Conflict

Advantages and Challenges to Diaspora Transnational Civil Society Activism in the Homeland: Examples from Iraqi Kurdistan, Somaliland and South Sudan

Year of Publication
2020
Document Publisher/Creator
Yaniv Voller
NGO associated?
Source URL
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/104138/1/CRP_advantages_challenges_to_diaspora_transnational_civil_society_published.pdf
Summary
Investment in overseas developmental projects is a multifaceted effort which involves a variety of actors. These include donor governments and their departments for international aid, international organisations, recipient governments and the societies in the recipient countries. With relation to the latter, the existence of an active civil society has been identified as crucial for the advancement of socio-political reforms (Putnam 1995; Kaldor 2003; Neumayer 2005). Certainly, aid providers have become more aware of the need to take civil society into account when supporting initiatives aiming to promote democratisation, human rights, and human security in general. The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), two of the largest government-supported aid agencies, have invested resources in exploring the importance of civil society in recipient countries and the avenues for encouraging its further development (DFID 2012; Giffen and Judge 2010; USAID 2014).

More recent works on civil society have recognised, though, the fact that such actors are not confined to particular territorial boundaries. Civil society campaigns are often global, involving elements that operate at the international and transnational levels. One element, nevertheless, has been overall neglected by both policymakers and scholars examining transnational civil society, and that is diaspora communities. The refugees of previous decades, which have evolved into well-established communities in the West, have traditionally played pivotal roles in the reconstruction of their homelands. But as time has gone by, they have become involved in other aspects of state- and society-building in the homeland. As the paper concludes, while there is undoubtedly eagerness among highly motivated and talented diasporans to contribute to social and political changes in the homeland, on the ground, there are difficulties and challenges. These challenges may limit the contribution and hinder diasporan integration in, and contribution to, activism in the homeland. Aid providers and donors should develop clear strategies to incorporate diaspora communities in development programmes. Such integration would help not only to utilise the advantages that diaspora returnees possess when participating in civil society campaigns in the homeland, but could also help these returnees to overcome potential challenges that they face.
Date of Publication
08/09/2020

Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) Challenges in South Sudan: January 2021

Year of Publication
2021
Document Publisher/Creator
HLP Technical Working Group
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://www.csrf-southsudan.org/repository/housing-land-and-property-hlp-challenges-in-south-sudan-january-2021/
Summary
There are numerous issues that continue to undermine the full realisation of HLP rights for the people of South Sudan and HLP is recognized as a growing key protection concern across the country. The HLP Technical Working Group (HLP TWG) strives to ensure the integration of HLP rights and concerns in humanitarian responses, and to ensure that key affected populations are supported. This note summarizes the key HLP challenges in South Sudan and provides recommendations for various stakeholders to better inform advocacy and programming.
Date of Publication
11/02/2021

Conflict, Mobility and Markets: Changing food systems in South Sudan

Year of Publication
2020
Document Publisher/Creator
Loes Lijnders
Institution/organisation
The Rift Valley Institute
NGO associated?
Source URL
http://riftvalley.net/sites/default/files/publication-documents/Conflict%2C%20Mobility%20and%20Markets%20by%20Loes%20Lijnders%20-%20RVI%20X-Border%20Project%20%282020%29.pdf
Summary
The project examines how experiences of conflict, regional displacement and mobility, and the shift to an increasingly market-oriented and import-dependent economy have changed what people in South Sudan grow and eat. The research focuses on the country’s borderland spaces, or locations where South Sudan’s interaction with the regionalized market in grains and other foods is most evident, like food markets in Juba. Furthermore, the research looks at experiences with border-crossing and regional displacement and how these can be studied through changing food systems.
Date of Publication
09/09/2020

