ABSTRACT
This research examines the challenges that the youths in South Sudan face in their efforts
towards peacebuilding for a post-conflict developed nation. Using the secondary method of
analysis the researcher evaluates specific objectives of the study such as the efforts of the youth
in peacebuilding in face of an ongoing conflict in South Sudan, the challenges faced by the
youths in their endeavor and how they can access the critical resources to achieve post-conflict
development. The findings prove that efforts of the youth in peacebuilding is limited to few
activities like being vocal to enlightening the youths involved in the war to embrace a different
approach that aims at peacebuilding along ethnic lines, and it will overtime going to be difficult
to be sustained, because there is a lack of support mostly at the political level. This is definitely
not an easy escapade considering the lack of support from the political arena, the lack of
partnerships at the local level speaks volumes to the challenge of pursing such a grand goal with
insufficient resources. The study posits youths have to surmount the challenges of inadequate
resources, because one way to hold the youths who have participated as foot soldiers in the
conflict is to ensure that their basic needs like food, shelter and clothing are met. It easily keeps
then focused on the bigger picture of what can be achieved. Another challenge found is
inaccessibility to the traditional media like Radio and television to garner support, but they are
under the control of the government who are not going to support the youths. The study
recommends that the youths can pull the change necessary for access to the funding and support
needed for peacebuilding for post-conflict development. Since the local media is out of reach,
adopting the Arab Spring strategy of deploying social media will prove a veritable method.
Although, this could be very slow process since only 2.5% of the total population of South Sudan
uses social media, and 1.8% of them are youths. Consistently slow and steady use of the social
media platforms will obviously result in international support to the process.
