South Sudan Cooperation Program

Background information

The civil war in South Sudan has claimed more than 400,000 lives since the end of 2013. Some 4.2 million people have fled since then and are housed in camps outside and inside the country. Famine, plagues of locusts and flooding compound the misery in many parts of the country. State structures have largely collapsed, including educational and health facilities.

After nearly 50 years of civil war, people want nothing more than to live in peace. Mission 21 supports the peace commitment of its partner church, the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan (PCOSS), the Presbyterian Relief and Development Agency (PRDA) and the South Sudan Federation of Churches (SSCC), which launched the "Action Plan for Peace" in 2015.

Peace work runs like a thread through the work of our local partners. Originally based in the heavily war-affected and underdeveloped Greater Upper Nile region, PCOSS was itself forced to flee and now operates where the community is scattered - in other parts of the country, in camps for internally displaced persons and in refugee camps in neighboring states. It has resumed projects with admirable flexibility and is supporting the suffering population. Through its structure, the SSCC reaches people everywhere in the country. The churches are the only institution that still enjoys the trust of the population. In this way, our partner churches make a significant contribution to ensuring that the people of South Sudan do not give up and lose faith in peace and reconstruction.

Program Goals

Mission 21 is helping to ensure that the people of South Sudan can live a life in dignity. The focus here is on peacebuilding. Mission 21 has many years of experience in peace and reconciliation work. Since all projects are based on the "Action Plan for Peace" of the Federation of South Sudanese Churches, Mission 21's commitment is embedded in an ecumenical, internationally supported peace campaign.

Another focus is on educational work. Children are given the opportunity to go to school. Young women can do an apprenticeship to earn a living and strengthen their role. In further training courses, young adults learn to deal with social issues in a socially critical manner. In addition, there is a focus on income generation and food security. 

► More on peacebuilding in South Sudan

► More about the "Education for the Future: Schools and Children's Home" project

Before Location

Mission 21 has had a coordination office in the South Sudanese capital Juba since 2018. Since July 2021, Florence Guliba Hakim has been the local country coordinator in Juba. The coordinators support the partners on site, travel to the projects and impart knowledge on project planning, implementation and evaluation. The focus is on training the staff of the partner organizations as well as on the innovation of the projects and the needs of the beneficiaries. This ensures the quality of the program work in the long term