Dr. Joseph Geng Akech, the newly sworn-in Youth and Sports Minister - Courtesy

The Minister of Youth and Sports has said he is working closely with development partners to get funding for capacity building and upskilling activities to ensure the lives of  South Sudanese youth are upgraded.

Dr Geng shared the three strategies including the development of the sports sector during an interview with the Power House early this week.

Upon his swearing-in ceremony on 22 November, Minister Dr. Joseph Geng Akec pledged to work and bring the youth together in a bid to lay a strong foundation for nation-building.

In a recent remark, he said his focus going forward is empowering youth through vocational training to get them into the job markets to improve their livelihoods.

Dr. Geng acknowledged that the ministry cannot fully eradicate unemployment, but the institution will work hard to reduce the number by creating jobs through vocational training and other revenue-generating activities that involve the youth.

“Once you have educated youth, once you have market access, once you have youth that are engaged in sports, I think we should be able to achieve peace among them,’ he said.

The youth minister added he would involve the government institutions to ensure that there is an increase in access to education for the youth and inter-state tournaments to help bring the youth together and promote peace.

But in the meantime, the Minister prioritizes fostering humility as he seeks to embark on the three strategies to create peace and unity among youth.

He said the ministry will work towards fostering humility among the youth to enable them to listen to themselves, do peace, speak peace, and preach peace, citing it is one of the major challenges.

“For me, they [challenges] begin with humility. We would like to foster humility among the youth because humility allows us to listen to ourselves, to do peace, speak peace, and preach peace. That way we achieve the bigger picture.

“When you have tolerance, you will be able to work collectively with one another. I think this is the major challenge, because a lack of tolerance, and lack of disunity, creates arrogance, misunderstanding, and potential conflict.’ he added