Child, early and forced marriage in fragile and conflict affected states

Year of Publication
2020
Document Publisher/Creator
Jenny Birchall
Institution/organisation
K4D (Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development)
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/15540
Summary
This report examines the scale of child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) in fragile and conflict-affected states. Studies focusing on the displaced Syrian population, the conflict-affected population in Yemen, and displaced groups in several Sub-Saharan African countries highlight recent increases in child marriage in FCAS. While evidence shows that globally, girls from poor and/or rural backgrounds are more likely to be married than girls from richer and/or urban backgrounds, this is not a linear pattern and it varies across countries. There are some consistent drivers of CEFM across countries, whether they are stable or fragile. These include gender inequality and unequal gender norms, poverty, barriers to education, unpaid family caring responsibilities, weak law enforcement, concerns around girls’ safety, and fears around controlling girls’ sexuality or ‘honour’. In fragile and conflict-affected states, some additional, interconnected drivers are at work. These include: displacement, being out of school, threat or experience of violence, conflict or crisis fuelled poverty and food insecurity, conflict or crisis fuelled weakening of the rule of law and conflict or crisis fuelled strengthening of harmful social norms.
Date of Publication
24/02/2021

Moving Towards Markets: Cash, Commodification and Conflict in South Sudan

Year of Publication
2019
Document Publisher/Creator
Edward Thomas
Institution/organisation
The Rift Valley Institute
NGO associated?
Source URL
http://riftvalley.net/publication/cash-commodification-and-conflict-south-sudan
Summary
Fifty years ago, most households in South Sudan produced the grain they ate, organizing agricultural labour and distributing small surpluses mostly through kinship and other social networks. Now, the majority of households buy most of their food. This transition from self-sufficiency to market dependence took place during long wars, which transformed or distorted almost every aspect of everyday life. It is a transition that now seems to be irreversible. This report therefore looks at how South Sudan’s subsistence system, which organized the production and distribution of wealth around kinship and social networks, is being replaced by a market economy, and what the consequences of this are for the country and its people.
Date of Publication
10/09/2020

THE CURRENCY OF CONNECTIONS: The impact of weddings and rituals on social connections in Bentiu, South Sudan

Year of Publication
2019
Document Publisher/Creator
Roxani Krystalli, Elizabeth Stites and Et al
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://www.csrf-southsudan.org/repository/the-currency-of-connections-the-impact-of-weddings-and-rituals-on-social-connections-in-bentiu-south-sudan/
Summary
This briefing paper examines changes to wedding rituals and the nature of marriages in the Bentiu Protection of Civilians site and adjacent areas of Rubkona and Bentiu towns. The authors draw from interviews and focus group discussions with displaced residents in the Bentiu PoC and with residents in the adjacent towns of Bentiu and Rubkona to highlight how the shift from a cattle-based economy to one entailing greater use of cash has affected these life events. The researchers also examine changes to bride wealth and corresponding shifts in the engagement of relatives, community members, and social networks in the rite and process of marriage. Depending on their gender, age, and social positioning, respondents offered different views on the extent to which these changes were welcome or detrimental. The authors reflect this diversity of perspectives in the analysis that follows.

The question of changes to marriages is relevant for humanitarian practitioners, decision-makers, and researchers. First, consistent with research in South Sudan and other contexts, we show that weddings and marriages are not only privately important for those who directly participate in them, but also carry broader social and symbolic significance for the community. Second, weddings and marriages provide a useful lens for examining the effects of cash on social connectedness, as well as the effects of livelihood loss—in the form of cattle, in particular—on new and existing relationships. Finally, an examination of weddings and marriages allows for a gender- and age-informed analysis of how social relationships are reconfigured during conflict and displacement. The authors pay particular attention to how norms around the regulation of gendered relationships have evolved during the course of conflict and displacement, and the ways in which livelihood changes affect those norms.
Attachment
Date of Publication
04/02/2021

“Like the military of the village” Security, justice and community defence groups in south-east South Sudan

Year of Publication
2020
Document Publisher/Creator
LUCIAN HARRIMAN AND SAFERWORLD
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://www.csrf-southsudan.org/repository/like-the-military-of-the-village-security-justice-and-community-defence-groups-in-south-east-south-sudan/
Summary
Improved security and access to justice are urgent priorities for the people of South Sudan, who have been targeted by government and opposition forces since the beginning of the civil war in December 2013, and affected by violence between and within communities.

