South Sudan is one of the African countries most affected by socio-political crises. These permanent instabilities that the country has experienced have weakened its education system, which needs to be strengthened. Through this vision, the country wants to rebuild education and especially give young people current skills to help them participate in the country’s development.
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world. The South Sudanese authorities seem to understand the essence of this famous quote from Nelson Mandela. Thus, they aim to rebuild the country’s education system with funding of US$11.9 million. This considerable amount of money will be invested over four years in South Sudan, mainly to strengthen education and technical and vocational training programmes. This funding will be provided mainly by the Swedish Embassy and UNESCO. In addition to these partners, the South Sudanese government will be involved as the project’s sponsor. To this end, some 25,000 citizens, primarily young people, will be trained and equipped to drive the country’s development.
According to Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Representative for East Africa, “Skills are vital for poverty reduction, private sector development, job creation and self-employment, especially for youth. Skills are essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. As a result, young people need to be trained in the trades of the future to be able to respond effectively to the demands of globalisation and thus guarantee the development of their country.
The urgent need to rebuild the Southern Sudanese education system
The world’s youngest state, South Sudan has been plagued by violence, famine and a deep economic crisis since gaining independence in July 2011. Indeed, two years after independence, the former rebel leaders are unable to manage the country and the economic outlook is rapidly deteriorating. For example, conflicts marked by atrocities have resulted in over 380,000 deaths and forced some four million people to flee their homes. With a skills gap, South Sudan has an estimated 2.8 million out-of-school children.
This new beginning is a glimmer of hope to turn young people away from violence and give them a secure future. This is why the country is seeking to revitalise its education system and train a competent workforce to support development initiatives at both national and international levels. Essentially, the aim of this new project is to promote the employability of young people to better integrate them into the labour market.
