Period of reporting: December, 2017 to March 30 th, Citizen s Engagement in Governance. CEFoRD S Civic Engagement Officer

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1 Reporting Department: Governance, Human rights and peace Type of report: Annual Report Period of reporting: December, 2017 to March 30 th, 2018 Project Name: Citizen s Engagement in Governance Compiled by: Khemis Benson CEFoRD S Civic Engagement Officer

2 OSIEA Grantee Reporting Requirements 1. Please provide a brief description of the project for which funding was received (not more than 1 or 2 paragraphs). This description should include: A very brief description of the sector in which you work and the original motivation for undertaking the project. A description of the specific project for which funding was received including the objectives as specified in the project proposal. The amount of money allocated by OSIEA for the project The overall time-frames for the project The specific time-frames for the work that is being reported on in the progress report This project, the Citizens Engage in Governance (CEG) project falls under the program of political participation. It is a continuation of phase one and aims at increasing citizens participation in governance processes through creation of spaces of engagement that enable grass root citizens to take active role in the proposed South Sudan national dialogue, monitor and or call for genuine implementation of the Agreement on the resolution of the Conflicts in the Republic of South Sudan, have their voices amplified at a national and regional levels and strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations and traditional authorities to enable them spearhead trust and confidence building, information sharing for mutual respect of diversity and enhance healing and reconciliation among tribes with a common identity in Yei, Lainya, Kajo-Keji and Morobo. The implementation started in December, 2017 has so far progressed very well with the planned activities been implemented in this first quarter despite the political and economic challenges; conducted activities are: 1, Project Planning meeting, 2, Revision of CEFoRD s policies 3, live radio talk shows 4, recorded radio peace messages 5, civil society meetings and other activities connected to the project but not directly funded by the project. In this report attention is fully paid to Achievements, challenges, lessons learned/innovations and recommendations for future action/follow up. Objectives of the activities conducted are; 1. Create forums and platforms that amplify citizen s voices in demanding for peace, transparency and accountability in Kajo-Keji, Lainya, Morobo and Yei.

3 2. To strengthen the capacity of civil society organization to actively participate in advocating for promotion and respect for human rights, transparency and accountability. 3. Strengthening institutional capacity of CEFoRD. Project Budget: _23,343 USD The citizen s engagement in governance is a two-year project which starts Dec. 1 st, 2017-and ends in Nov. 30 th, 2019, this reports time line is from Dec. 1 st, 2017-March, 31 st, Please describe your progress (both for this reporting period and cumulative) towards each of the specified objectives as outlined in the previous paragraph and the grant agreement. Please do not simply list numbers of workshops etc. undertaken, but rather provide substantive comment on the utility impact of activities undertaken. The political and security situation in South Sudan continues to pose challenge to the citizens of the country. This has had and continues to have a huge impact on the humanitarian situation in the country. World Food Program has released a report indicating that 7.1 million people will need food assistance to survive from May, 155,000 at the risk of hunger while 1.3 million children are at the brink of facing acute malnutrition. These are worrying statistics that require a huge attention of not only humanitarian intervention but a political processes aimed at restoring peace and stability to this war ravaged country. However, it is unfortunate that in the face of serious calls and pressure for the South Sudanese leaders to work to bring peace through the peace talks in Addis Ababa (High Level Revitalisation Forum) both first phase and second face ended with nothing much to hope for. However, the search for peace isn t a one-day event but a process. South Sudanese across the Country remain very optimistic about the third round of talks currently scheduled for March. An important thing to note is that, peace can not only be achieved by engaging the highly placed political leaders. For a country whose social fabric has been deeply antagonized as a result of political and ethnic rivalry and hatred, communal conflicts etc, it is important to engage both the local structures, the youth who have actively participated in the

4 conflicts and hugely victimized, the traditional/cultural leaders and women among others and then the political leaders if we are to achieve a more sustainable peace. This is why this project and the proposed activities remain relevant although there is need to increase activities to secure grassroots support and pressure for peace. Therefore, we have made progress on the objectives as explained below; Progress made under objective 2 Create forums and platforms that amplify citizen s voices in demanding for peace, transparency and accountability in Kajo-Keji, Lainya, Morobo and Yei. Activity 1 Inception planning meeting; a. As an inception of the phase two project citizen engagement in governance process in Yei, Lainya, Morobo and Kajo-Keji of the central Equatoria state, the program and finance team sat on December 14 th, 2017 to discuss modalities of how to go on with the project activities and ensure that it s a result based and also aimed at putting the M&E tools together and agreed to fully engage the people in greater Yei central Equatoria state since Yei county accommodates almost all counties of Central Equatoria state. The inception meeting became a road map for the successful implementation of the extracted project activities for the first of the two years CEG II project. It is through this meeting that we can move on with the implementation of the project for 2017/2018. Program and finance team at director s office during the CEG project inception planning meeting the team setting a road map for action.

