The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), in partnership with the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC), is today (Thursday) holding a one-day grassroots engagement with community leaders in Juba to sensitize them about the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
The meeting attracted 60 participants including elders, clergymen, women, and youth.
The workshop is part of a series planned by the Outreach Unit of the UNMISS Communication and Public Information Section to also create public awareness about the UN Mission’s mandate in the country.
Speaking to journalists at St. Thomas Munuki Deanery in Juba, Reuben Inaju, UNMISS Public Information Officer and Head of the Community Outreach Unit, said they were reaching out to faith-based leaders, women, elders, and youth to voice their concern in regard to the mission’s mandate and the peace agreement.
“We are going to explain to them our mandate and how our mandate ties into the entire peace process,” he explained. “We are also providing a platform for RJMEC, who are also here today, to explain to the people what they have monitored in the process of the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement. We are more importantly focusing on the success stories.”
For his part, Archdeacon David Batali Oliver of the Munuki Archdeaconry of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS), said sensitizing community leaders on the revitalized agreement and the constitutional-making process will prepare them for the forthcoming elections.
“The takeaway is that we are delighted that this workshop is taking place in the deanery of Munuki and is going to create awareness among the grassroots community leaders in the church so that they will also go out and take messages to people about what they learned on current issues like the revitalized agreement, the constitutional making process as we prepare for the forthcoming elections,” he said.