South Sudan Evaluations
 | Final Evaluation – Youth Talk – July 2022Search implemented “Youth Talk – Empowering Young People through Media” in Central African Republic, Mali, and South Sudan between 2019 and 2022, with support from the Bezos Family Foundation. The project aimed to empower youth in the three conflict-affected countries and give them opportunities to raise issues, address topics of interests, etc. through producing radio programs. It had three interconnected objectives: 1) To amplify the voice and agency of young people around each country’s critical social and political issues related to building lasting peace; 2) To strengthen mutual understanding and collaboration between youth and older adults; and to 3) To capture and share learning and tools with donors, policy makers, and practitioners. The project successfully empowered hard to reach youth by providing them with a range of transferable skills that they have been able to use both within and beyond the project. It leveraged the power of media to amplify their voices: 90% of surveyed community members found that the radio programs produced by the young journalists as part of the project bring an added value on critical social and political issues, a significant improvement from the baseline. “”Youth Talk”” also strengthened mutual understanding and collaboration between youth and older adults, including decision-makers, and had a positive impact on the wider communities’ perceptions of the validity of young journalists’ and youth’ perspectives. In terms of sustainability, in addition to attitudinal and behavioral change brought about by the program among both youth participants and adults, the final evaluation identified several initiatives beyond the scope of the project, started by youth journalists in Mali and by |
| Final Evaluation – Strengthening Young Women’s Participation in Local and National Peace Processes in South SudanThis report presents and discusses the findings from the final external evaluation of the “Strengthening Young Women’s Participation in Local and National Peace Processes in South Sudan” project (January 2020-September 2021), which was founded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPF) and implemented by Search for Common Ground (Search) South Sudan, in partnership with Ana-Taban, Crown the Woman (CTW), National Women’s Empowerment & Rehabilitation Organization (NWERO), Catholic Radio Network (CRN), and Eye Radio. The project aimed to equip and empower young South Sudanese women with knowledge, skills and opportunities to contribute to the peace process at the local and national level, reinforce their collective power, and challenge the social stereotypes and barriers that hinder their equal participation. The evaluation found that the project fully responded to young women’s needs and priorities in terms of their role in peace and security matters in the country, and successfully engaged young women from different contexts and areas, also from remote ones and among IDPs. The project was effective in strengthening the ability of young women leaders and groups to collaboratively lead local and national-level peace efforts and young women-led mediation and peace-building initiatives, and helped them gain increased self-confidence, knowledge and skills. Young women-led mediation and peacebuilding initiatives had a significant impact because brave young women were able to implement initiatives rapidly in different locations, also involving men in their communities. Significant examples of collaboration between young and older women were also observed, in Bor and Aweil. Yet, the collaboration between young and older women will continue to require more nuanced and specific attention in the future. Similarly, changing perceptions has emerged from this evaluation as a slow process that deserves specific programming and close attention to cultural dynamics and constraints. |
| Final Evaluation – I Love My Country: Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South SudanThis report is an evaluation of I Love My Country: Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South Sudan, a project implemented from December 2016 to January 2019 with funding from the Peace and Stability Operations Program of the Canadian Government. The project aimed to build greater understanding and application of key concepts and themes embodied within the Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS). The activities targeted leaders in conflict-affected communities and empowered them to understand their differences, appreciate their commonalities and key peacebuilding concepts, and collaborate to actualize these concepts at the local level. The evaluation finds that the project targeted relevant stakeholders to build greater understanding of the key concepts embodied in the ARCSS and that the radio programs developed were well-received by audiences and seen as an effective tool for peacebuilding. |
