“It was a dream, and now it is our reality,” said Linda Ferdinand, Chairperson of the Wau Civil Engagement Center, at its recent inauguration in Wau County, Western Bahr el Gazal (WBG) State in South Sudan.

The USAID Shejeh Salam (“promoting peace”) program has found a way to reach illiterate people in remote areas in South Sudan using radios.

Every year on September 21st, we observe the International Day of Peace. This is a day when we reflect on whether there have been measurable advancements in Sustainable Development Goal 16, specifically our efforts to promote peaceful, just, and inclusive societies.

New conflicts bring a rising tide of human tragedy, including new waves of war’s oldest, most silenced, and least condemned crime – sexual violence. Conflict-related sexual violence, whether against women, girls, men, or boys continues to be used as a tactic of war, torture, and terrorism, and within communal