In this video, I'm going to show you how to use Udely, the AI powered speech coach, to evaluate your entire Zoom meeting. Let's get started. If you have not used Udely before, check out my previous video. Link is in the video description. Or just open your browser and type app.udely.ai. If you don't have an account in Udely, click Get Udely and sign up for free. In this video, I'm going to focus on the Zoom calls. Let's say you have scheduled a Zoom meeting. Here, I have started a normal Zoom meeting. Let's say we have a number of attendees and we want to provide them feedback using the AI powered speech coach, Udely. Very simple. At the bottom of your screen, where you see this participants, click on the arrow and select Click Invite Link. Next, head on to Udely and click on this text box and press Ctrl V, which will paste the Zoom link and click Invite Bot. The bot is now joining the Zoom meeting and it tells me that the Zoom bot is now in the waiting room. Once I go back to my Zoom meeting, I can find the bot in the waiting room. And that is because for this account, I have enabled waiting room for Zoom meetings. Click on the Admit button. You will see the bot as an additional participant with its video on with a clear message that it is recording the entire Zoom meeting. At this stage, we must address the privacy issue. You might have attendees in your meeting who are not comfortable with their speech being evaluated by a computer system. Unlike in Zoom, where you clearly hear the words, the meeting is being recorded when somebody tries to record a Zoom meeting. The only cue for the attendees is this video which shows that a recording is going on. If all the attendees provide their consent, we can now proceed. Udely starts recording everything that happens in this meeting, both the audio as well as the video. If I go back to my Udely dashboard, I can see that it has been recording for the last five minutes or so. As of now, I can record up to one hour of a Zoom meeting. At the end of one hour, it will automatically stop recording. If you want to stop recording earlier than that, then click on the Stop Recording button. When I go back to my Zoom meeting, the Udely bot is no longer a part of this meeting. Let me go back to my Udely dashboard. If I want the bot to come back into the meeting, all I have to do is click on the Re-Invite button. Or if you're done, click on Done for this call. If I click on the library icon, I can see the recording of this Zoom meeting. The system will take a few minutes to process the entire recording and come up with suggestions. Let me select one of the previous Zoom meetings that I had recorded. As we can see, it has recorded approximately one hour of video and audio. It has automatically transcribed all the audio from this meeting. Plus, it provides you with some recommendations for improvement. Click on Coach Comments. It has highlighted some of the weak words like very much. Next, it has paraphrased an entire paragraph to be short, succinct, and to the point. On the right hand side, I can see the names of all the participants who attended this meeting. If I select a particular participant, I will get the analysis for that participant. In this case, Priscilla has used certain repetitive words, which are highlighted here. You can even click on the Play button to identify that exact instance of that repetition. You can check the analysis of the speech delivery by clicking on Delivery. Smile analysis. Always good to have a smile. There are four instances of smiles. Let's check this one out. It can also identify if the person is picking too slowly or too fast or just right by clicking on the Pacing option. 129 words is just about right. There are additional things that you can analyze for each and every participant in that meeting. So that is usually the AI-powered speech coach, not just for you, but for an entire Zoom meeting.


Issues we know we there are a lot of things going on with the school, but what you know I want you to tell us what's the most significant issue facing the board right now I think it would have to be our the superintendent search hiring the the person that's going to lead us Right now and through the next number of years With our schools and our students is critically important and and you know that we we suspended our search And I think we are now in a place where we're gonna have to go back to the drawing board and figure some things out But we have a good person in place now and Dr. Kriznar But I think it's going to be really important that we find that the right leader for right now Okay, so you know people want to know you know why what is rationale behind suspending the search? We talked about this a little bit on Friday's program Why do you think it makes sense to do so now instead of following the timeline that you had previously? Yeah, I think it's really important as one of the largest school districts in the state in the country that we get A robust pool to choose from so if you think about last time we did a search when dr. Green was was selected We had 70 applications this time we had 10 at the end of the day And even in those 10 there was probably about three or four that met the minimum qualifications being 25,000 like work and leadership with 25,000 plus students So at the end of the day I think we owe it to our community to make sure we have a robust pool to be able To compare and contrast I don't think it's an indictment on the people that were qualified I think but you have to be able to compare them to somebody who's either in the role of a superintendent And be able to look at them fairly. What's gonna be different about the second time around think timing is gonna be important We're gonna be right now, and I think we knew this When dr. Green left out like at the end of the day at the period she left We knew we were gonna be in a place where we we were gonna be middle of the year during a search And we knew this could be an issue so once you get to the end of the year We'll have a bigger pool folks who are dedicated to their school or their school environment aren't gonna leave in the middle of The year sometimes they will but it has to be that special person So we'll get a better pool then we'll also know a little bit more about these school board elections At the end of the day we as the school board are the ones who hire and fire or or keep that superintendent So right now there are four seats maybe six depending on if there's some some other action happening And we'll know a little bit more about who's running in those seats and and what that will look like so You know one more point on this Many people believe that the points you just made were obvious during their initial search like you know You probably knew the board probably knew coming in that you can be hiring someone prudence You know in the middle of the school year right and it would be difficult for a lot of qualified people to apply Especially in a situation where they under the sunshine Any reason expect a reason why explanation why that didn't occur that thought process didn't occur early on Yeah, we had those conversations for sure We we sat around that table and really discussed like should we go now or should we wait? Well, we also thought we wanted to get the process started So in our opinion if we would have had a pool of 3040 and really had some folks who we saw a robust pool We would have moved forward, but I think it's I don't think I I don't really see a huge issue because Because I'd rather us take a step back get the right person in that seat and then must move forward Okay, all right, so we have a caller just to get David on the west side in the west side All right David that they get him There you go All right, David join there. Good morning Hey, how are you today, sir? Great? What's your question? I'm actually a neurodevelopmental pediatrician with University of Florida here in town Wow, and I chose this because of reading disabilities My question is if up to 20% of children have a genetically inherited reading disability Which strives their families down socioeconomic strata over time Is there going to be a structured formal system-wide attack to help these kids attain functional reading by the time they're in fourth grade? Because right now my experience is if a hit or miss Independent process not a system-wide plan. Thank you. I'll take that. I'll find thank you for that question David Yeah, I think it's a great question. I think literacy is a huge focus of not only here in Duval County But across the country You you saw even a more declined during COVID and I think we have a number of resources that we're putting in place whether it's Extra