Entries by Marc Sommers

This is one in a series of United States Institute of Peace special reports on state-building in the Republic of South Sudan following its creation on July 9, 2011. Each report analyzes an aspect of the state-building challenge and recommends priorities for the government of South Sudan. This report assesses the situation, priorities, and expectations of South Sudan’s massive youth population in the context of building the new nation. Drawing from field interviews with youth,…

Victims of warfare, famine, slavery, and isolation, the Southern Sudanese are one of the most undereducated populations in the world. Since the inception of formal education in southern Sudan a century ago, schooling has largely consisted of island-like entities surrounded by oceans of educational emptiness. Islands of Education is the first book to comprehensively examine this harrowing educational reality. The most recent civil war in southern Sudan raged unrelentingly for 21 years and left approximately…