"The present report provides the findings of a combined baseline evaluation of “‘I Love My Country:’ Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South Sudan” (PLUPC) funded by the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPS) of the Canadian government, and endline eva
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luation of the project, “‘I Love My Country’: Strategic Communications for Peace Building in South Sudan” (SCPB) funded by the European Union (EU). The goal of the “‘I Love My Country:’ Promoting Localized Understanding and Peaceful Coexistence in South Sudan” project is to build greater understanding and application of key concepts embodied within the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) through key stakeholder meetings, participatory theater performances, civil society engagement, small-scale peace initiatives, short media productions, and radio drama production and broadcast. The project began on December 15, 2016 is expected to end on June 15, 2018. The purpose of the “‘I Love My Country’: Strategic Communications for Peace Building in South Sudan” project is “to promote social cohesion, resilience, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts among individuals and communities in South Sudan” by strengthening national platforms for diverse and constructive and promoting peace, tolerance, and reconciliation with key groups and individuals. Search for Common Ground, iHub, UNESCO, and Catholic Radio Network launched the project in November 1, 2014 and it was concluded on March 1, 2017. The objectives of the baseline evaluation for PLUPC are to update the analysis of local conflict dynamics in the targeted zones for outreach activities, collect baseline data for project indicators, to reflect upon the Objectives and Theory of Change (TOC) of the project, and to evaluate potential risks to project participants, implementing staff, and partners. The final evaluation for SCPB seeks to measure changes in key indicators after the implementation of activities, evaluate the project using OECD-DAC criteria (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability), and provide lessons learned and recommendations to inform future peace building activities in the country." (Executive summary)
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"In South Sudan, media capture, media market and audience segmentation are driven by: the ongoing civil conflict (since 2013), ethnic and linguistic divisions, a lack of rule of law, the legacy of clientelistic networks in the media and the government, a stark urban-rural divide, and a lack of infra
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structure and funding that could support sustainable media development. In Tanzania, media capture, and media market and audience segmentation are driven by: the dominance of the CCM that enables the government to establish a legal framework to restrict freedom of the press, stark rural-urban and ZanzibarMainland divides, and a lack of local and community media in rural areas due to poor infrastructure and a lack of managerial skills. In Bangladesh, media capture, media market and audience segmentation are driven by: the political polarisation of the media and journalists’ unions between the dominant AL and BNP political parties, the combination of political polarisation and low journalistic professionalism preventing politically unbiased reporting, and connections between corporate media owners and political elites that lead to politically-motivated corporate media strategies. In South Africa, media capture, media market and audience segregations are driven by: the lack of sustainable funding available to independent media outlets, prohibitive costs limiting their readership to the economic elite, and the dominance of the (politically controlled) SABC as the only source of media catering to lower-income segments of the population." (Executive summary, page vi-vii)
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"Das Thema Medien und Krieg wird in diesem Buch aus einer vierfachen Perspektive heraus behandelt. Es geht zum einen um die Frage nach der Berichterstattung über Kriege, zum zweiten um die Rolle von Medien im Krieg, drittens geht es darum, welche strukturellen Bedingungen von Krieg und Gesellschaft
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die Inhalte der Medien wie prägen und viertens um eine friedensstiftende Sicht auf diese Zusammenhänge. Das Fazit: Definitorisch gibt es kaum noch einen Unterschied zwischen medialer Kommunikation und Krieg." (Publisher description)
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"There are a sizeable number of people who have never had access to any form of media or device. Roughly one in three (34%) respondents have never had access to radio, television, newspapers, internet, or mobile phones. Furthermore, media is less accessible for women than it is for men. It is more c
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ommon (39%) for women to never have had access to any type of media than for men (26%). Overall, radio remains the most commonly accessed type of media (51%) and, not surprisingly, has a larger weekly reach (38%) than all other forms of media. This means that 4 out of 10 respondents listen to a radio on a weekly basis, roughly triple the rate of respondents who watch television on a weekly basis (13%) or read a newspaper on a weekly basis (10%). While access to television, newspapers, and internet remains sparse, mobile phone penetration levels are nearing levels of radio access." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"The aim of the present book is to provide both empirical and theoretical input to the discussions of the role of journalism and media in conflict and post-conflict situations and in the often rather muddy waters between them. Together, the contributions to this book from different parts of the worl
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d emphasise that discussions about post-conflict situations will gain from including the media. At the same time, the contributions problematise the concept of post-conflict and powerfully illustrate that the phase between war/conflict and peace is neither unidirectional nor linear, as the use of the concept sometimes seems to imply. Reaching a peace agreement or arranging for the termination of hostilities is, in itself, no guarantee that peace can be secured. The examples from Afghanistan, Colombia and South Sudan in this book show this up clearly. Remaining post-conflict societal friction may even be as threatening to long-lasting peace as the war itself. Hence, post-conflict may be seen as a “conflict situation in which open warfare has come to an end. However, such situations remain tense for years or decades and can easily relapse into large-scale violence” (Junne and Verkoren 2005)." (Introduction, pages 16-17)
