In Bazungua, residents crave peace so they can farm without fear, seize the opportunities offered by education, and build the better future they have craved for so long.
They believe this peace can only be built by addressing grievances openly and honestly, before they develop into conflict.
“When there is a dispute in our community, I move fast to help resolve it, to bring peace so that we can live together in harmony,” explains resident, Lois Wilson.
In this remote part of South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan is creating a safe space for the resolution of disagreements, promotion of reconciliation, and development of a collective action plan to secure sustainable peace.
Through an engagement conducted under the banner of the United Nations global campaign “Hear Us, Act Now for a Peaceful World’, more than 100 community members came together to explain their challenges and identify shared solutions.
“This activity has laid a very good foundation,” says Odeita James from the Civil Society Network. “People were able to share their challenges as well as their positive ideas for how we can cope better. We will advocate for these ideas with the Government and other partners.”
The initiative provided a platform for the community to establish a Peace Committee which will ensure the conversation moves beyond the meeting towards concrete action.
“It’s important that this dialogue happens at the grassroots level so that communities can understand how to cultivate peace and embrace it for the sake of social cohesion and peaceful coexistence,” stresses Samuel John, State Ministry of Peacebuilding Director-General.
For UNMISS, the goal is to help communities identify tensions early, strengthen their resilience, and address problems through dialogue before they erupt into catastrophic conflict.
“Through this conversation, the participants were able to work together to dispel misinformation and disinformation and build on the existing resilience of this community,” says Thomas Bazawi, UNMISS Protection, Transition, and Reintegration Officer.
“It is a challenge for all of us, as partners in protecting civilians, to collectively respond to the needs of the communities, strengthen the early warning network, and support them in building on local peace initiatives so that they last.”
In Bazungua, peace is not just an idea. It is a daily choice — to listen, resolve differences, and work together. And that work starts with one conversation.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