5 Activity 2.1; radio campaigns Eight (8) radio campaigns have been paid for 8 weeks at Spirit FM and so far conducted three, this is aimed at creating a space to enable citizens to make meaningful contributions to the country s development and pushing for inclusive conduct/implementation of the National dialogue and the Agreements on the Resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, COH as well as demanding for accountability from local government duty bearers. During some of the talk shows, many callers called in to expresses their grievances, calling for unity, putting the gun down, keeping the country together, and creating employment opportunities for the youth. A caller who identified her name as Nyoka from Sobe area said we have to accept our country and declare that we know our problems and we can are the right people to address them -and also take employment by merit not because he/she is from my tribe or the foreigners these some of the issues that created the conflict in the country. In one of the talk shows under the topic can the youth stabilize peace in Yei as whole Unemployment is looked as the major cause of the conflict in Yei and other parts of the country. The government has been cautioned to ensure that jobs are regulated and mostly the nationals, there is need for a respect of our laws and agreements which are been signed and have also a spirit dialoguing among ourselves for a true peace so that the IDPs go back to their place and the refugees turns home a caller/listener said Pictures during live radio talk show at Spirit FM

6 Activity 2.2 radio campaigns Produced 2 pre-recorded messages on good governance, peace and livelihood, forgiveness, reconciliation and political participation of women and youth in all levels of governance to stabilize the country. These messages are replayed at Spirit FM six times per day for 30 days since the 16 th, March 2018, this is aimed at ensuring that the people of Yei gets the right information for coexistence and contribute to the best improved system of governance in South Sudan. The frequent comments are that this is good, we needed this since then, we surely need peace, and yes we can make peace part of us. These comments come from individuals who have radios in their houses and do follow our radio programs. Progress made under objective 3 To strengthen the capacity of civil society organization to actively participate in advocating for promotion and respect for human rights, transparency and accountability Activity 1. Civil society organization s meetings 2 Civil Society Organization meetings were conducted in Yei County, which brought local government departments, community based organizations, international organization and the office of the Relief and rehabilitation commission; these meetings aimed at integrating efforts and competence of the Civil Society Partners to collectively brainstorm on pertinent issues. A steering committee establish to spearhead the activities of the Yei Civil Society Organization s Forum and challenges have been identified like capacity building on advocacy and human rights, proposal writing, refresher training for journalists in Yei, to accurately share information with the public. And other issues are IDPs-returnee s relation with the locals, and a need for organizing big forum for citizen s engagement is called by the members. The immediate action taken to resolve the treading challenges are the formation of a civil society steering committee, the committee is tasked to organize a general public forum to discuss issues mentioned above and others that have direct impact in the

7 coexistence of the people in greater Yei. It s discovered that by tackling these challenges in a forum, then there will be understanding of diversity, human rights, and rights of participation in public issues by holding constitutional duty bearers responsible and will define the role of the citizens in general. Members of the civil society during one of the monthly meetings Progress made under objective 4; strengthening institutional capacity of CEFoRD. Activity 4.3. Development and or review of Organizational standard operating procedures (policies). The 7 operating standard policies became the immediate activity after the inception meeting due to the environment and the context we currently operate in, this is aimed at making sure we are accountable as an organization to others and to us for effective service delivery. CEFoRD hired external consultant who, together with the management and BoDs reviewed the existing policy documents of the institutions and develop new policies that have not been in place. These include Governance and Internal Control Manual, Board of Directors Manual, Human Resource Management manual, Finance Management Procedures/Manual, Procurement and Logistics (ProLog) manual/procedures, Safety and Security Policy, Internal Audit Procedures/policy and Public relations and Communication Strategy/Policy. The one week meeting had been comprehensive, and the policies are passed for use immediately by the management.

