By Joe Okuna
Juba, South Sudan- Warchild Holland is leading a team of four local nongovernmental organizations in
rolling out a pilot project to introduce a community-led approach to children Wellbeing. The approach if successful shall empower the community in South Sudan restive states of Upper Nile, Unity and Western Bahr El ghazal to identify those harms that affect mental health and psychosocial lives of children in their community and proposed a community tailored solutions to the problems. The new methodology, the seeds is a Warchild Holland’s and Save the children International’s brain child that was piloted in Kenya’s region of Marafa in Africa and Columbia, in South America.
South Sudan has been in the state of conflict for most part of its independence since 2011 and this has had adverse impacts on the lives of the people especially children who are trying to cope with the traumatic stress that has harmed their wellbeing.
The project kicked off by training at least two coaches from each local partner organizations that would facilitate a community-led dialogue on child wellbeing in Upper Nile, Unity and Western Bahr El ghazal states’ areas of Malakal town, Malakal Protection of Civilian site, Koch, and Bagari.
Widows and Orphans Charitable Organization, WOCO, Mary Help Association, MHA, Smile Again Africa Development Organization, SAADO and Universal Christian Relief and Development Organization, UNIDOR are the front-line organizations that would participate in the implementation of this innovative child Mental health and Psychosocial wellbeing solution in South Sudan.
The organizations, through the community coaches and facilitators will ensure that, the communities are supported and empower to discover and tap in their local knowledge and resources to solve mental health and child wellbeing to promote sustainable community-led child mental health and psychosocial support to ensure long-term sustainability and ownership by the community.
Through various tools and technics acquired during the training, the community coaches and facilitators shall help the community to reflect and identify their local strengths and resources that can be utilized to promote children wellbeing in the community.
