By Daniel Deng Bol
The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission(JMEC) in collaboration with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have organized a two-day workshop starting Monday in the South Sudanese capital Juba on Monday to enhance the understanding of the media on the provisions of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.
Journalists attending the IGAD training workshop (Photo credit: Gurtong). Many workshops are organized in effort to improve media.
On his opening remarks, JMEC Chief of Staff Amb. Berhanu Kebede said: ” the media today is playing an outstanding role in creating and shaping public opinion and strengthening the political, economic and social basis of any given society. As a fourth pillar of democracy along with the judiciary, executive and legislature, the media today have an all-embracing role to act against injustice and continuously inform citizens of the changes taking place in the respective society”.
Amb. Kebede said the workshop is both timely and of great importance as it presents an opportunity to all the participants to understand the ARCSS in a more detailed and informed way. This will be critical in enhancing your reporting in a more concise and informative way.
He added saying the chapter by chapter presentations of the ARCSS during these two days would be an opportunity to discuss what had been achieved so far with regards to the implementation of it and further on discuss what role the media can play in forging the political process that oversees the full implementation of the ACRCSS.
The workshop was organized basically to enhance the understanding of the South Sudanese media of the provisions of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan will help you to discharge your responsibility of forming citizens about the Peace Agreement.
JMEC acknowledges the need to promote inclusivity and popular ownership of the ARCISS among different stakeholders and they believe that the media is a critical link in this quest.
“It is our hope that this workshop will help strengthen the role of mass media in the peace-building process in South Sudan. Despite the enduring challenges facing the media in the country, the media must move from merely reporting issues and events to understanding and clarifying issues and events from diverse perspectives including socio-political contexts. They must also provide a platform for expressing views and opinions, dialogue and consensus building within and among different communities”.
This orientation workshop is therefore very timely as it aims to equip all of you with a more robust understanding of the ARCSS considering the recurring challenges we face in its implementation. We hope it will also contribute in empowering you, to effectively participate, advocate and strategically engage all the parties and other stakeholders, to ensure its full implementation, and ultimately the realisation of enduring peace, stability and democracy in the Republic of South Sudan.
This is not the first time JMEC organized such a workshop, it had organized similar workshops in the recent past months in an attempt to updates the media on the progress of the implementation of the agreement
JMEC is responsible for monitoring and overseeing the implementation of the agreement and the mandate and tasks of the transitional government, including the adherence of the parties to the agreed timelines and other serious deficiencies.
The commission is also tasked with overseeing the work of the Monitoring and Verification(and its successor mechanism, the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism), the economic and Financial Management Authority (EFMA) , the Strategic Defence and Security Review Board( SDSRB) ,the National Election Commission (NEC),and all other transitional institution and mechanism created by this agreement and established as part of the TGONU. The CTSAM, EFMA,the SDSRD, the NEC, CTRH and other institutions and mechanism created by this agreement shall present regular reports to JMEC for this purpose.Notwithstanding the foregoing, JMEC may request further reports from any transitional institutions and mechanism, as it deems necessary.
