Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to planned reductions in Official Development Assistance spending, what assessment has been made of the effects of changes in the level of funding to the South Sudan Council Of Churches’ Action Plan for Peace; and what assessment he has made of the total reduction to grassroots peacebuilding projects in South Sudan.

Faith organisations such as South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) play an important role in supporting peacebuilding in South Sudan. SSCC's work, under their Action Plan for Peace, has promoted advocacy, peace and reconciliation at both a national and community level. SSCC remains an important partner and we will continue to engage with them regularly, as well as work closely with other international partners to support SSCC in delivering our shared goals on bringing a lasting end to the conflict.

The UK supports a number of initiatives aimed at promoting peace and stability at a grassroots level, on top of ongoing efforts to drive forward implementation of the 2018 Peace Agreement. This includes continued support to peace process grassroots mediation activities via the UK Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund and the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, to which the UK contributed £57.9 million in 2020-21. Earlier this year, through Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund, we supported peace dialogues in Jonglei state, an area of intractable conflict with extreme levels of humanitarian need, to bring fighting communities together and broker an agreement which has dramatically reduced violence. We will continue to support initiatives like this to help build lasting peace in South Sudan.