20 Young South Sudanese Professionals Begin UNITAR Leadership and Entrepreneurship Training in Juba
19 June 2018, Juba, South Sudan – The fourth cycle of the UNITAR Hiroshima South Sudan Fellowship: Entrepreneurship and Project Planning began on 12 June as 20 young South Sudanese professionals took part in the programme’s Orientation Workshop in Juba, South Sudan. The Orientation Workshop will be followed by Workshop II which is scheduled to take place from 20 to 26 June in Entebbe, Uganda. Now in its fourth cycle, the programme has 64 alumni, who represent 42 different organizations.
The programme is a six-month capacity-building training for junior- to mid-career-level professionals that focuses on project planning, leadership, and social entrepreneurship skills. This year, 20 Fellows, including 10 women, from the public sector, private sector, academic institutions, media, and civil society organisations of South Sudan were selected following a competitive merit-based selection process. Five standout Fellows from the previous cycle have been assigned as Coaches; they will support new Fellows in their learning journey by sharing their experiences and insights gained through the previous cycle of the programme.
During the Orientation Workshop, Director of the UNITAR Hiroshima Office Ms. Mihoko Kumamoto remarked, “The alumni network of this training has been expanding, and it now includes 64 professionals from multiple sectors. Today, 20 talented individuals joined our training programme for Cycle 2018. They will go through intensive learning for the next four months, so that they can contribute to creating a peaceful, sustainable future for South Sudan. We look forward to working with them closely.”
H.E. Seiji Okada, Ambassador of Japan to South Sudan, first explained about Japanese policy to provide Humanitarian, Capacity Building, and Development assistance toward South Sudanese people in a balanced manner. Ambassador Okada elaborated that the Embassy of Japan has been working tirelessly to ensure the project it manages are based on actual needs on the ground, and wished that the participants, through training, will receive good skill on needs assessment so that they can use the skill in their career. Ambassador also expressed his wishes that participants will learn from their experience in Hiroshima (where they will visit in late August/ early September) that stability and capacity building is a key for recovery from devastation of the war and economic development.
About the Programme
The UNITAR Hiroshima South Sudan Fellowship was developed by the UNITAR Hiroshima Office, with funding support from the Government and people of Japan and with institutional support from the Government of the Republic of South Sudan, to cultivate the social entrepreneurship and project-development knowledge, skills, and attitudes of selected South Sudanese professionals. The programme features a blended learning methodology and includes asynchronous and online training, coupled with two juba-based and two international workshops. Each workshop links with Fellows-led projects examining challenges and opportunities as they exist in South Sudan today.
South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the political focal point for the programme and the Ministry of Labour, Public Service, and Human Resource Development is the operational focal point.
For more information
Read more about the South Sudan Fellowship Programme.
At the UNITAR Hiroshima Office
Shamsul Hadi SHAMS (Mr.), Email: shamsul.shams@unitar.org, Phone: +81 82 511 2424
At the Embassy of Japan in South Sudan
Takanobu NAKAHARA (Mr.), E-mail: takanobu.nakahara@mofa.go.jp, Phone: +211 (0)959 003152
Photo: Fellows at the Orientation Workshop of the UNITAR Hiroshima South Sudan Fellowship