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UNESCO and Partners Hold a Community Leaders’ Conference in Juba
On 18th January 2024, UNESCO in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Museums, and National Heritage and the Swiss Development Cooperation in South Sudan organized a conference of Community leaders on transmission of South Sudan’s Languages for future generations.
The conference brought together over 150 community and traditional leaders’ representatives, civil society organizations, churches, academia, and line ministries.
Participants discussed the promotion and transmission of national languages for future generations and safeguarding of cultural diversity for peaceful coexistence.
In his remarks, Mr. Makuar Dobuol Puot, Director General of Culture and Heritage Management at the Ministry of Culture, Museums and National Heritage stressed, “We all have a role to play to safeguard our languages for the generations to come, many of our languages are endangered, what are we doing as community leaders, as a government, and as development partners or as a family?” Mr. Puot added that his Ministry has a constitutional mandate to guide the country to preserve, safeguard, promote and protect its culture, heritage, and diversity to build a strong national identity. The Ministry will do its best to guide the usage of culture as an entry point to peaceful coexistence and living together in South Sudan.
Mr. Julius Banda, UNESCO Country Representative accentuated “the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, and multilingualism for peaceful and sustainable societies”. Mr. Banda encouraged the community leaders to prioritize mother tongue-based multilingual education instruction from early childhood education throughout primary school. “Education in the mother tongue is a key factor for inclusion and quality learning, and it also improves learning outcomes and academic performance. This is crucial, especially in primary school to avoid knowledge gaps and increase the speed of learning and comprehension”, he emphasized.
Mr. Johan Gely, Head of the Swiss cooperation Office in South Sudan emphasized the importance of allowing linguistic diversity to flourish. Social cohesion, diversity, and peace promotion is in the hands of the people of South Sudan. “Community leaders have the power to make conflict unaffordable in South Sudan”, he noted.
The National Conference of Community and Traditional Leaders to Promote Cultural Social Cohesion and Peacebuilding in South Sudan seeks to empower communities with the necessary tools to safeguard the country’s intangible cultural heritage through use of local languages to promote peaceful co-existence.
