“Sawa Shabab, A Peacebuilding Radio Drama for Youth in South Sudan”

Sawa Shabab (Together Youth) series session 1 & 2 was initially produced locally by Free Voice South Sudan and session 3 & 4 by Amalna South Sudan in collaboration with Peace Tech Lab and USIP to promote peace and stability by empowering youth to be confident, open-minded and participatory citizens in a diverse society.

The drama series follows the daily lives of different young South Sudanese as they face unique challenges while learning how to become peacebuilders in their communities.  Sawa Shabab consists of 20 episodes produced annually in English and 20 episodes in Arabic and five episodes in Nuer and Dinka languages and was aired on Radio Miraya, the Catholic Radio Network and other 25 national radio stations across the country.

Since inception of the project in 2014, the drama has evolved from simply a radio show into a vibrant platform for voices of youth from across the country. It has been successfully branded, presented and implemented across the country as a trust network of South Sudanese youth working together to advocate for peace.

“Philip from Gok Machr: “Sawa Shabab is one of the best programs that promotes peace in the country, and I really want to join Sawa Shabab”

The dramatic series was based on an educational, peacebuilding curriculum designed with local partners. The curriculum seeks to increase knowledge and change the attitudes and behaviours of youth listeners regarding their roles in building peace in South Sudan. In the first two (2) sessions, the series' curriculum focused on three main goals, identified by local experts as critical to building peace in South Sudan.

• Co-Existence and National Identity – To promote peaceful co-existence and mutual respect among South Sudanese youth from different cultural and tribal orientations.
• Youth Empowerment and Personal Responsibility - To create the foundations of peacebuilding by empowering South Sudanese youth to be accountable, independent and participatory citizens of society.
• Gender – To promote peaceful and democratic growth in society by fostering an understanding of gender equality. 

As the situation of South Sudan further deteriorated, The Sawa Shabab team had increasingly focused on messaging around crucial themes such as inter-ethnic social cohesion and reconciliation in session three (3) and four (4). The latter curriculum goal was introduced in Season 3 and is defined as:

Reconciliation

• Encourage youth to reject violence as means to solve problems at a personal, community-based and national level.
• Encourage youth to consider forgiveness and healing as part of a personal, community-based and national reconciliation process.

Multiple storylines in season 3 & 4 addressed these new themes. The team worked closely with a “cattle-raiding advisory board” comprised out of 28 youth from different pastoralist communities across the country to develop the storyline of Malish, a young man caught in a vicious cycle of cattle-raiding and revenge, to ensure that the story was accurate and appropriate for each community. In the story, Malish realises, after the death of his best friend in a revenge attack, that violence will not bring back his friend and that the only way to stop the killing is to have a dialogue for peace. He and the other youth in his community engage the youth from the opposing community in a youth-to-youth dialogue for peace. In another storyline, a young girl, Lulu, who comes from a community that is being targeted, is protected and defended by her neighbours and elders in the community.

Young South Sudanese inside and outside of the country were encouraged to engage with the Sawa Shabab program. Youth can share their thoughts and experiences online through the Sawa Shabab Facebook fan page as well as via Twitter (@SawaShabab).

The program also includes opportunities for young listeners in South Sudan to interact with the drama through text messages and phone call-ins. Listeners were invited to respond to questions raised within the episode and send thoughts and feedback on characters and storylines.

One audience member commented, “Hi Sawa Shabab, I am Gabriel Kulang from Juba, Gurei. So here is my answer to question 'How can Malish stop the warriors from going to raids?'. First of all, Malish needs to talk to the worriors' leader Phillip privately because if they talk to him amongst the other warriors, he won't accept the idea. This is what Malish shall tell him [Phillip]:

*1. Tell him to go and make peace with Lula's community and their cattle will be given to them peacefully instead of fighting which may lead to loss of lives.

*2. Tell him not to go to fight because he may even loss some of his warriors hence leaving their children being orphans and fatherless thus his community will get extinct due to shortage of youth.

*3 You shall tell them the good values of peace, then the leader may show some mercy, and after that you go and convince the other men, and they may accept your idea of PEACE.”

*4. Another community member said, “If I were Lula I wouldn't run, but have the responsibility of correcting John because at last he’s, my husband. Not all men are respectful, but a woman can be a reason for such man to change, and I will pray to God because I know He will make perfect, just feel like participating, Marlyn Hicky texting. thanks!”