A variety of groups and institutions aim, or claim, to provide people with security and justice, from the police, military and courts, to customary leaders and the armed opposition. As most people cannot rely on the government for protection, they often have taken security into their own hands by forming armed community defence groups.

This report explores how the various providers of security and justice have responded to violence associated with the civil war, intercommunal conflict, and gender-based violence in Torit and Kapoeta, south-east South Sudan. It asks to what extent the security and justice providers are effective, inclusive, and whether people see them as legitimate. The report aims to inform efforts to enhance people’s security and access to justice.

The report emphasises the role of community defence groups who, in many parts of South Sudan, have been drawn into the civil war and become involved in large-scale violence, as is documented in Saferworld’s 2017 ‘Informal armies’ report. However, this subsequent report shows that elsewhere in the country, such groups have resisted involvement in the war, and have facilitated dialogue and cooperation between the government and armed opposition, and provided security for communities.
Date of Publication
16/09/2020

Women in Mainstreaming Peace and Security in South Sudan: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward

Year of Publication
2021
Document Publisher/Creator
Abraham Kuol Nyuon
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://www.csrf-southsudan.org/repository/women-in-mainstreaming-peace-and-security-in-south-sudan-lessons-learnt-and-way-forward/
Summary
The paper examined the essence of women in Mainstreaming Peace and Security in South Sudan by exploring lessons Learned and Way forward. The study has assessed some instruments used in support of UN Resolution 1325 to empower women in promoting peace and security within the country. The paper has examined UNSCR 1325 by understanding the essence of women participation, the execution of the resolution by developing the policy framework, and understanding the avenues applied by women to participate in peace and security in South Sudan. The paper has found out that, R–ARCSS is a great opportunity South Sudan’s gender mainstreaming by complying with UN resolution 1325. The purpose of this study was to articulate the desired end state of Women in Mainstreaming Peace and Security in South Sudan: Lessons Learnt and way forward to serve as a platform for discussions at the highest level of decision–making and to provide a guide for further detailed planning in achieving gender mainstreaming within South Sudan.
Attachment
GIJASH01.pdf340.3 KB
Date of Publication
05/04/2021

Conflict and Gender Study – South Sudan

Year of Publication
2018
Document Publisher/Creator
Dr. Catherine Huser
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://media.africaportal.org/documents/conflict-and-gender-study--south-sudan.pdf
Summary
This study of Conflict and Gender in South Sudan was undertaken in support of the ‘Addressing Root Causes
Fund Programme’ (ARC). Being implemented over a five-year period between September 2016 – August
2021, the Programme is to be undertaken by a consortium of three organisations including: the Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD), Dan Church Aid (DCA), and the Centre for Conflict
Resolution (CCR) (here-after referred to as the Consortium). Funding is provided by the Addressing Root
Causes (ARC) Fund of the Government of the Netherlands. This study, conducted between February 20 to
March 27, 2017, was meant to contribute to the baseline upon which the Programme is being constructed.
Date of Publication
30/09/2020

UNDP South Sudan: Study on the Traditional and Changing Role of Gender and Women in Peacebuilding in South Sudan

Year of Publication
2021
Document Publisher/Creator
UNDP South Sudan
Institution/organisation
UNDP South Sudan
NGO associated?
Source URL
https://www.ss.undp.org/content/south_sudan/en/home/library/democratic_governance/women-gender-role-peacebuilding-south-sudan.html
Summary
This report is the result of a short-term study on the traditional and changing roles of gender and women in peace-building. The study involved field research in five locations (Aweil, Bentiu, Bor, Rumbek and Torit). The purpose of the study is to research how the traditional and changing roles of women/ girls and men/boys, conflict dynamics in South Sudan and to recommend to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), potential partners, on possible further peace initiatives. This study contributes to UNDP’s work with women, with regard to resolving peace and security issues in the region. The study offers critical analysis in understanding the unique potential contribution of South Sudanese women in national reconciliation and peacebuilding. The study aims to enable the government of South Sudan and international donors to more effectively mainstream gender initiatives into their policies, programs and future activities.
Date of Publication
01/09/2021