| Facilitating Access to Justice in South Sudan – October 2018This report is the final evaluation for the project Facilitating Access to Justice in South Sudan. The project was funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and implemented in partnership the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Initiative for Peace Communication Association (IPCA), from October 2016 through June 2018. The project aimed to improve access to justice and legal remedies for rural and marginalized citizens of South Sudan. The main objectives of the program were to increase the demand for effective justice services and improve the supply of quality legal remedies for marginalized groups. The evaluation found that usage of justice systems in the target communities increased by 53% from the baseline and that the program succeeded in increasing the demand for justice by increasing community members’ knowledge of legal issues. |
 | Combined Final Evaluation for “‘I Love My Country’: Strategic Communications for Peace Building in South Sudan” & Baseline Evaluation for “‘I Love My Country’: Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South Sudan”This is a combined baseline evaluation of “‘I Love My Country:’ Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South Sudan” (PLUPC) funded by the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPS) of the Canadian government, and endline evaluation of the project, “‘I Love My Country’: Strategic Communications for Peace Building in South Sudan” (SCPB) funded by the European Union (EU). The goal of the “‘I Love My Country:’ Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South Sudan” project is to build greater understanding and application of key concepts embodied within the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) through key stakeholder meetings, participatory theater performances, civil society engagement, small-scale peace initiatives, short media productions, and radio drama production and broadcast. The project began on December 15, 2016 is expected to end on June 15, 2018. The purpose of the “‘I Love My Country’: Strategic Communications for Peace Building in South Sudan” project is “to promote social cohesion, resilience, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts among individuals and communities in South Sudan” by strengthening national platforms for diverse and constructive and promoting peace, tolerance, and reconciliation with key groups and individuals. Search for Common Ground, iHub, UNESCO, and Catholic Radio Network launched the project in November 1, 2014 and it was concluded on March 1, 2017. For the baseline evaluation, the research found: while Juba reported higher rates of conflict, they also had the highest tendency to resolve individual conflicts peacefully. For the final evaluation, the research found: radio and theater are key channels of media recommended by survey respondents to promote peaceful messaging, suggesting our approach remains relevant, additionally supported by examples of listeners demonstrating more peace positive behaviours – Hiwar al Shabab listeners at the endline were 78% more likely to trust people from other tribes than SCPB baseline non-listeners. |
| Baseline Evaluation, Facilitating Access to Justice in South SudanThis baseline evaluation of the project “Facilitating Access to Justice in South Sudan” was commissioned by Search for Common Ground, in partnership with the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Initiative for Peace Communication Association (IPCA). The project’s overall goal is to improve access to justice services that provide legal remedies to rural and marginalized citizens in five South Sudanese counties. The baseline evaluation was conducted from March 15 – 27, 2017 in five counties, namely: Pageri (Nimule) county in Imatong State of former Eastern Equatoria State; Juba county in Jubek State; Rumbek county in Lakes State; Wau in the Western Bahr Ghazel State and Bor county in Jonglei state. Key findings include: There are challenges, exacerbated by the conflict, to strengthening justice systems in South Sudan. Challenges center around the lack of political good will, inadequate resources and increasing poverty, ethnic segregation and the growth of armed communal defense, and general increasing insecurity. There are existing capacities of stakeholders to promote and support justice systems (both statutory and traditional), but they are hampered by poor coordination among legal and justice actors, ineffective enforcement of existing requirements in the transitional constitution and other legal documents, and the lack of a comprehensive policy on legal aid provision. |
| Final Evaluation: Communicating for Peace in South SudanCommunicating for Peace in South Sudan was a 14-month project facilitated by UNICEF, Search for Common Ground, and CRN that started in 2014, funded by USAID. The project aimed to promote and strengthen social cohesion and resilience against conflict in South Sudan and targeted youth and community influencers such as religious leaders and media actors. This final external evaluation conducted by Forcier Consulting used a mixed methodological approach including a desk review and the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data in three counties (Bor, Juba and Wau). It measures the impact of the project, focusing on changes at the goal and objective levels in comparison with baseline measurements. The main findings include the success of the Radio for Peacebuilding initiatives Hiwar al Shabab and Sergeant Esther in producing both social and individual changes. Target locations experienced general improvement with regards to social cohesion and conflict resolution, with the exception of Bor. Overall, participants underscored the potential for media as a useful tool for peacebuilding. |