Aspiring to inspire others to contribute to world peace

Since the beginning of 2021, seven UN Volunteers have been deployed with the UN Peacebuilding Fund in Sudan. They are embedded in projects focusing on durable solutions, rule of law, local peacebuilding, women’s participation and natural resource governance. For International Peace Day, we meet two of these UN Volunteers.

Through the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), which is the UN’s primary financial instrument to sustain peace in countries at risk of or affected by violent conflict, the UN system is supporting Sudan’s transition towards peace after decades of conflict. UN Volunteers are part of this effort.

Godfrey Mukalazi (Uganda) is a UN Volunteer serving with UNDP as a Peacebuilding Project Manager. His contribution falls within Support to the Sudanese Peace Process, a project implemented by UNDP and UNHCR, in partnership with the Sudanese Peace Commission. This aims to bolster the peace process in Sudan, including through capacity-building of the national peace architecture and dissemination of the Juba Peace Agreement, signed in October 2020.

Godfrey is leading state-level coordination and promoting initiatives that support peacebuilding, governance and community reconciliation. Moreover, Godfrey ensures effective information sharing, engages local peace partners and promotes gender equality and women’s participation in dialogues and peacebuilding work.

My heart-warming experience is grounded in our team effort to contribute to the common good of promoting human understanding and peace. I am humbled and Inspired by my experience, and l aspire to inspire others to contribute to world understanding through volunteerism. ---Godfrey Mukalazi, UN Volunteer with UNDP

Also deployed under the Peacebuilding Fund, Kyle Jacques (Canada) is a UN Volunteer who serves in the PBF Secretariat, hosted by the UN Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO). As a Monitoring, Evaluation and Communications Specialist, he assesses the ongoing implementation of PBF-funded projects. He strives to ensure all activities are implemented as planned and are achieving their intended peacebuilding results.

Kyle liaises regularly with implementing project teams, supporting the completion and submission of progress reports, conducting project monitoring missions, aggregating and analyzing project data, as well as supporting the completion of final project evaluations. His work is helping PBF-funded programmes create a positive impact within the beneficiary communities.

In the PBF-funded programme in Darfur, for example, 377 individuals have benefitted from income generating and vocational training activities, 146 of whom are women. Another positive outcome is the training of 264 Sudanese Police Force staff, including 38 women, in land laws, community patrols, intelligence-led policing and early warning response.

Through this assignment, I have gained a thoroughly enriched understanding of the political and peacebuilding context in Sudan, the unique opportunities and challenges within the different communities we are seeking to support, and the important role to be played by the UN country team in furthering Sudan’s peacebuilding trajectory. --Kyle Jacques, UN Volunteer with the UN RCO in Sudan

The road to peace in Sudan cannot be complete without the inclusion of volunteers who are working tirelessly to bring hope to communities that have endured the burdens of conflict. Volunteers are offering their time and knowledge to bring about positive change during a critical time in the country’s history.