tutoring extra staff to to lean in and intervene We're also leaning on some technology and innovation too and I'm sure Dave knows about this You have now have AI programs that can listen to a student read and understand what that students Comprehending and sort of have that conversation with the student So I think we have to have any in every approach and it is going to be a robust approach Not only from the school district, but you also have read jacks who's also leaning in and ensuring that hey This is a wrap around because it's not just what you're learning in those four walls of schools It's what's that vocabulary that a young person's learning at home and after school and and before school So it's going to be a community effort, but it is a huge focus and it's something that once you Learn to read you can then read to learn and that's something that you have to understand And I appreciate him saying about fourth grade We'd like to have them reading and being proficient even before that and second and third grade And I think those are going to be important steps that we need to take. Okay to David's point I think he wanted to know because he was looking at specific schools where those services were available Are they any are there any plans to make them system-wide? Yeah, I mean they are system-wide So every single school has resources for students to be able to read and gain the literacy skills that they need And now more than ever because of the innovations and technology that we have you can see that across all of our schools And now it's a moment for us to really take a hard look at that and even do more Okay, we are we're talking with a school board member district for school board member Dara Willie You can give us a call and join the conversation five or nine two nine three seven and We've seen a lot of progress from the half-sense half penny sales tax begin to take shape What are some of the key projects in your district that you're proud of and That we that the public maybe have not seen come online what is coming up or What how's that going to make it better for students and parents in your district? I think the environment of course We all know the environment that you're in whether it's a work environment school environment that you're sitting in is important I get it makes you feel a certain way it gives you an additional boost of confidence So we took a took a took a leap a many years back and created that master facilities plan And there's some great projects going on and I'll talk about one That's right on the cusp of my area and then my area so the brand-new Rutledge Pearson Right our first school that we built with the half penny I just want to thank the voters and all the folks who leaned in and supported that if you have not been by that school At least driving by it's a sight to see and we hadn't built a new school in that area in decades and decades So I think that's really important not only for the students that go inside But the families that have that pride and confidence in the school teachers that have pride and confidence there as well So in addition to that we just broke ground on the genre bow or reball high school That's gonna be our first high school built with the half penny and that'll open in 2025 What a what a site that's gonna be as well right there off went and drive that Monkreef area So we're really concentrating on areas of town that have been sort of left behind a bit In addition to that you have been brand new Highlands Elementary School I just drove by there Yesterday so as the walls are starting to go up at Highlands Elementary school is in that done sort of Turtle Creek area in addition to that you also You you have a number of other schools that are getting ready to start being built So that's that's what you'll see from the outside But what you may not notice is we also are doing a lot of things inside of our schools whether it's ACs and roofs and also the safety piece like building those double entries and festivals and whatnot So we're excited about the work that's happening there Our dashboard has all of those pieces in there and district four is gonna be better in our community It's gonna be better because of it. I've heard a lot about this about the Rutledge Pearson What is the makeup of Rutledge Pearson now because it was a it was a small elementary school Is it is it is it combined with our previous elementary schools or what what are old schools? Yeah, but it's combined with Martin Luther King junior elementary school has come on board with them as well And you're seeing a lot of parents who are making that choice to come over to Rutledge I mean parents have choices a whole another issue that we can chat through parents have so many options and choices So you have MLK and Rutledge all together in that school And wow like the energy is there that the numbers are there And you're starting to see more and more parents and families buying in to what's going on at Rutledge We have a great leader over there and re and rebalt same situation When it's completed will it be combined or will it be still the same or rebalt still the same it will be not combined It'll be rebalt high school and they have some good enrollment They're starting to see even more and more enrollment coming into the school And we have had to have conversations about what the number of seats We wanted to put in there because there's a lot of interest in rebalt It goes on leadership goes on culture and some of the programs that are going on in those schools What's included in the new schools a plan for the ones that have been constructed yet What's included in new schools that that people can say that weren't in the old schools Yeah, give me some of the you know some of the shiny objects that are there now that the community can be proud of Yeah, number one is just the space like if you if you go into any of the classrooms You have a space that's conducive to modern learning. You'll probably have a brand-new smart Smart wall that you have you'll have desks that can rotate and move for small group activities You'll the flow of traffic back through the hallways will be much better the cafeterias and sort of auditoriums Those will be state-of-the-art so students will be able to not only eat lunch in there But also put on a play or a show Also, it's in it's set up in a way where community can also access the space where the gym and sort of the cafeteria I'm a setup where community can come access those spaces as well so those are just a few of the pieces and Once you once you walk into these schools you start to realize what you should have had a long time ago Let's take a caller. Yep Good morning. You're on First Coast Connect Yes, is this are you talking to me? I sure am do Susan. Oh great My question is if parents and their kids to charter schools How will that affect the master facilities plan? I was listening in on a school board workshop And I felt like Joyce school board member Joyce and Carney were saying they wanted to change the master facility plan that we Voted on it and if you could clarify that a little bit if more kids go to charter schools How much is that going to hurt our funding of our neighborhood schools? And also, can you advocate for making a dashboard clear on how the charter schools are? spinning our sales surtax money because I find it very confusing and even when the That charter school asked for 1.4 million from the city council They the lobbyists that asked for the money didn't even know how they spent our cell service tax money. Okay. Thank you very much Thank you for that Susan Yeah, so the the first question I think we're we're we are gonna have to have some conversations about what the Masters facilities plan looks like currently versus what it looked like before COVID five years ago So to our to our point those conversations are gonna be coming up very soon because at the end of the day Enrollment has changed like enrollment has changed Folks are choosing different options for for their school whether it's home school whether choosing The new vouchers that you now have whether it's charter schools So that does affect it because a prorator percentage of those funds that come in for that penny Do go to our charter schools So that will affect our bottom line on what and how many schools we can build so currently Just in your I know you probably you don't have the numbers in front of you But how has a charter school enrollment impacted traditional school enrollment over? I mean, yeah since COVID Charter school enrollment has gone up a bit I think before COVID you started to see a spike a bit there too But now you're seeing a lot more of the homeschool