Prosperity Division – Hiroshima Office

IMPACT STORY
Training young professionals in South
Sudan on leadership and entrepreneurshipskills, 2015-2019
June 2021

Background
UNITAR initiated the “Entrepreneurship and Leadership Youth Training Fellowship Programme” inSouth Sudan in 2015 to improve the capacities of young professionals in post-conflict countries.
Implemented by the UNITAR Hiroshima Office, the programme aims to strengthen hard andsoft skills of young professionals in the fields of entrepreneurship, project planning andimplementation, and leadership. More specifically, the programme offers training in the designand implementation of organisational needs assessments (ONA), environmental analysis,
stakeholder identification and integration, effective communication skills, post-conflictreconstruction processes, results chain, monitoring and evaluation tools, risks mitigationassessments, business model canvas, recognition of individual work styles, and teambuilding
skills.
Implemented yearly since 2015, the programme takes place over six months and consists of two
one-week domestic and two one-week international workshops. Besides the workshops, theparticipants undertake practical assignments adapted to their local and organizational needs,including an individual project, with the support of tutors and coaches. The coaches are former
standout fellows who receive an additional training on “Coaching for Coaches”.
Since its inception, the Government and the People of Japan generously funded the UNITARSouth Sudan Youth Entrepreneurship and Leadership Training Programme to drive social,environmental, and economic progress and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in South Sudan and across the region. UNITAR is genuinely grateful for the partnership toenhance the capacity of youth and drive the change for the good of the people and society as awhole.
By the end of the fifth cycle, 116 participants (including 53 female participants, or 46 per cent) havetaken part in the programme. On average, 83 per cent of the respondents from previous evaluation
exercises agreed that the information provided during the fellowship programme was new to them,yet 92 per cent agreed it was relevant to their jobs, and 97 per cent indicated that they planned touse the new knowledge and skills.
To better understand the different ways participants have applied the knowledge and skills fromthe training, this Impact Story collects feedback from 44 participants from the 2015-2019 cycles
and takes a close look at the post-training experiences of two fellows. The Impact Story is basedon the results from a survey administered in March 2021 (with a 38 per cent response rate andtwo in-depth interviews.

Fellowship Programme Timeline
Cycle 2015
Nov 2015- March2016
24 accepted
particoapnts

Cycle 2016
July 2016 - March2017
25 accepted
participants

Cycle 2017
July 2017 - March2018
21 accepted
participants

Cycle 2018
June 2018- March2019
20 acceptedparticipants

Cycle 2019
May 2019 - March2020
23 accepted
participants

Fellowship programme in figures
116 accepted participants in 5cycles

46 per cent female
54 per cent male

92 per cent agreed theinformation was relevant totheir jobs

97 per cent agreed they will
use the information from theprogramme

83 per cent agreed theinformation was new

97 per cent agreed thetraining was overall usefulProfessional profile and application of knowledge andskills of survey respondents
At the moment of their participation in the programme, most of the survey respondents (75 percent)wereworkinginorganizations
focusedonentrepreneurship,projectmanagement/implementation, or leadership. From these, forty-eight per cent were junior or midlevel professionals and 25 per cent had managerial positions or were co-owners of SMEs or otherprojects. Also, many of the respondents (84 per cent) worked in governmental institutions, NGOs,or the private sector. Besides being professionally involved in the fellowship thematic programme
areas, 61 per cent had already previous training in entrepreneurship, leadership skills, or project
management/implementation.
The engagement in areas directly linked to the topics of the programme is reflected in the highnumber of participants confirming application of knowledge and skills, with an application rate of
89 per cent. The programme participants have applied a combination of both soft and hard skills
to their work (see figure 2). Specifically, survey respondents confirmed applying teamwork andleadership skills and application of ONA, specifically. Examples of application of these skills fromthe participants include: identifying needs during partner selection processes, emergency
response needs assessment for flood in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps and conflict
affected areas, incorporation of steps on how to conduct needs assessments in academic lectures,
incorporation of teamwork and problem-solving strategies, leading capacity building on leadershipand management skills at work, implementation of environmental needs assessments, amongothers.