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"This document takes an in-depth look at the conversion to 100% solar power operation at a small community radio station called Mayardit FM in Turalei, South Sudan. Since the installation of the solar system in March 2016, the station has operated on 100% solar power (including its transmission), br
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oadcasting up to 16 hours a day, every day of the week. To date, the system has had zero downtime. This report was written to share learning with others who may be considering whether solar power would be suitable for their station(s). The first section describes the South Sudan context, background, and purpose of the project. The second section provides a case study of the solar power conversion at Mayardit FM, including technical specifications, user-centered design considerations, costings, and lessons learned from the first months of operation. The third section serves as a “how to” manual, which can be used by anyone interested in designing a solar system and weighing its feasibility for their own radio station." (Executive summary)
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"Project locations experienced general improvement with regards to social cohesion and conflict resolution. This was particularly the case in Wau, where results were encouraging. In contrast, Bor continued to feature more negative results than other project locations, although the county saw importa
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nt improvements since the undertaking of the baseline study in January 2015. This suggests a general positive impact of project activities. Indeed, project activities were at large seen as effective in fostering peacebuilding among local communities. Respondents held particularly positive views about the role of [the radio talkshow] Hiwar al Shabab in the promotion of peacebuilding. In contrast, the sustainability of the trainings and theatre performances, and divergent expectations and miscommunication within the UNICEF-SFCG partnership were highlighted as the weak links in the implementation of the programme. Despite this, research participants underscored the potential for media as a useful tool for peacebuilding." (Page 2)
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"This project aims to address a clear practical and methodological gap that exists in current efforts to tackle hate speech and its effects on communities in conflict zones—namely, how do we identify and contextualize the particular kind of language that’s likely to cause violence? Rather than a
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ssessing the existence or prevalence of hate speech language, this project instead examines terms and their use in a particular country context. To successfully monitor and counter hate speech, we must first identify specific terms and the social and political context that makes them offensive, inflammatory, or even potentially dangerous. Therefore, PeaceTech Lab has produced this lexicon of terms used online during a particular period of South Sudanese conflict that began in December 2013 in order to analyze how they contributed to the conflict. This initiative also seeks to identify alternative language that would mitigate or counter the impact of this speech on the conflict and thereby help build peace in the country. Finally, this resource intends to inform other individuals and organizations involved in monitoring and countering hate speech in South Sudan—and potentially elsewhere—so that their work can be more effective." (Introduction)
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"According to the methodology (page 81-82), the basis of this research "is a rhetorical analysis of literature concerning journalism training programs conducted by international development organizations in South Sudan since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in order to determine the valu
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es and priorities of these organizations and understand how they view the role of media and how this impacts their approach to training. A rhetorical analysis is based on the idea of rhetoric being “writing and language with intent” (McCloskey 1994)—in this case, the intent being to persuade donors, taxpayers, even participants that the trainings are necessary and beneficial to the recipient country’s wellbeing." The author concludes (page 90) that "the ethical questions facing media development are not very different from those faced by the larger international development sector as a whole. Though media development superficially appears to be more value-neutral than other sectors, in reality it is just as steeped in the modernization paradigm and promotion of one culture’s values over another’s." (commbox)
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"Internews has launched a three-part learning module on Boda Boda Talk Talk, the hyperlocal humanitarian information service currently operational in four United Nations Protection of Civilians Sites (PoCs) across the country. Part I of the module focuses on the theory and rationale behind a communi
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ty-led audio program produced to radio broadcast standards, describing how the political and humanitarian context in South Sudan—and unique local information ecosystem within the UN PoC sites—influenced BBTT’s design. Part II is a case study that describes how BBTT was designed and rolled out in Tong Ping (Juba) and Malakal/Wau Shilluk, including sections on challenges, adaptive programming, and recommendations for similar projects." (Internews website)
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"The Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Programme (DEPP), established by the Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) Network, focuses on establishing accountability on the part of emergency response actors in South Sudan to the affected population they serve. This baseline addresses
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the DEPP objective by investigating the information needs of the IDP community in South Sudan and the relevance, timeliness, and effectiveness of information sharing responses on the part of humanitarian agencies. To meet these objectives, Forcier Consulting designed a mixed methods study involving Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with six Juba-based emergency response actors and a quantitative survey conducted online with 71 members of the South Sudan CwC Working Group. These studies were designed in close consultation with the CDAC Network and were conducted in November and December 2015, respectively." (Executive summary)