a lot more of the folks using vouchers as well So if you take that that full pie and you break that down We're gonna be in a different spot. We're gonna be a little lower than we were pre COVID So when you have that conversation, we now have to say all right What's how do we prioritize which projects moving forward? And we knew we were gonna have to do this when we went into it You can't make a plan and think that plan is going to be going to stick for 15 years You want to try but you need to go back every three four or five years And that's what we said at the very onset We're going to come back every five years look at enrollment look at projects Look where growth is happening Because growth is happening in different areas of town too Now that may not have been growing when we started with this master's facility So the conventional for a lot of people in the community the conventional conversation is that The expansion of choice school charter schools has a negative resource impact on traditional public schools You know, how do you make up for the money that's lost in no cases with the arguments being made How do you make up for the resources that are being lost to charter schools? I don't know if you make up for them necessarily But I think the way that it's structurally set up right now is that the money then follows that kit So they would say like all right. Well, you have enough money because you have the money That's allocated for you based on the number of students you have So I think that that that system has always been flawed because it doesn't and includes sort of economies of scale So I think it's not necessarily going to make it up But I think the way that We're going to have to have the conversation is tough conversations being transparent about which which Which products do we prioritize and which neighborhoods are we going to prioritize as we move forward? So our hope is to maintain as much that master's facilities plan as possible But we also have to be mindful of taxpayer dollars And the way that we're set up if if we have either declining enrollment or flat enrollment in different places It's not the same as as the charter school environment some of the other environments where you can just build We have to look at the whole entire county And I think that's what sets us apart and is a little different for us So in that argument, you know, people are making the comparison between The charters and the traditional public school. Yeah, there you know, there is the element of Of a profit in the charter school system And and in doing so There are other ways for charter schools to raise money and or infuse money into their Into their process right into them to their business model What other ways are there for traditional public schools for them to infuse additional cash into their For the tender model business model, I mean outside of selling cookies And well from a from a structural standpoint is to have penny sales tax I mean that's one way that we went out and did it or a one mil Like that's you saw us go for those two pieces because those are the ways that That a traditional public sort of school or school district is able to do that So we're able to see some of those things and I think that one of the things that we We're going to be faced with in a new superintendent and this board is going to be faced with Is how do you navigate in this environment where there's it's ultra choice There's so much choice for every family and there's kids that we're also responsible as a board member I'm responsible for those kids in district four who go into not only traditional publics But also those charter schools as well like there's a there's a responsibility that I have So there has to be a balance and we've been in this phase of competition for so long with our charters But now with some of the the regulation and and the vouchers coming from Tallahassee I think we actually may be More closely aligned and we can actually fight together to say hey How do we figure out some of these regulations? Because we we have to figure out this landscape and we have to have more communication between each other because at the end of the day Right now we can't be just too two pathways not crossing over right So let's talk a little bit about some of those challenges with dealing with some of the policies that are coming from Tallahassee You know you all were challenged earlier this year beginning of the school year with Dealing with the reading materials the books based upon policies from Tallahassee How do you see that going forward? Do you feel like there is a way for students to be to have clear access to a healthy choice of reading materials in their libraries or in their lesson plans That doesn't conflict with the way the state Um sort of uh, you know brings down policy in terms of how what can what can and cannot be Made available to students. It's a balancing act. I think there are some some materials there. I wish it was more I mean, I think I'm in my opinion as me as a board member. I think If we talk about parent choice and parents should be able to choose if there's a book that's in a library They should be able to choose that we do have materials that are available For our for our kids and for our teachers Right now what we did as a as a district we We decided if there's going to be a law we're going to protect our teachers And we say we're going to make sure that they're uh, we're going to do everything we can to protect teachers from for many Consequences that could happen And I think now we're we're getting to the place where we're getting all of these books checked out by media specialists And that was the big issue like how do you you have these rules and regulations? But you don't have enough staff to be able to actually take here and look at these books So I think there are materials there. I wish there were more and I'm going to keep pushing To make sure that there's more and there's more access to that But I think we as duval county were are actually one of the groups that actually We did push a little bit more and we actually had more materials Especially right afric american history and whatnot and a lot of districts did We're one of the 11 who actually were were noted for some of the work that we're doing around that So I think we were a little bit more further advanced in some of our other districts But I think that's even more of a reason for us to be a model as we move forward So we got a few minutes left. I want to talk now about the rubber meat in the road The actual You know learning materials for students, you know, how students are doing We want to see progress in the district in terms of what students are learning and how they're progressing What is it that the district is doing and to to really sort of get there help students get there And to become proficient at on their grade levels and beyond It's a couple things number one I think when you go into a school, especially in these days is you have to have to make sure their basic needs of every kid Is met like I think you have kids who are coming to school And number one, we're going to make sure they're fit. So you got a meal in the morning meal in the For lunch as well to make sure that those basic needs that's taken off the table We've also done a really good job of making sure they have access to resources and technology So those one-to-one devices making sure kids have access to that So there's no excuses around those pieces. Um, we've also used some of those esser or covid dollars To really provide additional resources to many of our schools Especially schools that have that slide during covid and we're going to be able to use some of those resources for the next year or so So in addition to that, we're really setting up the stage for our students to have pathways That's what this is really about making sure our students who are matriculating through our system have pathways So if you go to any of our high schools right now, you'll see not only the ap and the dual enrollment in early college We also see cte or career technical education sort of pathways in every single high school Whether it's it whether it's cybersecurity whether it's gaming whether it's nursing Whereas the by-star business academy to really connect to actual jobs on the back end And I think that's what's different about today's education The jobs are different than when you and I came out of school So now we have to make sure we're educating based on what those jobs are And I think we're doing a good job at that And I think we have to not only attack it from that high school level But of course as you mentioned make sure we're attacking that literacy