‘A Second Liberation Struggle’ – Second Lady of the Republic of South Sudan, Madame Angelina Teny, urges women to engage and tell a new story on International Womens’ Day.

The challenge is clear; Initiatives of Change has been commissioned by the Vice President of South Sudan to train 200 South Sudanese Peace and Reconciliation Mobilizers. It is truly an exciting opportunity to bring together participants from across the 10 states of South Sudan to work together on this Journey of Healing for National Reconciliation.

Curtains closed at the Third Eastern Africa Youth Forum (EAYF) on Saturday 23 February 2013 with a rallying call for the youth to be ambassadors of morality! The five day conference shared great success lessons from Rwanda sparking hope among the young people who attended it. The forum brought together over 90 youths from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan as well as friends of goodwill from South Africa, Congo, Australia and Germany. The forum opened on Tuesday 19 February and ran for five days. The theme for the forum was ‘Moral Values: The Key to a Brighter Future.’

It is action time! These were the words uttered by the Kithoka community women in Meru during the recently held three day Creators of Peace workshop.

In the beginning of January, Initiatives of Change (IofC) Kenya officially launched Clean Elections Campaign as political storms took centre stage across the country. With the elections taking place on 4 March, many people’s focus is to ensure that the general elections are held free and fair and that by every means possible to advocate for violence-free elections.

A one day journey into Jonglei State last Sunday indicated what a daunting challenge reconciliation in South Sudan will be. Nyok Gor and Mike Brown from Australia were invited to join the Vice President, Dr Riek Machar Teny, and others including the Minister of Justice and senior figures from the area, to make a flying visit to a hotspot of conflict where 108 died on 8 February.

The first four from the international team for the South Sudan Journey of Healing for National Reconciliation have now safely arrived in South Sudan. Kathyrn Gor has sent this update.

The EAYF planning committee will officially close the submissions of EAYF application forms on midnight Sunday 20th January, 2013. If you haven’t applied and still wish to do so, kindly do it before then otherwise we shall not accept the applications after then! Many thanks to those who have confirmed that they will join us in Kigali for the Youth Forum that begins in 32days.

The Workshop for Africa (WfA) programme kicks off this week with eight of the 12 participants who have been accepted. Four are still in the process of getting their visas. The group comes from Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The Chaplain to the Kenya Defence Forces, the Rt Rev Bishop Alfred Rotich, gave his advice and blessing to participants at a workshop for peace practitioners in Nakuru, Kenya. Addressing the final meeting on 23 November, he said, ‘I can see and I can feel, from your expressions and the way you are with one another, that you practise peace.’