Citizen Trust in South Sudan’s Transition: Findings from the 2024 Public Perceptions of Peace Survey

In September 2024, the Transitional Government of South Sudan announced another two-year extension of the transitional period, pushing it to February 2027. This marks the fourth extension since the revitalized peace agreement was signed in 2018, turning what was originally planned as a three-year transition into one lasting nearly a decade. Up to this point, South Sudanese have been remarkably tolerant of the delays and gaps in implementation in the peace process. However, scepticism and doubt are becoming increasingly apparent among some segments of the population. If the parties are not seen to be making more substantial progress on key aspects of the agreement, including security arrangements, constitution-making, transitional justice and national elections, there is a risk that the process may lose credibility in the eyes of the people, raising fundamental questions about the legitimacy of the transitional government.

This policy brief presents data on citizen trust in the transitional process from a series of opinion polls that Detcro, PeaceRep, and the Raising Civil Voices program have collected from 2021-24. Respondents were asked about their daily experiences of safety, drawing on indicators of everyday peace, developed through qualitative research during the project’s inception phase. They also shared their views on a wide range of governance and security topics.