8 CEFoRD Staff and BoD members during review of standard institution policies in Juba Other important activities which are not funded but contributes to the overall goal of the CEG II 2017/2019 project. Kajo-Keji community peace forum Feb, 1 st -2 nd, 2018 A Kuku community forum was organized by CEFoRD in collaboration with UNMISS in Juba. The community forum was aimed at bridging and consolidating peaceful coexistence among the kuku community in greater Kajo-Keji. The two day forum created a space of engagement within and among the Kuku community, the forum resulted into strong recommendations that are to be implemented by all the Kajo-Keji community/peoples as follows; a. Conduct a Kuku-Kuku dialogue as soon as possible

9 b. open Juba-Kajo-Keji road, and open a reception center and open reception centers in Kajo-Keji for receiving the returnees c. UMISS and CEFoRD to do assessment on the infrastructural and health situation. The brought in 8 women and 34 men comprising of commissioners, members of parliament at all levels of governments, ministers at all levels of governments, youth, elders, advisors and feminists. Kuku community discusses ways of achieving lasting peace in greater Kajo-Keji at hotel Diplomat-Juba It s an opportunity and a space that CEFoRD and UNIMSS have created for us as people of Kajo-Keji to talk and listen to ourselves which we have yearned to have it for long said Aggrey Tisa Sabuni chair of the KCO and advisor to the president on economic affairs. a. As a result of the participation of two staff of CEFoRD at the East African., CEFoRD and partner organizations. Plan to conduct a Youth Leadership Forum.Progress is been realized in the preparation for the South Sudan youth leadership summit, which is a joint organization as alumni of the young and leaders forum and you lead2017 conducted in Tanzania. A tentative date already scheduled for the summit to take place which also calls for individual institutional support (In a Skype meeting on 21 st, of the February, 2018, at Aaron hotel, issues tackled with the representative of the donor OSIEA are among others; the available resources, sustainability and mode of engagement)

10 Civil society organization and Youth debrief on the High Level of the Revitalization Forum (HLFF) b. We also participated in the CSOs and youth debrief conducted on 21 st February 2018 by the delegates to Addis who mobilized the young people and the civil society organizations for a one debrief; this was aimed at sharing the outcome of the second phase of the High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) which started in the first week of February, 2018 and concluded after 2 weeks. Over 100 young ladies and men listened on specific achievements, challenges and obstacles met during the HLRF and the role the delegates in the peace process; the revitalization process is made in phases, the 1 st phase resulted into the cessation of hostility agreement of the 21 st, 12, 2017, the 2 nd phase is of the 5 th Feb which focuses on the principles of governance and majorly looked at chapter 1 and 2 of the resolution of conflict in south Sudan agreement 2015, 3 rd phase will come soon in March, The meeting was aborted prematurely due to interruptions by the security personnel which claimed there was no information reached them about the meeting taking place. In addition, the CEFoRD executive Director participated in the South Sudan Civil Society Forum meeting in Entebbe Uganda as the CSOs prepare for the third phase of the HLRF. This meeting took place between Friday 16 th and Sunday 18 th, March In this meeting, the organizations came up with position paper on governance, security arrangements and some advocacy mechanisms to push for the ideas to the final IGAD documents. Observation and monitoring the implementation of the Cessation of Hostility Agreement (CoHA) of 21 st, 12, As part of the civil society and human rights fraternity, we carried out observation on monitoring the implementation of the CoHA, this is aimed at ensuring that accountability, justice is called for in case of any violation. This is a mandated given to all the citizens by the constitution, the region and international human right laws. Over the time there were violations of the CoHA reported, witnessed even when the peace talk was going on in Addis.

11 2. Please outline successes, challenges and setbacks encounter during the reporting period that have impacted specifically on the achievement of your set objectives. Provide a brief description of how you dealt with problems encountered or how you intend to remedy these problems Achievements 1. Seven standard operational and procedure policies developed, reviewed and passed for use, Internal Control Manual, Board of Directors Manual, Human Resource Management manual, Finance Management Procedures/Manual, Procurement and Logistics (ProLog) manual/procedures, Safety and Security Policy, Internal Audit Procedures/policy and Public relations and Communication Strategy/Policy. 2. The three CSO meetings, engaged with 26 females and 44 male from National and CBOs, and line ministries in Yei County who participated actively and drew action points for follow up, among issues stressed are public awareness on the CoHA, coexistences and peaceful means of addressing conflict. 3. Immediate advocacy strategies laid, by restructuring the Yei civil society forum, members agreed to work as a team to ensure that they fit into the context to avoid suspicion and threats from the government more so the South Sudan national security service department. The 4. Sub committees formed to follow up issues and concerns and will report to the forum during the normal monthly forum meetings. 5. The talk shows are successfully done and the citizens willing to coexist among one another, this reiteration is made during phone call to the studio at Spirit FM when the talk was going on. 6. Increasing participation of citizens in peace making processes, during the Kajo-Keji community peace forum, participants pledged to engage with other kuku community on the ground and those at the refugee camps in Uganda. 7. It s assumed that over 1000 radio listeners reached, this estimation is based on the basic information assessed by Spirit FM and others are indirectly reached with messages of personal responsibility to make the community a better place for living.

