Peace Canal welcomed a delegation from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to Greater Pibor to showcase community-led peacebuilding supported through the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund. Over four days, the delegation met local leaders, women, youth and peace actors who are building lasting peace through locally owned solutions.

The 9th Inter-Communal Governance Structures (ICGS) meeting brought Dinka, Murle and Nuer leaders together in Bichibich to strengthen local ownership of peace. Building on previous progress, participants agreed clearer systems for communication, accountability and the recovery of abducted women and children, demonstrating that lasting peace depends on communities working together.

Communities across Jonglei and Greater Pibor are demonstrating that peace can begin with a simple act: walking together. Discover the story behind the February 2026 Road Openings Mission and watch the official film trailer.

Each year, communities across Lakes State come together before the cattle migration season to strengthen agreements that reduce conflict, protect livelihoods and build lasting peace.

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Thirty-one staff from Peace Canal and TOCH South Sudan completed intensive training on the Community Institution Model, strengthening their capacity to support community-led livelihoods and peacebuilding. As master trainers, they will help communities build stronger local institutions that promote resilience, economic opportunity and lasting peace.

Communities across Jonglei and Greater Pibor are proving that peace begins with dialogue. The Meeting captures the people, conversations and courage behind one of South Sudan's most significant community-led peace processes in recent years.

We have seen communities across our areas of work take important steps towards lasting peace. From the opening of a new community peace centre in Bic Bic to local reconciliation dialogues, women's leadership, and strengthened community peace structures, Peace Canal and its partners continued supporting locally led solutions that build trust, resilience and peaceful coexistence.

The Juba Interim ICGS agenda-setting meeting underscored the importance of sustained dialogue and action, even in the face of significant obstacles on the ground. The participants demonstrated their commitment to addressing key issues, including abductions, road access, and information-sharing, which are crucial for fostering trust and cooperation among their communities.

The cycles of opportunity and threat continue in Jonglei and GPAA. Peace partners in the area based programming experimented with a new approach to supporting community leadership agency in the dissemination of local peace processes.

From 5-7 April, the Inter-Communal Governance Structures met in Akobo town. With pressure in some parts of the community to retaliate against ongoing sporadic attacks from the GPAA, this ICGS meeting needed practical follow-up measures. Peace Canal’s Area Coordination team speak to the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund (POF) on the key points from the meeting.

After three successful internal annual cattle migration conferences among the Dinka Agar of Lakes State, the fourth annual forum this time extended to the Belle community. The ‘institution’ of the cattle migration conference is proving an important anchor point to the peace governance system in the area.

With justice and accountability echoed as priorities in conferences, workshops and international agendas across South Sudan, we can lose sight of the potential in traditional approaches to provide redress in ways that have legitimacy and relevance to the communities involved. The recent process between Dachuek and Ayual reminds us of this potential.

After a successful renewal of the Inter-Communal Governance Structures for Jonglei-GPAA in July, the delegates came together in Ayod from 2-6 November. Weather plagued the logistics, but the meeting maintained momentum from the first gathering in Juba.

After more than a year in abeyance, the Inter-Communal Governance Structures re-convened in Juba to discuss ways forward amidst the ongoing conflict between and within communities of Jonglei and GPAA.

December 2022 violence disrupted the fragile inter-communal peace process in Jonglei and Greater Pibor. Over the last month, conversations have taken place across the communities to determine the appetite for the Pieri Peace Process to continue.

In the climate of escalating mobilisation among the youth of Norther Jonglei, the newly constituted Murle Age Set Council went ahead with its planned visit to Rumbek, 7-12 December. The recent Jonglei-GPAA violence has undermined the implementation plan, but a foundation remains in place.

Learning and review is at the centre of Peace Canal’s approach under the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund. A new project with CAFOD and Trócaire in Partnership (CTP) is enabling a process to share experiences and lessons between peacebuilding work in the Rumbek and Yirol areas.

Weideng is home to the shrine of the Nuer spiritual leader Ngundeng and represents a historical and spiritual focal point for the wider Nuer community. 26 May – 01 April, Nuer from Ayod, Nyirol, Uror, Akobo and Ulang came to Weideng for a peace Conference culminating months of local pre-dialogues.

The peace engagement in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) continues in the face of active mobilisation attempts led by some factions of armed youth leadership in Jonglei. From 24 April to 1 May, a delegation of community leaders, supported by a combined team from Nonviolent Peaceforce and Peace Canal, visited communities in the Nanaam area of GPAA.

Almost one year since the Pieri agreement, persistent provocations undermine the stability needed for both humanitarian and development assistance. Simplified narratives characterise this as one community’s youth uncontrolled and wreaking havoc across the area. The reality is more complex in both sides, and a series of intra-communal dialogues is underway to identify internal levers for the inter-communal peace.