Some of the factors that enabled the application of knowledge and skills included confidence toapply the skills (84 per cent), good level of knowledge in the topics (79 per cent), training design
and methodologies (74 per cent), and importance of the skills for job success (69 per cent). It isnoted that a combination of personal endowments, characteristics of the workplace, andappropriate training design and methodologies are important for assuring the application ofknowledge and skills. On the other hand, respondents identified lack of funds (66 per cent) as apreventing factor that of application of skills. This becomes clearer when digging into aspects thatprevented the implementation of the participants’ individual projects. Although the proportion ofrespondents that have implemented their projects is high (37 per cent, equivalent to 15participants), some others reported having had difficulties doing so. As shown in Figure 3, the fourmain reasons are lack of funding, the security environment in the country/lack of spaces to connect

with potential investors and health and environmental problems (including COVID-19
complications).
Transferring skills and sharing ideas withothers after the traineeship was also
important for the programme. Most of the
respondents stated they had shared ideas or
knowledge from the course with their coworkers (97 per cent), members of theircommunities (86 per cent), formerclassmates or former fellows from theprogramme (82 per cent) and with mentors
or coaches (65 per cent).
The coaching component boosted theknowledge and skills as well as the ways inwhich the skills were transferred. Former
coaches responding to the survey expressed how coaching helped them enhance their skills,
especially those related to leadership, communication and individual confidence (See Box 1);
however, hard skills were also reinforced. Some former coaches also affirmed making themselvesmore available to transfer knowledge and skills to others after their coaching experience, evenoutside the programme.

Box 1. Comments from former coaches“I learned that level of understanding differs from one person to another…”“My experience as a coach for UNITAR has been fruitful because [I] got to interact and share ideas withfellows from different professions. As a coach [I] have learned that each individual is unique but we need tocommunicate and collaborate with each other to find solutions to the issues that we all face. Being a coachhas made me more confident…”“I began to realise that being a [c]oach is a continuous process of learning and very rewarding… [I] built
confidence in me and renewed my memories, created a social and technical connection with the fellows in
the program and the staff, [e]nhanced my knowledge base and skills acquisitions and therefore a paved way
to expertise”.

Christina Pita Luduku
Lawyer – Co-founder of an independent law firm
Applying leadership skills to empower women
professionals

