Mentorship Support to South Sudan Delegation on Possibility of Establishing National Commission for UNESCO

Abstract

The 40th UNESCO General Conference in November 2019 marked an important milestone because during that time the Ugandan delegation to the Conference agreed with the official designated to UNESCO Juba Office in South Sudan to support the establishment of a National Commission in the then newly established Country. Through subsequent follow-ups within the framework of the Eastern African National Commissions Regional Conferences and interactions with the South Sudan Government officials and UNESCO Juba Office, a detailed Terms of Reference (ToR) was developed for Uganda National Commission for UNESCO. On the basis of this a bilateral contract was entered into under the authority of the Director of UNESCO Juba Office and direct supervision of the NPO Culture Sector within the framework of benchmarking and mentoring the understanding, knowledge and providing guide to South Sudan on how to establish a NATCOM. The scope of work for the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO included organizing and facilitating a consultation workshop on how to establish a National Commission for UNESCO in South Sudan, During the three days, the South Sudanese team was shown around the different offices of Uganda National Commission including the documentation centre of the Commission, met the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education that hosts UNATCOM and attended two days mentorship on the establishment, structure, operations and funding of a National Commission and some challenges encountered. A participatory Action Plan was developed for Establishment of South Sudan National Commission for UNESCO starting from the time of return to Juba mid-December 2021 to March 2022 within which the proposed National Commission should be put in place. The responsibilities for these would be shared between the Under-Secretaries of the three Ministries represented namely General Education, Culture and Water Resources and Irrigation.