Workshop on the role of youth

On 23-25 September, researchers and activists came together for a workshop on Sudanese youth movements’ role before and after the war.

The Sudanese youth movements played a crucial role in the protests leading up the ousting of Omar al-Bashir’s regime in 2019. During the transitional period and also after war broke out in April 2023, they have continued to be key players, advocating for peace and democracy, and now also in the role of providers of humanitarian assistance in local communities through their organisation of emergency rooms that offer crucial health services and aid to the people affected by the war.

The workshop ‘Sudanese Youth Movements before and after the 2023 War: Impacts, Responses, and Agentive Engagement’ focused on different aspects of youth’s responses to the war, and on the crucial role they can play in pushing for and building sustainable peace in Sudan.

The workshop was organised by the Sudan-Norway Academic Cooperation (SNAC) in collaboration with the Peace Research Institute, University of Khartoum, and CEDEJ-Khartoum. It brought together a large group of SNAC fellows and young Sudanese researchers and activists who presented papers based on their research and experiences from socio-political movements – with topics ranging from the war’s impact on collective memories to emerging generational gaps and gendered experiences of the war. Several of the papers that were discussed will be published in the SNAC project’s Sudanese Perspectives blog.