Challenges facing young people

Grace Aguil Garang takes us through some of the challenges that youth in South Sudan face, such as unemployment, economic vulnerability, illiteracy, disunity among the youth, negative cultural norms leading to early marriage and more.

Building strong young leaders for today

Grace strongly objects to the idea that young people are the leaders of ‘tomorrow.’ She suggests that a youth enterprise fund needs to be put in place to ensure that the youth agenda is included in current political decision making and nation building. 

‘We have to change the whole idea of the youth being the leaders of tomorrow. I feel the youth are the leaders of today and tomorrow, mainly because if we are going to achieve tomorrow, we have to be there today. How can we keep saying that you are going to take up the seats tomorrow? How would we know how to work tomorrow? How do you build the present for tomorrow?’

About the Step Up podcast

The Step Up podcast is produced by Tearfund South Sudan for young men and women, and hopes to  inspire talented young minds to use creative methods to transform their lives. The podcast will also discuss the options available for young people as they navigate daily challenges and life choices.

Season 1 of this podcast will focus on the young people in South Sudan and feature inspiring conversations and reflections on:

• youth empowerment and transformation
• climate change and environmental care 
• peacebuilding and social cohesion
• mental health
• transformative gender norms
• social innovations
• technology