The Board of Trustees of Sudan Democracy First Group Working to strengthen and integrate the roles of Sudanese change actors
6 April 2016
From 29 to 31 March, Sudan Democracy First Group (SDFG) held the sixth annual meeting of its Board of Trustees. The meeting addressed several internal organizational issues and reviewed the role played by SDFG in the political and civil dynamics in Sudan, making several decisions in that regard.
The Board welcomed its five new members who joined in accordance to the standards and nomination procedures that were previously approved. It then reviewed SDFG’s programme activity reports, audit reports and reports of the Board’s specialized committees regarding political initiatives, governance, and conflict of interest. All reports were approved after an extensive discussion of each.
The sixth meeting of SDFG Board of Trustees had designated a full day to the development of SDFG’s new three-year strategy. Both the board and SDFG team were agreed on the SDFG’s existing vision, mission and values, but recognizing the need for prioritization of the key issues to work on in the coming period. This includes the organization working to promote the engagement of broad Sudanese civil society in key political processes to achieve the necessary positive political and societal changes, from its independent and non-partisan standing.
The meeting stressed on the priority of addressing discrimination in its various forms – including gender and ethnic discrimination – and emphasized the need to support the victims of the regime’s wars as a priority for national integration. Linked to this, the meeting stressed the importance of bringing to account and justice the perpetrators of mass crimes and the need to support the advocacy and solidarity activities among the different Sudanese communities. The meeting also recognized the rise of ‘newer’ crimes and challenges affecting Sudanese society that have political foundation including terrorism, fundamentalism, drug dealing, rape, abduction and human trafficking.
At its conclusion, the Board of Trustees meeting called for the need to strengthen and integrate the various roles of forces of change. It called upon both political organizations and civil society to work together for the much-needed positive political and social change in Sudan, and to strengthen the factors of their unity and co-operation. SDFG recognizes that fractured plans for partial solutions will not be sufficient to achieve a just peace, democratic transformation and lasting stability in Sudan.
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