12 8. Collaboration and verbal partnership established with UNMISS and CEFoRD to better address community issues and create a space for the people to openly share issues that affect peaceful coexistence. Challenges, setbacks and way forward 1. Late disbursement of funds, has somehow delayed implementation; However CEFoRD has been so flexible enough to ensure that reporting is done timely, funds were sourced from other account to implement the activities as planned for example the review of the policies. 2. Information sharing though to a small extent remains a challenge; However we have been following the procedures and will continue to do so for the successful implementation for the project activities even to the remotest areas and we are exerting effort to ensure that there is information sharing channels put in place which will help in advocacy and lobbying. 3. No funds to implement peace dialogues in greater Yei i.e. Kajo-Keji, Lainya, Morobo which is needed at this time; we recommend that budgets lines allocated for public dialogues for people to interface among themselves. Since there s relative peace people now at the project location. 3. Describe any key lessons you have learned and how you are sharing them and the results of the project, both internally and externally. This should include a brief summary of preliminary or final findings from any internal or external evaluations that have been undertaken. Key lessons learned How the people of Yei relate to one another and coexist, in this new era, became so unique that make us acknowledge that each and every one is ready to take responsibility on the grassroots peace approach The youth are already having programs that promotes coexistence and awareness raising programs on the cessation of Hostility agreement but limited to funds and capacity, and

13 planned to organize cultural festival. And this is also aimed at ensuring there is calm and togetherness with the other tribes in the state. The people in Yei established copying mechanisms of reducing trauma, this is through games and sports which is done every evening at the Yei freedom square, listening to music at radio stations and important programs and attending church programs as scheduled. 4. If this is a final report, briefly describe the next phase of the project (continuation, expansion, replication or termination) and if you plan to continue with the work, any resources that you have secured to sustain it. This is not a final report, but it s worth expanding the project activities to public dialogues, cultural galas, interfacing etc since there is relative peace now in of the project locations. It s these activities that can make us contribute fully on the success and change of attitude and respond to the call made by the people of greater Yei we need peace in South Sudan. The demand to have an established peoples based peace programs is urgent since there is already established resilience mechanisms i.e. footballs marches, participating in church activities and always being close to the radio programs this is aimed at creating peace of mind and this has become an ultimate goal now for the people of greater Yei, this is meant to aid the national dialogue process which seem not to be progressive, the Yei state government-io Yei peace dialogue contributed little and it will be our role as the civil society to expand to the fullest since the whole peace is in the hearts and hands of the people. We believe that the people and the local government will cooperate to provide security during and after the implementation of the activities mentioned project activities, including the IOs in their respective location will allow access to the peoples living with them. The civil society and human rights bodies like the UN and the regional bodies will

14 cooperate and ensure that the recommendations that the citizens will give during the dialogues, galas, interfacing will be shared and acted upon. 5. Please provide detailed information regarding any anticipated deviations from the project plan or changes to the time line and budget. Note that you will need to make a separate request in writing to OSIEA for approval of any amendments to the original contract in respect of budgets, time-lines and funded activities. There is no anticipated deviation. Despite receiving the funds a month later, we have preplanned activities and are on track. We are equally monitoring the political, security and humanitarian situation. In case of any change in Kajo-keji, Morobo and Lainya which have no or limited access, we shall communicate any changes. 6. Please provide a detailed financial report documenting spending over the grant period. OSIEA has a standard financial reporting format and the report should refer specifically to the line items in the budget attached to the original grant agreement. Please note in the financial report any significant deviations on particular line items and the reasons for this. (It may be that the funds will only be expended in the next reporting period). If this is a final report please note that the OSIEA will require your most recent audited statements as soon after the end of the grant period as possible. See attached separate financial report.