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"This collection of essays and interviews offers perspectives on traumatic experience from the social and public side of the equation. Like other books in the Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies Series, it is concerned with redressing the balance of public memory through a focus on what has been negle
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cted or excluded, but traumatic memory poses special problems in this regard. Andrew Hoskins and John Sutton, the series editors, suggest that the question of how we remember has become central to historical enquiry, but the question itself is fraught with complexity. Generational change and new technologies of memory are reshaping the ways in which memory works, and the influence of trauma narratives is a factor in this. They pose another question: ‘What is “memory” under such conditions?’ Here, we focus on the distance between traumatic narratives in the public domain, and the experience of traumatic recall in the mind of a person who has been directly affected by extreme events." (Introduction, page 1)
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"In February 2015, Internews established Nile FM, a community radio station in Malakal County, Upper Nile state [South Sudan]. As part of Internews' Humanitarian Information Service (HIS) that brings information to displaced and vulnerable populations throughout the country, Nile FM responds to the
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information needs of the internally displaced people (IDPs) in the region." (Introduction)
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"In August 2014 Internews launched Boda Boda Talk Talk (BBTT) in the Protection of Civilians site known as PoC 3 in Juba. PoC 3 is the newest site and is adjacent to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) UN House base that contains PoC 1 and PoC 2. BBTT is a professionally produced reco
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rded audio Humanitarian Information Service (HIS). In order to reflect the voices of the community, Internews recruited and trained community correspondents who themselves had been affected and displaced from their homes [...] A first wave (Wave 1) of surveying on information needs was conducted in August 2014 [...] Since Wave 1, the population in PoC 3 has grown radically [...] Wave 2, was conducted in January 2015 to further investigate the information needs in the area and ascertain the impact and benefit BBTT has provided individuals in UN House PoC 3. In total 319 interviews with individuals were collected." (Introduction)
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"On 4th July 2014, Internews launched Boom Box Talk Talk (BBTT) in the Malakal, UN Mission Protection of Civilian (PoC) site, to provide people affected by the conflict with life saving and life enhancing information. BBTT is a professionally produced audio Humanitarian Information Service (HIS). In
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order to reflect the voices of the community, Internews recruited and trained community correspondents who themselves had been affected and displaced from their homes. The service is designed as a platform for people to discuss issues, share ideas, and ask questions of each other and humanitarian agencies operating in the PoC [...] This baseline survey was conducted in August just as the project was starting. It aims to inform Internews on the nature and content for BBTT, and assess people’s need for, and access to, information in a context where radio and other communication channels are highly limited." (Page 1)
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"This manual is an opportunity for the Civil Peace Service (CPS) networks to share the experiences of some of the people and organisations who use theatre as a tool for communication, change and peace. You will find theoretical bases, concrete examples related to the contents and some techniques and
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methods we would like to make available to as wide an audience as possible. While the goal is not to turn you into professional entertainers, you will find techniques, tips, and other people's hands-on experiencience in the discipline. The purpose of this manual is to de-dramatise the art of the sketch, the role play, the theatre and add it to the toolkit of the CPS peace workers. This is theatre practice as a tool for reflection and communication, for expressing emotions and points of view, be they diametrically opposed, which can open a chink in apparently sealed situations weighed down in dead ends or which seem to be impossible to resolve and let some light into conflicts between people and communities. All the experiences described in this manual have been developed in a community-based way with the help of experienced peace workers and African artists." (Introduction)
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"This report demonstrates how providing information to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in South Sudan can dramatically increase their health, safety and well-being and make a positive impact on their lives in the midst of an ongoing conflict [...] Boda Boda Talk Talk (BBTT) was the first Humanit
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arian Information Service program to be developed by Internews in response to the conflict. It utilizes staff and community correspondents hired from within the Tong Ping site in order to deliver vital information in such areas as: how to obtain food, water, shelter, and non-food items; receiving medical assistance and other forms of help including referral services, registration/legal assistance and special services for women, girls, the disabled, and the elderly; available educational opportunities; family reunification procedures; health promotion and disease prevention; and information related to protection and security [...] In February, 2014, Internews worked with Forcier Consulting to conduct a baseline survey of 612 respondents from the Tong Ping site to identify information needs, sources, and preferences to help guide their intervention strategies, and in April 2014 Internews again teamed up with Forcier Consulting in order to conduct a second wave of data collection and assess the impact of BBTT while working towards a deeper understanding of general information needs at the Tong Ping site [...] The results were extremely encouraging as community members in overwhelming numbers stated that they were listening frequently, and that they found the program both relevant and trustworthy. Nearly all (95.8%) survey respondents had heard of BBTT and of these almost two thirds (62.1%) listened to the program frequently." (Executive summary)
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