The Need for More Youth Education
Emmanuel Anur
Towongo is the founder and executive director of Youth Pillars' Initiative South
Sudan - an organization.
The organization provides
education programs for the youth, including farming and peace education for
refugees and students, as it works to develop its community.
You experienced both the independence of South Sudan in
2011 and the civil war that began in 2013.
Could you tell me your story during the civil war?
As a youth in South Sudan, and as a young country, many young people have been
going through difficult times, particularly during the war. Because South
Sudan, the youth consist of 70%.
So, most of
those young people, they were in their front lines. They have been used by the
elites to fight for their own interest. So, in that case, many young people
lost their lives. And some of us were victimized because of other affiliation.
Because if you don’t get affiliated to other
political party, you become a victim.
I remember how
we struggled to make ourselves familiar in the town to make sure we survive to
see the next day. Because if the moment you are not seen for about two days in
town, people perceive you have been to the rebel site. So, this is the most
painful part that really creates a lot of negative feelings on young people.
Because they have been victimized because of the affiliation.
And some of them
are being killed in cold blood.
What do you think about the value and
necessity of informal education in South Sudan?
The perspective of formal education and informal education, they have been
going hand in hand. But however, as much as informal education plays a critical
role in bringing up young people, there is limited access to formal education.
#EDUCATION
This is
experience by the years of conflict that has resulted to vandalization of
educational facilities and lack of access to educational programs, particularly
resources.
Young people don’t have
access to resources like the libraries and those mentorship programs. So, it is
one of the key factors that have continued to fuel conflict in South Sudan.
Because many young people end up dropping out of school at very early age and such
people, they become so vulnerable.
#SOUTH_SUDAN
And they can
easily be manipulated by the elites, so that provides very good ground for
conflict to thrive. Because if someone is not educated to that level, that
person will easily value the tangible result of that decision that he is going
to take.
☝
He doesn’t look
at the developmental aspect or strategically look at the concept. So, I look at
the majority of young people who have been in the frontline, most of them are
uneducated. And as such, it is very easy for them to be used by other
personalities particularly the elites at the top level. And this has continued
to fuel conflicts in different parts of the country.
#YOUNG_PEOPLE
But however, it
is very important that programs like these are coming out and campaigns taking
place right now like what you people are doing, IPYG. It is creating a lot of
impact. But there are still more needs. Because right now, most of the schools
are not accessible and others are vandalized, they are burnt down. They are
actually in the bushes. There is no access to those facilities. So, this one
calls for more innovative way of educating young people so that they can be
more resourceful.
#IPYG
What are the advantages of the
YEPW?
I am grateful that I am a part of IPYG network and in regards to the Youth
Empowerment Peace Workshop. I really learned a lot from the workshop as a
participant this time. And one of the key aspects I captured from the workshop
from the program is the connective, the broad network that IPYG created to make sure young people get into one platform
to discuss issues that are very relevant according to their different contexts
and different countries.
I learned a lot.
It was my first time to connect with people from Zambia and people from Guinea.
Though I have
some friends from Guinea, but it was one of the most important things because I
was able to know the challenges that people face from Guinea and Zambia. And
also I compared with the challenges that are facing us, the youth in South
Sudan. So, it’s one of the greatest advantages that the program has ever
imparted in me.
#GUINEA
#ZAMBIA
And another
thing is it was good learning from different cultural backgrounds. Like we
Africans, we have different cultures, backgrounds and values. So, some of the
challenges are facing other young people in other countries. I came to realize
there are more related to our challenges here, particularly challenges of
governments and environment. So, they are more related. So that one had
consolidated our challenges into one perspective so how we are, we are ever to
think in a unified manner. It is one of the good programs that I really enjoyed.
What activities would you like to
carry out with IPYG
for peace and education in South
Sudan?
I planned several activities, but one key activity I will be putting as a
priority is a plan to conduct an inter-school peace debate among students. This
is very good component of bringing young people together to have a constructive
dialogue so that they can accept their opinions. They can discuss and also have
a constructive criticism among themselves. And this one will encourage a spirit
of coexistence among young people.
Another aspect
is that communication is very powerful. When communicated in the right way and
formal to the right recipients, we can change the whole world through good
messages, positive messages. And this is why we want to cultivate that spirit
of correctness in communication in young people so that they can pass messages
that cannot trigger a conflict in their communities even in their family
levels.
Another thing is
that the debates are very important because it builds up the capacity of the
young people in leadership skills. Because when people discuss and they
criticize themselves in constructive manner, this is the way of grooming
leaders who will be accountable to their people, to their citizens. And that’s
why having accountable leaders is very important factor of peace. Because when
leaders are accountable to their people, there is peace.
And peace will be translated into development.
So, the best
thing is that we have to start grooming young people who will be able to have
very good leadership potential and that can encourage also communication and
listening throughout their lives. These are some of the few things that I look
at as very important in one component of the interschool peace debate.
WWW.HWPL.KR
#HWPL #DPCW_1038 #WARP_OFFICE #PEACE
#IWPG #IPYG #COVID_19