like Dave mentioned earlier Because once you learn and have that foundation It's easier to build upon that each and every year So we have those resources We have those uh the staff to be able to do it and now it's a matter of really just having um doing that to To to fruition and making sure we're actually hitting that nail on the head. Okay. I don't want you to get out here before talking about teachers Yeah, right. Love our teachers at a backbone of making all of this work Um, I think the community knows that the teachers are funded From the state level correct What is it that you can do locally to help support teachers and and trying to recruit and attract And and retain teachers Uh for the long haul. Yeah, I mean one of the things we did we went for the one meal And that was to sort of raise teacher salaries. We're able to get teachers some additional bump in their salary Um, it's but it's never never enough like the job that teachers do it's I mean Uh, you can go down the list of the things that a teacher does So we're going to continue to try to advocate for more money But in addition to that trying to create the culture environment where they want to come They want to stay they want to be retained. So whether that's taking some of the administration or regulations away Uh, whether that's making sure that the leaders of our schools have what they need to do to sort of take care of our teachers Or whether that's even from the testing perspective. A lot of our teachers are You have to take a test every number of years. We have the past test So we're also working with the state to make sure We we look at what those requirements are to make sure our teachers That are doing an amazing job in our classroom don't have that sort of hovering over their heads So there's a number of things we are doing a number of things We're going to continue to do to make sure and it takes the community like if you see a teacher make sure you thank them Um, we also if you're sending a kid to school make sure you're you're sending that kid to school in a way Where that teacher is going to be able to they're going to be a canvas for learning So there's a responsibility for all of us to make sure we're doing all we can because our teachers have a very tough job Um, and the folks know that after covet parents know exactly what that looks like And I think also that one of the main factors affecting us right now is is absenteeism So making sure kids are in school So if we can have our kids in school that they're going to be able to learn from our amazing teachers that we have in Duval County What's your vision real quick? What's your vision for your district? Uh That we have every single resource that we need you'll see new buildings pop up That will have all the staff that we need and students are learning at high high levels and have every single choice An opportunity to walk through any door that they want once they finish in our k-12 system here Okay. All right. Dara willie. I appreciate it. Duval County School Board District 4. Thank you for joining us this morning. Anytime, every time. All right. Go Ducks


Good afternoon, good evening. I'm delighted to welcome everyone to this panel on the roots of the revolution in Sudan. My name is Susan Stegant, and I lead USIP's programs in East Africa and the Greater Horn of Africa. The United States Institute of Peace was established by the US Congress in 1984 as a nonpartisan public institution dedicated to preventing, mitigating, and helping to resolve violent conflict around the world. In 2019, the world watched with awe and in solidarity as men and women from across geographies and generations mobilized a mass movement to depose the Bashir regime in Sudan and to demand a democratic political transition. For many watching the news, it was hard to imagine what it must have taken to mobilize millions of people day after day. It was hard to grasp the investment, organization, and leadership that such mobilization requires. And it was particularly striking that sustained protests continued in the face of internet and telecommunications cuts and under the threat and the deadly reality of violent repression by security forces. For many watching, it was truly extraordinary that Sudanese citizens continued to demonstrate the deepest courage, determination, and commitment to nonviolence and the goals of the revolution. And that that determination and commitment continues even now following the October 2021 coup and amidst the political and economic crisis. Today we have the honor of hearing from researchers and activists about their exploration and their experience with the civic origins of the protest movement. The report that will be discussed as well as short two-page summaries are available on the event page on USIP's website. This is a report that is important for Sudan and for Sudan's partners, but also for others leading, accompanying, and supporting political transitions around the world and who wish to understand the critical role of movements in those transitions. It is our privilege at USIP to advance dialogues and inform policy based on evidence, experience, and learning. We work directly with African citizens, including women and youth, to build local capacities to manage conflict peacefully and to reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions. We advise and work with African political and civic leaders and national and regional governments and organizations to shape peace processes that ensure more sustainable solutions to violent conflict. And we provide a constructive platform for these kinds of discussions and reflections. At USIP, we consider our work and partnerships in Sudan as a top priority. We know that conversations are charged as the country seeks to reset the political transition. We know that the stakes are high as protests are anticipated on June 30th again this year, and violence against protesters continues. We know that today's topic is not a matter of academic interest, but is deeply rooted in the hopes, aspirations, and hard fought gains of the Sudanese people for a better future. And we know that there may be disagreements and diverging opinions about what is discussed today, and that is precisely why this type of discussion, dialogue, and engagement are needed. It is now my privilege to introduce Mr. Matthew Siebel, research officer at USIP's team on nonviolent action and peace and your moderator today. Matthew, over to you and our distinguished panelists. Thank you very much for that introduction, Susan. So as Susan has said, my name is Matthew Siebel, and I'm a research officer here with the Nonviolent Action Program. I'll be moderating today's panel. To get us started, I'll briefly provide some background for the origins of this panel. So the panel coincides with the publication of a USIP special reports on the 2019 Sudanese Revolution written by Maria Marovic and Zahra Haider, two of today's panelists, which investigates the civic origins of the protest movement that deposed long-time President Omar Bashir. The report illustrates that while mass protests that successfully removed Bashir in 2019 seemed spontaneous, they did not, in fact, materialize overnight. Rather, they were based on years of determined civil society development in difficult and highly repressive conditions. And we will hear more from Maria and Zahra about the report's findings shortly. We also know that since Bashir's downfall, Sudan's democratic transition has struggled to consolidate its hard-won democratic gains, and progress is now threatened by a counter-revolutionary military coup. So figuring out how to get this democratic transition back on track in Sudan is the object of today's panel. And to that end, it is my pleasure to introduce four knowledgeable panelists to help us think through these challenges. Zahra Haider is a lifelong Sudanese activist and is also one of the co-authors of the special report I've just mentioned. Zahra has been a nice, key nonviolent training facilitator with the nonviolent action program here at USIP and has worked with us since 2018 in both Sudan and South Sudan. Maria Marovic is the other special report co-author. She is a former program director for Freedom House and the International Republican Institute in East Africa and is a senior advisor to the Giza Group which works on civic media access in closed societies. Jaohara Kanu works for USIP's nonviolent action program where she is the synergizing nonviolent action and peace building program officer for East Africa. She is responsible for organizing nonviolent action trainings in Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Jaohara is also a political economist with