Twenty-Five Young South Sudanese Professionals Complete Workshop on Entrepreneurship and Leadership in Entebbe, Uganda

29 August 2017, Entebbe, Uganda - After five days of focused learning in Entebbe, Uganda, Workshop II of the United Nations Institute for Training and research (UNITAR) South Sudan Fellowship Programme came to a successful conclusion. The 20 Fellows, supported by 5 Coaches, who had first come together as a group at an Orientation Workshop in Juba earlier this month, gained practical skills on how to assess opportunities and challenges in their surroundings, augmented by the scoped assessment of a need through data collection and analysis from the field. The findings of Fellows Need Assessments, which they will complete as Assignment One of the 6-month long programme, will be incorporated into project proposals through further training during Workshop III to be held in Hiroshima, Japan, later this year.

The five Coaches are standout Fellows from the previous cycles who were invited to the workshop as local resource persons. They shared their own learning journey, experiences, lessons learned, and insight, contextualizing the learning further to the realities of South Sudan. To complement the Coaches skills and mentorship role, UNITAR offered Training of Trainer sessions to strengthen and incentivize their voluntarily commitment to the programme to assist new Fellows.

Ms. Rachel Alek Aguer Arok, one of the Fellows and founder of Real Women Magazine, representing the Association for Media Development in South Sudan said: “I am a journalist with deep interest in business and entrepreneurship. I found the entrepreneur part of the training very useful and relevant to my passion. I learned what attributes and qualities successful entrepreneurs exhibit, how to set clear and measurable goals and develop plans to achieve them. My perception has changed from merely focusing on existing challenges and obstacles, to the one who look for opportunities and new possibilities.”

Ms. Voranica Igale Monoja, from Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs said: “The Environmental Analysis training, examining one’s own surroundings, is the backbone of any venture or project. One cannot undertake a successful project without properly understanding the environment within which the project will operate. Therefore, the environmental analysis provided me a crucial lens to examine the success of my future project that I am eagerly working towards.”

Koul Gabriel Nyok Kur, a Fellow representing the Ministry of Interior, Republic of South Sudan said, “Learning the skills of leading teams was particular interest to me. My take away from the workshop was the leadership qualities and skills, of which I see to it as a great input to rectify and understand my organizational needs and performance and improve my working place and my career in particular. Additionally, I found the practical exercise, called ‘Hill of Influence’ useful, linking learning directly to performance within the scope of my organization and the services we deliver to the people of South Sudan.”

“What inspired me was the environment of the programme, meeting and working with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures from my own country South Sudan. It was a great learning experience and I shall cherish it for a long time to come” mentioned by Mr. Pal Wan Kuach Majock, representing Nile Hope, a civil society organization.

About the UNITAR South Sudan Fellowship Programme

The UNITAR South Sudan Fellowship Programme was developed by the UNITAR Hiroshima Office, with funding support from the Government and People of Japan and with institutional support from the Government of the Republic of South Sudan, to cultivate the social entrepreneurship and project-development knowledge, skills, and attitudes of selected South Sudanese professionals. The programme features a blended learning methodology and includes asynchronous and online training, coupled with two juba-based and two international workshops. Each workshop links with Fellows-led projects examining challenges and opportunities as they exist in South Sudan today.

South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the political focal point for the programme and the Ministry of Labour, Public Service, and Human Resource Development is the operational focal point.

Contact information

At the UNITAR Hiroshima Office

Mr. Shamsul Hadi SHAMS, E-mail: shamsul.shams@unitar.org, Phone: +81 82 511 2424

At the Embassy of Japan in South Sudan

Takanobu NAKAHARA (Mr.), E-mail: takanobu.nakahara@mofa.go.jp, Phone: +211 (0)959 003152