Juba, South Sudan – 2015 Cycle. Christina is a hard-working woman and a leader in her
professional field. She holds a degree in law with a diploma in human rights and is passionate
about women’s rights. She decided to focus her research project on women’s rights in conflict,complex, and post-conflict situations. She has worked as an assistant legal counsel for the Ministryof Justice and Constitutional Affairs, as a consultant for UNITAR, and is currently the co-owner ofa law firm that offers legal services primarily, but not exclusively, to NGOs. Christina also provides
free legal counselling to NGOs and small initiatives, which she believes helps develop her
community and improves her professional skills.
Before joining the programme, Christina worked for the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional
Affairs and was either the only woman or, from time to time, one of very few women in the Ministry.
At the time of the programme, she did not have previous experience in entrepreneurship or
leadership, but she was interested in the topic since she believed that implementing good quality
projects can bring about real changes, contrarily to what sometimes happened in the field of law,where changing the legal framework to create changes can take much more time.
Christina was very dedicated during the programme and was selected as a coach for the nexteditions. During her work as a coach from 2016 to 2019, Christina transferred the skills gained
during the fellowship to new fellows in the programme. The coaching work was very
demanding as she had to help with training facilitation during the day and support the fellow’sproject proposals (e.g., reviewing, advising) during the evenings. Nonetheless, she considers theexperience very worthwhile as this experience also improved her skills, especially her leadershipskills. Christina says that the fellowship programme helped her develop her confidence byimproving her communication and presentation skills, which she transferred to the fellows,
especially to women.
Christina recalls one situation where one of the women she coached had an excellent project
proposal, but experienced difficulties with presentation techniques. Christina was committed tohelping her and coached her every day using her own progress and personal techniques
as examples. In subsequent presentations, Christina could see the trainee’s progress incommunicating her ideas. Christina also uses the learned leadership skills in her work as a lawyer.
She is part of a women advocates association and has observed how sometimes women’sopinions are less valued or acknowledged than men’s. Then, she always reminds them and helped
them express their ideas, incorporate leadership skills, and value their work.
Besides leadership skills, Christina has also applied hard skills in writing project proposals. She
has assisted these processes in the women's advocate association by request of her colleagues
in the group and in her work at the law firm. Some of her tasks in the law firm include draftingproject proposals, constitutions for NGOs and contracts, where she can directly apply theknowledge from the programme. She also uses the monitoring tools and techniques to assist in
the implementation of her client's projects. Christina recognizes this as an asset from the fellowshipand notes that her colleagues do not have the same knowledge about monitoring tools.
The knowledge from the programme related to peacebuilding has also helped Christina in her dayto-day work. She sees the programme as having contributed to broadening perspectives oninterpersonal relations, especially in post-conflict contexts like in South Sudan. She now can seethat there is no point in getting angry with someone for a disagreement, but that it is better to leavethings aside and "focus on what’s on the table" and be more careful in her relations with others to
avoid damaging any bonds with her colleagues.
An additional factor from the programme that has contributed to the application of knowledge isnetworking. Christina is still in contact with other fellows, and they occasionally share time. Thisconnection allows them to have updates on their individual projects and share work opportunities
between them. For example, Christina's law firm assists NGOs in developing project proposals
and when she sees that someone requires any specialized service she connects them with someof their fellow colleagues from the UNITAR programme.
Although Christina has been able to apply the skills from the course to her work as a lawyer (andproviding training), she faced some challenges while trying to implement her individual project.
Christina's project was linked to her work at the Ministry and consisted of providing legal aid
services to women inmates in the Juba prison. Unfortunately, she had difficulties obtaining
information from the prison administration and adequate support from her supervisor at work, aswell as lack of funding to continue the project on her own.
Christina is very grateful for her participation to the UNITAR fellowship programme and hopes it
can continue. She also would like to see many of the projects from her former fellows being
implemented and hopes that there could be a mechanism to facilitate the initial seed funding of theprojects.

Hakim Monykuer Awuok
Consultant – EmpowerKids South Sudan and Director for
Cabinet Resolutions, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs
Conducting ONA to empower kids in South Sudan