expertise in developmental economics. And last, Munakarashi, I believe she's just jumped on, which is great, is currently a program manager for the Sudan Commission for Social Security and Poverty Reduction where she works to provide cash transfers to young Sudanese mothers. During the transition period, she has also served as the Minister's Office Director at Sudan's Industry and Trade Ministry and has been involved with numerous humanitarian and development enterprises in Sudan's recent history. So thank you all very much for being here. We're delighted to have you here. Moving forward, the rest of the panel will unfold as follows. To start, Maria and Zahra are first going to provide us with a more detailed description of the report's findings. Then Jaohara and Luna will offer some reflections on the current situation in Sudan. That should get us about halfway through the panel. The second half of the panel will feature a moderated discussion as well as time for audience Q&A. If you'd like to ask a question, you can type the question into the corresponding window on the main event page online. I will call a questions as we go. Okay, so I believe that brings us to Maria and Zahra. Zahra, over to you both. Thanks, Matthew. My name is Maria. As previously mentioned, then I will start us off by trying to present in a short and concise way the key findings of the report. But before we move to the key findings, I just wanted to share a couple of notes about how this report came about and what is really the background of this research and how this research was conducted. The reason this research was conducted was for the collaboration between Zahra and me and as the revolution in Sudan started unfolding, we decided to go on a documentation project primarily to try to record and document the narratives as the revolution was at its height. So the main research method for this report was conducting interviews with key informants. The interviews were conducted during the sit-in in Khartun primarily and they took place the interviews, most of the interviews took place between May 17th and May 27th, 2019. Total number of the respondents for this research was 42, 29 male and 13 female. And within these 42, we held one focus group discussion that included nine participants. The profile of the interviewees who offered their thoughts and analysis was as follows. We interviewed members of the FFC leadership, of the SBA leadership, a leadership of several different women's groups, media activists, members of teachers union, several civil society veterans, activists from the demands group, from neighborhood resistance committees, from political parties, from professors union, members of the political wings of the armed movement and the leaders of the initiatives. You will see that in the interview the names are anonymized for a security reason. But within these 42, we had a good selection across different generations of civil society actors, which I also think is important as you are listening to the key findings. And we identified basically three generations that participated in this research. We had these veterans of civil society who some of them really fought for democracy and human rights since the sheer came to power. Then we had a section of generation that initiated the 2013 protests which are in the Sudanese imagination considered as the most recent and close to success mass mobilization effort in September 2013 that was unfortunately crushed violently. And we had a generation of interviewees that matured in the period from 2016 and finally those who became active in the civil society in the 2018 and in the neighborhood resistance committees. The reason we decided as I mentioned previously to embark on this project initially was really to document because we are both aware that narratives change and the analysis changes as history happens and as the political circumstances change. So this is actually a kind of a window to that moment when the revolution was at its so all the respondents were actually asked open-ended questions and we asked them to explain in their own words and how they see that the revolution was possible and the success that was achieving at that time. And also to explain why this effort in 2018 was successful versus the protests in 2013 that were crushed. So when we got all these responses and analyzed the interviews we were basically organizing our research around the key themes that transpired and that were mentioned by pretty much all the respondents. And they defined the key factors for success as follows. So first important factor or the key factor was the unity of leadership. The second was the commitment to non-violent struggle or the commitment to the method of struggle which was also referred to as civil resistance in Sudan which in the end resulted in increased participation that is mass mobilization that we saw it. They also beyond these key factors for success of the mass mobilization navigated us through the mechanism that enabled this to happen. And the mechanism was something that we defined as different civic spaces that provided a space for activists of all ages to connect to coalesce and learn. So I will go a little bit and talk about the leadership as a key factor. So what happened is that the key moment that gave, that propelled the movement was when the Sudanese professional associations emerged as a leader of the movement and for those who may be on the call and who are not aware of what the Sudanese professional association is it's a it's a basically a coalition of shadow unions of teachers doctors lawyers engineers and other professions. So it all started when they basically decided to shift from presenting their quote unquote unionist demand for a revision of salaries to the government and presented the demand to the to the presidential palace for Bashir to step down that occurred in December 25th 2018 but the protests were already taking place in across Sudan. And this is actually the moment when the SBA decided to to proclaim the political goals of their struggle and that is how they came to the helm of the movement. The reason respondents claimed that was really important is because the mobilized people really needed some kind of leadership and SBA at the moment was seen as untamed politically. They were not known necessarily across Sudan but the mere fact that their leadership was not a traditional hierarchical leadership but that they presented themselves through a number of convincing individuals who were communicating the agenda was really a breath of fresh air. Then they were seen as representing professionals and in most societies teachers and doctors and lawyers are seen as respectable figures. Finally, they were seen also as being a sector of society that is in touch with the grievances that people faced on the daily basis simply by the nature by the nature of the work in the communities. Teachers were working in schools and were working with all sorts of students coming from all sorts of backgrounds the same for doctors. So I'll move a little bit faster now. I suggest you can all read the report for many other details. But this credibility cluster of traits that SBA had actually enabled them to then later negotiate the coalition and the formation of the coalition that we know as FFC which became a political vehicle for transition. Then another, as I mentioned, these are the kind of the overall factors that were really important and unity of leadership and the nonviolent discipline being really important ones. Doctor, I will talk a little bit more about the nonviolent discipline. But the key mechanism for this mobilization to take place was beyond leadership that everyone was ready to follow the spaces or the mobilization units where this activity and implementation of the mobilization agenda was taking place. And these came or they transpired in Sudan in a place where the environment was heavily constricted for activities of the political parties and civil societies and Zahra will hand it over to you to speak a little bit more about what these spaces were. Thank you, Marina. Thank you a lot. Actually, while leadership that everyone was ready to follow was necessary without mobilization mechanism or mobilization that can implement activities and work on the ground across Sudan, the 2018 revolution would not be possible based on what we presented in this report. In this research, we identified several keys of spaces that created out of mobilization to reach number we saw in 2018 and 2019. The key space that is a mechanism of mobilization in the environment that it's abrasive to traditional civil society, institution, media and political parties turned out to