The award ceremony was held at the International Court of Justice, Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands.
"We are proud to announce the winner of the 2021 Youth Carnegie Peace Prize! The Peacebuilding Project by Rhea Mahanta! Congratulations
@PeacebdgProject !!!," tweeted the Peace Palace.
The Youth Carnegie Peace Prize gives recognition to the work of young peacebuilders in (post-) conflict scenarios and aims to inspire and encourage others to start own projects. The winner of the award becomes Youth Ambassador of the Carnegie Foundation – Peace Palace for the duration of two years
Rhea Mahanta serves with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a UN Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer. On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, Rhea shares some reflections on her work in pursuit of peace in South Sudan.
Narrating on contributing to the pursuit of peace, Rhea said that one of the challenges in working for peace is measuring the impact of our work, because a conflict prevented often goes unrecorded. But I have seen how our peace and reconciliation efforts have incrementally helped transform relationships over time.
"Our support to local peace initiatives has on several occasions helped de-escalate tensions or strengthen reconciliation between clans and communities. More importantly, capacity-building efforts for local actors have helped build national ownership of peace processes and empowered local populations to peacefully manage and resolve their disputes, which is vital for sustainable and durable peace in South Sudan," she said.
Confidence-building measures have helped build trust between various parties to conflicts. Communities that used to fight each other are now able to protect each other from intercommunal violence. Peace is slowly but surely happening in South Sudan.