Support the Children Organization (SUTCO) works to enhance socio-economic development, human dignity, peace, and respect for diversity in South Sudan. SUTCO do this through creative and sustainable programmes and approaches which address unmet human needs, especially for vulnerable groups of people. SUTCO’s thematic areas include: peacebuilding; conflict management and conflict transformation; young people; governance and democracy; child protection; and gender.

The organisation's specific goals are:

• To promote peace education and conflict mitigation and transformation in schools and communities in South Sudan, and therefore create a culture of non-violence, acceptance, appreciation and respect for diversity.
• To empower vulnerable young people and women through raising their voices and engaging in dialogues, training sessions in livelihoods and life skills, and advocacy. This will improve their socio-economic and political positions, and drastically reduce absolute poverty.
• To carry out project implementation on governance, democracy and research in collaboration with think-tanks and academic institutions to inform evidence-based policy influencing and advocacy in South Sudan.
• To raise awareness of children’s and women’s rights, protection, and the reduction of gender-based violence, through the use of creative art.

One of SUTCO's largest projects is the "Community Participation and Government Accountability Project" which aims to improve peoples' participation in local governance to improve accountability and access to social services. The project aims to reach 100,000 people.

Major achievements

• SUTCO is currently the Coordinator of Conflict Management and Peace-building CSOs in Juba, South Sudan.
• Supporting establishment of peace clubs and teaching peace-education in schools.
• Raising awareness on children’s and women’s rights using live-dramas and short films, to generate dialogue and bring positive change from within communities.
• Implementing the Community Participation and Government Accountability (COMPGA) project, which is aimed at improving citizens’ participation in local governance processes, asking for accountability and social services delivery in Rajaf and Munuki Payams in Juba County, South Sudan. This unique project has created Community Accountability Committees (CACs) who are tasked with raising awareness of the roles and responsibilities of citizens in Local Governance processes, asking for accountability from local government officials, community needs to be taken into account in development planning and acting as a link between Local Government authorities and citizens at the grassroots in Bomas and Payams.
• Training children and young people in drama so that they use it for expressing their problems and also as a source of income.