A library that kept its doors open: almost three decades of the Yei Community Resource Center

In 1998, during a long and difficult war, citizens in what was then called the "New Sudan" asked for something that sounds modest: information. They wanted to understand democracy and good governance, their rights, and how decisions about their lives were made.

CEDED began as the answer to that request: a single Community Resource Centre under the New Sudan Education Agency (NSEA) in Yei.

A place to read, and a place to talk

The centre became independent in 2008 as the Yei Community Resource Centre, and it has grown into the Yei Community Resource Center (YCRC): the region's only long-standing public and school library, in a peaceful, green setting, with a modern community hall for workshops.

Its activities reflect its founding purpose:

• Book Reading & Literacy Clubs for primary and secondary school pupils, every week.

• Civic Literacy Circles at weekends, where local government budgets and human rights laws are translated into simple, local formats for public discussion.

• Youth Innovation & Debate Panels, a safe space for student leaders to debate public policy and peacebuilding.

• A CSO Secretariat Workspace where civil society actors and Human Rights Defenders share reference materials and research.

Why a library matters to peace

In 2010, as South Sudan prepared for its historic vote on self-determination, the work that started here scaled into a national civic sensitization campaign, helping people understand electoral processes and safely exercise their democratic franchise. The same conviction runs through everything the YCRC does today: that people who can find credible information, and talk about it freely, make better decisions together.

As CEDED puts it: an informed, literate, and civically conscious population is the foundational bedrock upon which a peaceful, self-reliant society is built.

Visit the YCRC page