CIVIL SOCIETY EMPOWERMENT BY UNMISS AS A PEACEBUILDING STRATEGY IN THE POST-CONFLICT CONTEXT OF SOUTH SUDAN

South Sudan, as the world's youngest country that gained independence in 2011, has often been plunged into severe internal conflicts, including civil wars in 2013 and 2016, which left more than 9 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Although the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was established to protect civilians and support the peace process, the effectiveness of this mission is often questioned, especially regarding its failure to respond to the violence in Juba in 2016. This study aims to analyze UNMISS's strategy in empowering civil society as part of its peace building efforts, as well as the challenges and implications for sustainable peace, with the hope of providing a more comprehensive insight into the role of civil society in social reconciliation and peace building, as well as recommendations for international policy in peace missions in other post-conflict countries. This research is qualitative research with a literature study design, which is used to gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomena occurring in the post-conflict context, particularly regarding UNMISS's strategy in empowering civil society and its impact on peace building. A literature study was used to collect, analyze, and evaluate various secondary sources relevant to the research topic, such as scientific articles, UN reports, policy documents, and literature related to peace building and civil society empowerment.