be an organic organization unit rooted on Sudanese traditional of community services and union. So here we talk about Mubadarat which is mean initiatives. The so-called demands group shadow unions and neighborhoods committees. I will start with Mubadarat. Mubadarat or initiatives are a group of volunteer based in Sudanese concept of Nefir call of mobilize for common work that stepped in where there is a need or where government was failing to provide much needed services or social services. There were 100 of such initiatives in the ground with their own network and engaging in wide range of issues in area. Some example included a provision of flood reliefs collecting garbage offering free medicines and covering medical expenses for families who cannot offer it. Organize reading and discussion clubs collecting, distributing collecting and distributing books to school children and so on. There is a many I cannot just mention all the initiatives. So secondly, the call demand group were organized to advocate for correcting specific policies harming local communities. These were hyper localized and mobilized around issues like harmful effect of building of the dams in the local farmer or again is land grabbing in farming regions or even around rights of a small worker in the agricultural sectors and see ports. When you talk about shadow union called professional association of different professional like teacher, doctor, lawyer, engineering and journalists. This is another space for mobilizing rooted along to the traditional of organized laborers. They began to organize themselves in 2011 and slowly building network and coalitions. The neighborhood committees which the fourth space another highly localized civic space organized space on the neighborhood grade of cartoon which was used during crash September 2013 protests to organize demonstration. Some of those committees survived and continued to mobilize around community needs and neighborhoods in period between 2013 until 2018. At the mass protests gained momentum in 2018. The model expanded throughout Hartu and become a key organizational unit to deploy tactics of non-violent struggling at very local level. Organizing protests, street cleaning, strategy meetings and listening with and lazing with other actors. Sorry for that mistake. So, there were not why they are success. They were not political or highly political engage in party politicals. They respond to community needs and grievances. They were embedded in community so highly localized delivering community assistance which is earned them credibility and trust of communities. They employ large network of members and volunteer. Therefore, when SPA leadership emerged offering clear walls and methods for mobilization they were able to use the capital that previously built and call those communities to action and they respond for sure. So, finally, I presented discussed the role of various training conference workshop that played an important role as another structural space that prepared after formalization. Those were important for allowing for new skills development, strategy planning and non-violence action which become increasing available in the period of 2014 to 2018. For lesson learning and reflecting a shortcutting of previous effort and other methods of struggling for building trust, networking and negotiation coalitions. So, all these aspects of all these spaces are reflected in our interviews in different way. Like for example, I just want to mention some example one of our our interviews is with the old civil society actors. He talked a lot about capacity building roles in preparing people for this revolution. We also reviewed women activists that she talked about how women organize themselves, how they they increase their capacity, how they deal with the challenge that they face. Some of these challenges are culture. Also the last example like activists that we interviewed, they talk a lot about non-violence as a value and how they started claiming about it from the training or from movies sometime or something like that. So in this report we reflect all that and I will encourage all our attenders to see the report. Thank you, Matthew. Amazing. Thank you very much for that summary, both of you. I will now turn it over to Jauhara to talk about the current situation in Sudan. Thank you, Matthew. I'm really glad to be here today with our distinguished panelists. I was actually also very glad to have read the report. It was heartwarming for me to be in a Sudanese person with me since this history being made and it also reminded me the effort and the all the struggling that people has gone through over this period that the report investigates and how far have we come. It was also a reminder that the revolution is a state, not a moment. So we still we still say we're still in a revolution state. So thank you again. If I want to delve into the current status today, I would like to start by focusing on the nonviolent action side of things. The report already investigates how nonviolent actions seeds were sowed and to some extent they're still being sowed but they're being right at the same time. So it's still an ongoing process. First, I would say that the first outcome or the first thing that we've been noticing is accumulated political knowledge that has been taking place. It has been spreading to more people and even the level of knowledge has been going deeper in a sense that the political participation the level of involvement in current affairs and so on has been widely spread. We see new groups of women new groups of young people and even groups that traditionally have been refraining from taking parts in politics. And this is of course a positive outcome of nonviolent action that it generates lots of participation and so on. Additionally, I would also like to highlight how nonviolent action has been adopted in new domains. Of course, Sudan has a long-standing history of nonviolent action movements but recently we've been seeing new trends. In a sense we've seen sit-ins and new methods of nonviolent action being taking place in unconventional places. In a sense areas such as Central Darfur for instance had a massive sitting in Nertagy in 2020. Areas such as that Firsal had their first environmental sitting in Africa where they were protesting cutting off trees and so on. So we've been seeing nonviolent action being adopted into the Sudanese context and being dealt with in different cases that are not necessarily tackling their game but tackling locally contextualized issues. Another important point that I would also like to mention here is to what extent these nonviolent action activities have been providing room for more critical thought on politics and participation. We've seen so many charters coming out of resistance committees different resistance committees across to that and we've also seen critics and discussions and lives and you know different platforms discussing these charters and trying to bring another point of view. We've been having a space to discuss different issues and also to to see as a counter narrative of things that might have not been present in the past 30 years. I'm not saying that it has been a rosy picture however we we do need to recognize the positive outcomes of the nonviolent action that has been ongoing in Sudan and how it's been teaching and and and reflecting stories from Sudan as well. Got it. So I think we were originally planning on hearing from Muna here but she is dealing we've learned with some very difficult circumstances at the moment so she might not be able to jump on for a little while longer. So instead of that I'm going to begin with some moderated questions. The first thing I want to ask our panelists about is leadership. So the special report emphasizes the importance of leadership under the FFC coalition and the Sudanese professionals association the SBA and analysts since then since since the like in that post-bashir landscape have expressed concerns that this leadership structure that helps to guide the revolution is now weakening which has made it more difficult for the opposition to present a united front in favor of democracy. So what do you all think that civic actors need to do to re solidify movement leadership in the weeks ahead? What what actions can they take? Why don't we I'll direct questions here so why don't we start with Zahra and then and then move on. So thank you Matthew. Based on our research and our interview they mentioned the three three aspects is very important to to learn from from the September revolution. One of them ability to united political forces and masses that required a lot of trust building because