten states of Southern Sudan. The proposed program will develop three sub-regional teams (Equatoria, Bhar el Ghazel, and Greater Upper Nile) to support the SSPC Directors in implementing activities at the State level.

The program has three main objectives:

• To build the capacity of local actors to mitigate conflict and prevent escalation of violence.
• To build tolerance and understanding between conflicting communities in Southern Sudan by training traditional leaders, youth and women in peace building and conflict mitigation.
• To build the capacity of the SSPC in monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MER) by providing technical training through targeted workshops for SSPC, as well as through mentoring of SSPC staff through the first two objectives.

Under the recently approved addition to SSPC by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Pact hopes to establish an Early Warning System (EWS) for the Southern Sudan Peace Commission (SSPC) which will focus on the governance level and linking it to the grassroots. This is of huge importance since national elections are scheduled for July of 2009 in addition to the referendum for self-determination of Southern Sudan early 2011.

Under the DFID contract, Pact will also establish a pool for Sustainable Recovery and Reintegration. This fund is intended to address challenges related to the return of former returnees and ex-combatants, and to support their reintegration in the communities in an inclusive and participatory approach which includes communities. Subsequently it will also be used for projects aiding communities recovering from conflicts and benefit from peace by establishing or improving new livelihood options. By hiring a consultant to work in Juba under the Southern Sudan Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration Commission (SSDDRC) Pact is able to help design reintegration strategies for Southern Sudan as well as assisting SSDDRC Staff with integration issues.

In addition, Pact is proud to name Saferworld as a sub grantee under our DFID grant in which they will be aiding in strengthening arms control as well community-focused security provisions in Southern Sudan through the newly created Bureau for Community Security and Arms Control Project through the Office of the Vice President. Saferworld will also help in drafting legislation for arms control as well as establish relationships with the National Focal Point for small and light weapons control.

Staff contacts

	Judith McCallum Peace Advisor Juba jmccallum@pactsudan.org
	Kimberly McClain Program Officer Washington DC kmcclain@pactworld.org