Juba, South Sudan - 20th November 2025, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Sudan
partnered with the Ministry of Peacebuilding with funds from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to
convene the Knowledge Sharing and Lessons Learned on peacebuilding in South Sudan workshop. The objective of the event was to strengthen peacebuilding capacities in South Sudan and learn from the hard-earned peace gains and challenges in the country. The event has brought together 60 representatives from government institutions, civil society organizations, traditional and religious leaders, UN agencies, women and youth representatives. 

The event builds on the lessons learned from the implementation of the ‘’Peacebuilding and Prevention of Violent Extremism in East Africa’’ project, funded by KOICA. This project, led by UNDP and the Ministry of Peacebuilding, focuses on peace infrastructures and peace committees support, economic empowerment of youth and women, early warning and early response, fighting hate speech, and supporting traditional and religious leaders in their role as peacemakers. 

The workshop enabled stakeholders to share insights, identify best practices, and uncover peacebuilding interventions needing adjustment, thereby enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of ongoing peacebuilding initiatives. The event fosters a culture of continuous learning among peacebuilders, policymakers, and community actors, improving their ability to design and implement effective national and local level peacebuilding strategies and creating a strong network of peacebuilding practitioners in South Sudan. The event resulted in a compendium of key recommendations on peacebuilding strategies at local and national levels which will support policy makers and communities as they continuously improve their actions for peace.

Hon. Pia Phillip Michaeal, the Undersecretary, Ministry of Peacebuilding in his opening remarks to peacebuilding actors said, “The knowledge sharing and lessons learned event, for today and tomorrow is created to enable you to pollinate your ideas of preventing conflict. Can what is working in Eastern Equatoria also work in Warrap or Western Bahr El Ghazel? It is my prayer that all states put their paths towards development because this is how they will grow.
 

While Natacha Kunama, the Peacebuilding Programme Advisor at UNDP said, “this event holds a significant importance for ensuring that the hard-earned peace gains can be celebrated, can be shared and from which we can all learn to make our efforts impactful.”