lack of trust was a big challenge in in overcome the revolution. The second things and it's very important to open in the door and keep the door open for everyone to participate. The best say of that that even that is create a space of everybody to participate. That's what happened in September revolution. For example we see that religions had that space. Artists had a space. Army movement had a space. Traditional leader has he has as well. Even part of military at the the last stage had a space. So it's important for revolution to success and I have I want to highlight this point for current situation. It's extended the revolution. It's extend the participatory not close it and making it very very very good for any main actors. And the third point in my opinion our base on even revolution commitment to nonviolence. And this is a big challenge now as Jovara mentioned. And when we talk about committing nonviolence we had an ability to create and be creative in designing designing activities or giving a space for people to share in our revolution to keep it to keep it in nonviolence way. Like in in September revolution. I remember that private sector participate by giving food, water and several things. So it's important to keep nonviolence way open the door and be creative in the tactics that we we do it. Without that and that's what many of our interviews say. We cannot have this this mass of people in the street. And there is a mass of people not in the street but they support the revolution in different ways. Yeah, creativity and diversity and maintaining nonviolent discipline seem very important. Maria and Johara do you want to chime in here with anything else before we go on? I can I can chime in. Yes. So what we uncovered during this research and what everyone said during interviews was really that SBA's leadership was accidental but it was successful because of the credibility. And I remember distinctly one interview is saying that when you go and take a bus you don't ask who is the driver but where the bus will take you. And I think this is what is needed again. So whatever the leadership emerges out of this moment that we are facing now needs to be credible and needs to be able to attract different sectors of the society where that will emerge it's not very clear. Neighborhood resistance committees are I think very interesting actor to to watch for more leadership. Because they have taken since a more prominent role of a political agent. But they need to make sure that they're representative and that they continue to build their skills for this type of political work that is required at the moment. Yeah. If I may jump in here. Yeah. I would also like to add something. Yeah. The important size is importance of leadership and yes it was crucial for the success of the 2018 revolution. But I feel like there's so much if I may say overrated emphasis on the importance of a united front or a united leadership. We seem to be focusing on that question very much we forget talking or mentioning other things. In a sense that if the opposition manages to find the minimum level of unity across like basic principles around democracy around human rights around commitment to transition and so on. It should be fine for the time being because the way I think is that it hasn't been in anywhere in the world that the opposition was a united front. So why should we expect it now in this moment from from the Sudanese civil society from the Sudanese opposition from the Sudanese civilian in a time in an age where we haven't been experiencing democracy for 30 years. It's not an easy process and it's not going to be an easy exercise. So I think the emphasis should be like what is the very minimum that we can all agree on so that we push forward. And this has been clear just before the coup that the Juba peace agreement senators have been opposition as well and we have the civilian army which is the civilian army which is an opposition now but they haven't been agreeing on the very minimum of things since the fraction happened. So if you manage to get that level of consensus at least it should be at least able to move us throughout the transition and then people can look for this united front at later stage but it seems to be a difficult task for me at the moment. Yeah, I think that's a very valuable point that it's unreasonable to expect the opposition to magically be perfectly unified that's just never how things work. So one other topic that I hopes to ask the panelists about involves mediation. So international actors like the UN and the AU have attempted to mediate peace talks between the military and civilian groups and it seems like these efforts have failed to reach a settlement thus far and that international actors are very clearly struggling with reputation or credibility problems. So can we talk more about why the protest movement has been skeptical of international mediation efforts and what if anything international actors should be doing to improve those mediation efforts? I said that Moon has put her hand up so I think she would like to answer that. Hi everyone I'm not going to I'm sorry this is actually like that but I'm going to talk about the constitution sorry for being led today we have an unplanned demonstration so we have a lot of passion and we have a lot of injury that's why I'm in the hospital with them. I can give just a small piece about what's happening this day and this day we have unplanned demonstration everywhere and every day from Tum, Bahrain, German and all the states which have the leadership from the youth the youth in the committees and the youth in the streets so these days are full of activities a full of action because everyone is ready for 13 of June in this month the big demonstration and the big economic demonstration so I'm very sorry for not being there I have the time to read the report and I feel like the report is really talking about what we have in the current situation in Sudan and what we have in the leadership and I know that Zahrao has a lot of fighting and activities with the youth in the streets and the committees and everywhere to have the leadership from them and to give them to the right way so I thank you everybody and I'm ready to answer any question you have it for now just I want to say hi now and if you have any questions I can answer it I'm listening for you maybe I will be out of the videos because I'm with the hospital so if there is anything I'm gonna listen for you all and answer everything you have sorry for that it was unplanned demonstration that's why I don't know what to do now but I will be with you in all my videos yeah Luna thank you so much for being here despite the difficult circumstances of today we really appreciate you attending so I've asked a question about mediation I'd be happy for any of the panelists to jump in and speak to the credibility of international mediators if that's possible so I can jump with that so in my opinion the mediation in Sudan especially in this time need to be create understanding of understanding of the current situation in Sudan so there is a lot of mistrust in Sudan between all parties so you cannot create a mediation process traditional mediation process like what happens everywhere I know mistrust is everywhere but now in Sudan there is for example there is a lot of valid questions in the street it's about how we trust that traditional transition justice will be how we trust that military will give us like the power of political power and economic power by the way how the power is be palace to make us appear and participate that's what you asked it in the industry on the other hand for militaries they want people to forgive them about the murder about a lot of blood sitting in all the day so without understanding that I think traditional mediation process is difficult to work in Sudan in my opinion so listening for everywhere is good and I see mediation trying to to do that now but at the same time building trust is the long process so I think this is a good opportunity and good steps to reach the goal of mediation in my mediation in my opinion thank you three that you know traditional mediation seems to be very difficult given how how polarized the system is and just fundamental distrust in the military which seems like it's going to be very difficult to recover a related question has to do with the kind of persistence of nonviolent activism nonviolent protests and related civil society trainings so the pre-revolutionary period featured many civil society and activism trainings the report describes you know the thousands of Sudanese protesters over the five years prior to the revolution were involved in some