Juba, South Sudan – 2016 Cycle. Hakim holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration anda master’s in public policy. Since 2014, he has worked as a consultant for EmpowerKids, an NGO
working to improve educational opportunities for children in South Sudan, and, in parallel, for theCabinet Resolutions Department of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs since 2016. Having dedicatedmost of his work time to the NGO, Hakim decided to concentrate on the development andimplementation of projects that could improve the opportunities of people in his country.
Before the programme, Hakim felt he needed to develop new knowledge that could enable hiscreativity and work performance when implementing projects. His biggest challenge wasconducting needs assessments, and he decided to enroll in the programme. After the programme,
Hakim feels very confident in conducting needs assessment and has noticed how applying
this knowledge has improved the quality of his work. For Hakim, every community has multiple
challenges. However, when you do not have the skills to differentiate the primary needs from all ofthe challenges, you will probably not succeed in implementing your projects because you only
jump to a conclusion but cannot recognize the problems that require solutions first.
As a result of needs assessment exercises led by Hakim, new initiatives have been
introduced to the work of the EmpowerKids. For example, Hakim’s team found that one of thecauses of girl’s school absenteeism, and sometimes school dropout, was the lack of resources topurchase sanitary pads. When girls had their periods without appropriate menstrual care, they
were sometimes bullied at school by fellow boys, which sometimes led to absenteeism. They
realized that providing sanitary pads and awareness about the topic would be a solution to thisproblem. Then, Hakim’s team presented their results to the organization and searched for partners
to implement an initiative in this regard. Now, they have introduced the Days for Girls1 initiativein partnerships with an organization in Uganda.
Similarly, as a result of another needs assessment they have improved the outreach of an existing
project by promoting a free offline repository with the textbooks of South Sudanese schools
oriented by the Ministry of Education. However, the results of the ONA indicated that many of thefamilies do not have access to a digital device and could not access the textbooks. Consequently,
they created a digital library in one of the secondary schools. They equipped a room with 50 solarpowered tablets where students can access the books freely2. Hakim considered that without the1 https://empowerkidssouthsudan.com/initiative/days-for-girls/
2 https://empowerkidssouthsudan.com/initiative/solar-spell/fellowship the quality of his work would not be the same and he would probably have fewer
opportunities to identify the real needs and implement these new initiatives.
Besides using needs assessments, Hakim also conducted two workshops for EmpowerKids
to transfer knowledge to his colleagues. He also tried to apply some of the new knowledge to
his work at the Ministry, but he did not receive adequate support from his supervisor.
Hakim considered that his educational background helped him to understand quickly and how
better use the knowledge obtained during the programme. Networking was another factor that hashelped him apply the skills. Given his experience working in the field, he can connect the ideas
with potential partners easily through the organization in which he works. However, it is still achallenge to develop some initiatives on his own, such as his individual project from the fellowship.
Hakim’s project was to train women refugees in handicrafts so that they could generate
independent incomes. Nonetheless, it was difficult for him to obtain funding and he did not continue
the project.
Hakim was invited to participate as a coach for the 2017 cycle. He says that it was a different
experience in comparison to his participation as a fellow, because from the beginning it was him
acquiring the knowledge and giving it to somebody who wants to gain knowledge. A learning fromthe coaching experience was interacting with others. He learned how to approach a person to
make him/her feel open to taking advice. The coaches received additional training before the startof the programme in Uganda. The workshop was concentrated on how to address the participantsand explain the information to other adults and other communication techniques.
Hakim feels very proud of having been part of the fellowship programme, his experience as acoach and his achievements using adequate needs assessments. He hopes other can implement
their projects, if UNITAR perhaps provides more support to connect with potential funders.

Conclusion
The fellowship programme has been useful for improving participants’ work performance and has
indeed generated changes in their professional lives. Both hard and soft skills have been applied
by many of the participants. The design and implementation of ONA was suggested by many ofthe participants as one of the hard skills most largely applied. Soft skills were also commonly
incorporated into their work, especially teamwork and leadership skills. The participants’professional profile and previous training in fields related to the fellowship programme themes arelikely factors helping to secure application of knowledge and skills. The training methodologies andsupport from coaches also represented opportunities to enhance the knowledge and skills.
Similar to other programmes previously evaluated, the implementation of individual projects wasmore difficult. Nonetheless, most of the participants are continuing to work on their projects and aconsiderable proportion have already implemented theirs. Some suggestions summarized fromthe participants in this regard are:•••

Dedicate more time during the fellowship programme to improve the writing of grant
proposals;
Create a platform where fellows could market their projects or connect with potential
investors or organisations interested in supporting the implementation of the projects; andFollow-up from mentors after the training.

The programme’s coaching component has helped those selected as coaches to enhance theirhard skills and improve their soft skills, which they can sometimes implement in their workplaces.
Besides, they can expand their networking opportunities when interacting with the programme
fellows.
An unexpected result from the fellowship programme is the creation of a community by some of
the fellows, where they do not only exchange their experiences and ideas, but it acts as a platformto generate job opportunities among them. Perhaps, better follow-up about this practice should bedone and shared with new fellows as an opportunity to increase the likelihood of application ofknowledge and skills from the course. UNITAR could consider formalizing and further supporting
ongoing communities of practice.