Abstract Common to most protracted conflicts that relapse into war is a disconnect between elites and local communities, which typically suffer the most when the former undermine peace agreements to further their own narrow interests. The central argument in this chapter, drawing heavily on the recent history of Sudan/South Sudan and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), is that African conflict resolution and peacebuilding relies too heavily on political agreements between politico-military elites. These deals focus…
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CSRF Research Repository
The CSRF Research Repository aims to support greater contextual knowledge for policy makers, programme managers, and implementers by providing a searchable repository of research, analysis, and resources, and providing periodic updates on new research and analysis.
Civil society has a vital role in advocating for inclusive, people-centred security provision which meets the everyday safety and security needs of all. This is especially crucial in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, characterized by high levels of insecurity. Restricted civic space shackles civil society’s ability to engage and influence. Despite this, civil society in Burundi, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Niger, Somalia/Somaliland, and South Sudan has developed strategies to navigate, maintain and open civic space to…
This report gives an overview of the legal frameworks pertaining to the regulation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the greater Horn of Africa, ongoing political and economic transformation, as well as the increasing tension and dynamism between governments and CSOs. It focuses deliberately on the shortcomings affecting the growth and contributions of the NGO sector to the general population. It further presents an array of opportunities and threats, as well as successes and challenges,…
As a contribution to IGAD’s efforts to revitalize the peace process in South Sudan, 19 civil society organisations have developed the attached paper (also available online at outlining the conclusions and recommendations that have emerged from many months of engagement on the topic. The paper outlines the main conditions for the success of the revitalization process, along with specific substantive and procedural recommendations. Download
This article examines the role of political mandates in including or excluding civil society in the negotiation processes mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in South Sudan and by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Zimbabwe. It argues that the mandates determined the issue of inclusivity by synthesizing the mediating organizations’ normative considerations and practical requirements and by enabling the organizations’ narrative of the conflict to dominate the negotiations at the expense…
Records the Rift Valley Institute Juba Lecture Series on the role of civil society in South Sudan, held in June 2016.
South-Sudanes law concerned with NGO activities. Download
This paper from 2015 focuses on the role of the CSOs (civil society organizations) and faith-based organizations in the settlement of major and local conflicts that have thus far afflicted South(ern) Sudan.
Report of a civil society meeting in Nairobi to discuss the ongoing crisis (since December 2013), its historical roots, and the possibility of peace.
This report (2011) presents the views of 38 aid agencies working on peace-building, development, and humanitarian assistance in South Sudan. It highlights ten priority areas for action that, in the view of NGOs operating in South Sudan and based on lessons learnt during the CPA interim period, should have been prioritised by donors in the first years after independence of South Sudan for the people of South Sudan. Download
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