Blog

POFcast POFcast

2024 - Year in Review

The first part of 2024 Year in Review looked at what happened, and in part II, David Vincent, Minagano Kape and Rob Lancaster look at the frustrations and issues emerging from those experiences... and lessons for 2025.

Read More
Jonty Herman Jonty Herman

"This is painful in a way we can't forget."

"This is painful in a way we can't forget."

Mothers bear the emotional and often physical brunt of intercommunal conflict: caught up in cattle raids, subject to gender based violence, kindnapping and the loss of their children.

Read More
Robert Rufino Robert Rufino

Bridging peace and economic pathways

Livelihood programmes in South Sudan, like POF’s Livelihoods Lab is experimenting with Peace Farms and cattle trading initiatives to bridge peacebuilding to economic pathways by fostering social cohesion and economic empowerment in the same engagements. These community-driven models provide sustainable income, mitigate conflict drivers, and empower marginalised groups, demonstrating how integrating livelihoods with peace interventions transforms communities and supports lasting stability.

Read More
Rob Lancaster Rob Lancaster

The many lenses of South Sudan’s inter-cultural dialogues

Inter-cultural dialogue is a pillar of human being. In South Sudan, complex layers and intersections between cultures highlight the importance of shared identity in peacebuilding. These cultural distinctions need to be navigated intelligently to find mutually beneficial pathways and avoid reinforcing divisions that easily become violent.

Read More
POFcast POFcast

Inner peace, outer peace - a dynamic journey

Following the Creators of Peace Circle, nine women continued for a further two weeks together to co-design a simple facilitated process that can be used with other women back in their communities. Minagano Kape, Ann Njeri Ndangui and Nyadow Makuach share their reflections on the process with Rob Lancaster, POF Team Leader.

Read More
Minagano Kape Minagano Kape

Women building peace from within

The Peace Cirlce workshop, held from 29 July to 2 August, brought together women from diverse backgrounds in South Sudan to foster connections, share experiences, and explore their roles in peacebuilding. Women from regions with a history of conflict set aside their differences to build unity and sisterhood. The process explored inner peace, forgiveness, and self-awareness as crucial steps toward broader peacebuilding. Participants reflected on their personal growth, gaining the courage to speak up for themselves and their communities.

Read More
Rob Lancaster Rob Lancaster

Inclusive economics: getting more bullish about cattle

In the first of this human security series, we explored a different angle on just governance for South Sudan, highlighting the need for localised approaches, where governance should be rooted in community-driven measures and balanced with novel inputs, rather than imposing external legal frameworks. Now we turn to inclusive economics, including rethinking why seem to be in favour of ‘bull markets’ but not bull markets.

Read More
Rob Lancaster Rob Lancaster

A new ‘forum’ for human security: South Sudan

Over the coming weeks, we will explore five aspects of peacebuilding work in South Sudan, linked to themes of human security that were explored during the Caux Forum for Human Security, between 2008 and 2012. This vision of Mohamed Sahnoun still resonates with both the national and sub-national dynamics in South Sudan, and invites reflection from external actors on how we engage. The first in the series looks at Just Governance.

Read More
Jonty Herman Jonty Herman

“Whenever you fight, we are the ones who suffer.”

I sat down with Executive Director of Peace Canal, Christine Kide, at the POF office in Juba to learn more about the important role that women have to play in the reduction of armed conflict amongst pastoralist communities in South Sudan. Christine taught me about the power of turning up and being present as a leader, the courage that that takes as a woman in male-dominated power structures, and what happens when the voices of the whole community are represented in the process of finding the solutions needed to end violent conflict. 

Read More
Rob Lancaster Rob Lancaster

Capacity building through the Cynefin lens

Peace Canal emerged as an experiment through the first phase of the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund. There’s nothing new about the concept of a national NGO, but the advent of Peace Canal has led down a path that aims to push the envelope on structural barriers for national entities in South Sudan: strengthening core funding, ensuring competitive remuneration, freeing internal bandwidth to think about delivery strategy, and promoting advocacy for genuinely community-driven agendas.

Read More