Young women and men were involved in the production of a series of videos in South Sudan about their life stories and those of their elders. Working as media facilitators in their communities, the young participants gathered and shared powerful life stories, contributing meaningfully to the reconstruction of ties among communities, shaken by the protracted war. The UNESCO Juba office implements the project, aiming at creating a culture of peace through inter-generational dialogue. In a country that has been dragged into conflict and war so many times and where the illiteracy levels reach 80% of the population, getting to know one another is an opportunity to overcome the dividing lines and jointly build peace.
More specifically, through training, the participants became able to identify key issues related to a conflict and realized the potential of the media to foster mutual understanding and reconciliation by producing dialogue-based content.
The young trained participants guided their peers and elders in their communities to tell their stories, focusing on the changes before, during and after the conflict.
Through the implementation of the project communities introduced themselves to each other on a very personal level.
In total 105 young people from 6 different communities were trained and 2334 people participated. 6 video have been produced and several screenings and community dialogue sessions have taken place. Additional screenings are planned within the UN Protection of Civilians site for the Internally Displaced Persons.