Date: 2025-10-05 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00006371
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Spreading violence in South Sudan threatens thousands of civilian lives, political stability in the region, and even outbreaks of transmissible disease (NYT). As the fog of the initial outbreak of war begins to clear, the question becomes how the international community should begin to address this hot conflict, and prepare for what is likely to be a global humanitarian response effort. Student networks such as STAND are writing open memorandums to policymakers, while volunteer technical communities such as contributors to The Enough Project and the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) are sending their pleas straight to the media. But as we move from advocacy to response, a number of core questions come to mind: Who are the key actors? What are their motivations? What are our windows of opportunity to see a reduction in violence? And as these questions get answered – how do organizations ensure that their work is complementary? To read more, please visit the TechChange blog here. Views: 94 Tags: South, Sudan, conflict, digital, management, mapping, mediation, peace, prevention, resolution, More… Like 2 members like this ShareTwitter < Previous Post Comment
Follow – Email me when people comment Comment by Peter Burgess 1 hour ago Delete Comment I am a big advocate for crisis mapping technology ... but my hope is that in time it will be deployed widely in ways that will make crisis avoidance possible. In my view knowledge should be organized so that issues are resolved a long time before they get to the crisis stage. For all practical purposes knowledge is still handled as if we are still in the stone age ... and this works for some, but for most of us, it means that society and the economy is a lot more dysfunctional than it needs to be. I did work in what is now South Sudan in the 1980s, and learned a lot about the issues that were causing turmoil back then, most of which already had a 20 year recent history, and Lord knows what had been the multi-generation story. None of this is part of the ongoing dialog ... but as I listen to the media talking about the current crisis it sounds very much like the conversation that was happening 30 years ago. Crisis mapping as the crisis unfolds can help a little bit .. but the same technology applied in a meaningful way before there is a crisis, but merely developing tensions would be impressive. The 'state' of everywhere should be a click (swipe) away with easy drill down to everything that really matters! Peter Burgess - TrueValueMetrics - Multi Dimension Impact Accounting
Comment by Muhammad Tarique 1 hour ago And the 3rd question has been more vocal for the Peace Journalism researchers & practitioners and had been addressed thru a bit. But it needs to be emphatically addressed this time.