USAID/OTI Sudan Hot Topics January 2007
Engaging Youth with DPA and Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation
The overarching goal of the USAID/OTI Sudan program is to strengthen Sudanese confidence and capacity to address the causes and consequences of political marginalization, violence, and instability that has consumed the country for nearly 50 years.
Working within the context of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the OTI Sudan program focuses on promoting the emergence of responsive and effective civil authorities; peaceful dialogue within and among communities; fostering the emergence of an active civil society; increasing the availability of independent information; and protecting vulnerable populations from grave human rights violations and related abuses.
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| At a negotiation skills training workshop hosted by USAID/OTI, youth leaders from various backgrounds came together to participate. The workshop was one of the first platforms available to youth to engage in the peace process within the framework of the DPA and in preparation for the DDDC. |
The U.S. Government worked with the African Union to successfully broker the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), an agreement signed in May 2006 by Sudan's Government of National Unity and a faction of the largest rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Mini Minawi. The DPA provides for a process of reconciliation known as the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC). The DDDC includes a conference that will bring together 1,000 representatives of the Darfurian people to articulate community needs and future plans within the DPA framework. Increased popular participation in the peace process through the DDDC will also build support for the DPA.
USAID/OTI is helping to prepare Darfurian stakeholder groups to be effective participants and advocates at the DDDC conference. As part of this effort, USAID/OTI with funds from the State Department's Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, supported a workshop in South Darfur for 32 youth leaders drawn from NGOs, local government and IDP camps. Youth are a key target group in the effort to build support for the DPA, and they will have a crucial role in the DDDC. Some youth play a key part in leading rebel movements and fomenting disruption within IDP camps and urban areas, while other youth seek to effect positive change in their communities. Engaging youth leaders in the DPA and DDDC process and persuading them to organize and articulate their interests and needs is an essential step in building support at the community level for a political settlement of the conflict.
The training, one of the first of its kind held in Darfur, included sessions on negotiation skills, conflict management, and mediation techniques. It also provided a unique opportunity for youth from urban areas and IDP camps to interact for the first time and share experiences. Following the training, the youth leaders formed networks to continue the positive momentum begun at the workshop, cutting across ethnicity, region and social class.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: : Victoria Rames, Program Manager, Tel: (202) 712-4899, vrames@usaid.gov
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