sort of civic organizations or or run trainings like this Jaohara and Zahra were both personally involved in some of these efforts do you think that these trainings are still necessary or important going forward or have they mostly kind of accomplished what what they set out to achieve how should we understand kind of these these types of civil society building efforts or interventions in Sudan during this stalled transition period I'll pitch that to Jaohara and Maria if possible thank you that's that's a very good valid question Matthew I would start with the saying that research has proven that capacity building is always the best way of intervention during mobilization first and second I feel like in Sudan we need this more than ever and and even more so as we go in the future and this this is based on two opinions first these trainings have been providing a platform or basic for movement toward democracy or establishing a democratic system Sudan hasn't been experiencing democracy in a while now is is is relatively a new state in the modern concept states so we try and we're trying to learn the foundations of democracy democratic building and so on so these trainings have been providing this capacity to different people in different areas with the Nordic and so on the civic education trainings have been allowed people to like know their rights how to interact with with the state how to interact with with one another and so on other trainings that are focusing on nonviolent action has been a shared experiences for instance another citizen who knows the history of Sudanese revolutions but might not be fully aware of of of experiences in different countries and how they say they relate or contracts with our experiences as so on so it is provided like more knowledge that people can learn from and reflect on additionally these training spaces as as proven by the report has been providing a platform for mutual understanding so these spaces have been allowed people to interact in a safe space where they can actually have a dialogue they can actually talk about different opinions where you're not afraid of the other person judging you or you're not afraid of being judged on the ideas that you share so it is laying a small foundation of a democratic process where people learn to hear and learn from each as one another and each as also so yes we do need these trainings they're still viable now and they're even more viable as we move along the transition and as we move to be in a new democratic state of Sudan I add to what Johara mentioned that I agree with on what we said there is a lot of need of training for sure but based on our experience in the previous three years in the transition period the state itself need and you need to be built but I'm not focusing on the state I focus about teachers for example media actors artists actors youth in general neighborhood committees these these so-calleders need a lot of capacity building to complete the way that we started on 2018-2019 revolution and current revolution by the way because there is a big questions about what next and and what next this question create capacity building a lot of capacity building requirement for the future of democratic transition so I agreed on what Johara mentioned but always when we talk about capacity building we mentioned the activists yes activist is training is very important but there is a different different categories also need to to be part of the democratic transition like leadership community leaders for example teacher as I said religious people these these targeted groups need a lot in my opinion thank you hi if I can jump also to that I think that the capacity building we needed also for the also about the democracy so they can be leading the future of Sudan so they will need a lot of awareness a lot of training a lot of capacity building in democracy and the meaning of democracy and also the meaning of leadership how they can lead shape not just the street but they can lead shape also that the country and the government and everything so so I think the capacity building should be also for the us Zahra are doing a lot of capacity building but I think if anyone can help me that that what we need in Sudan because most of the us now they just know about the demonstration and the revolution but what next is what we need to have a capacity building for it too so we can have a very good future for Sudan and we can have a suitable situation for Sudan in the future thank you also I forget to women we want to ensure women better in the future so they need a lot of I mean building that capacity in leadership term at least in democratic aspects exactly if I may add to the points stressed by Zahra and Muna I think the way I look at it is that we have two categories of of active people I wouldn't say activists but active people in the space ones that are somewhat experienced in mobilizing and some are quite fresh as Muna mentions that need to know the principles of things and so on so for these new people of course they need to know the foundations of democracy of the state and so on and it's important for them to know that and all the group needs to unlearn a few things that they've learned by practice because for the past 30 years we did learn some some things that are not necessarily the most useful way and we need to also be humble and know that you know there are different ways of doing things and this is what the younger generation has been teaching us actually is that it's not necessarily our old way that has been has been have been that we've been repeating is the correct way but we we need to be open and learn new things as well so yeah some learning and unlearning needs to be done yeah also I want to add small point actually even based on our experience learning and the training are are one of the process of building trust so people when we started to be together hearing each other accepting each other this is a very important part of building a trust and building future image an common future image force to them so I think this is the most important things in training and capacity building thank you yeah I really like this this discussion of the training activities as a like a way to speak across differences as teaching people how to speak across differences which seems really important to the current moment in Sudan um before I get to audience Q&A I'll ask one more question that I that I have which is about the relationship between protesters and soldiers in the military so we know that a key component of successful nonviolent action campaigns involves convincing the military or at least members of the military to support the campaign instead of repressing it and you know that seems to happen initially in 2019 when the military sided with protesters against Bashir but since then it's become clear that you know the military has reversed course and has argued that military rule is ongoing military rule is necessary for security so you know can anything be done to undo this shift and kind of more specifically we speak about the military as if it's some monolithic entity as if you know everybody in the military is captured by these generals at the top but I'm curious as to what the panelists think about the relationship between the opposition movement and regular soldiers in the Sudanese army could those soldiers be convinced to side with the people and refuse to repress nonviolent protests that are coming up you know how do you see the links between the opposition and the military go ahead Zahra you've got your hand up thank you Matthew yeah based on our interview and which included in this report one of the factors approaches of the military was distinguishing between the leader of the army who were involved in crimes and the junior officer in particular particular base dealing with the military as a one of block is a mistake in what we hear it from people who are in the you know the military needs to analyze with the understanding of their structure and the context in which they were working in the end the new Sudan will not be built by one side without other sides we need everywhere in fact the influence existing in them aspects and there is no expectation for the army and without of objective dialogue and agreement of common vision which is the new Sudan that we dream of their will be no victory there may be temporary victory and then return again to them to the conflict and as what happened usually incident we need to open the door for the dialogue with the militaries people or youth who are not part of this I know that a lot of activists said now that it's really to find someone who are not part of the blood drivers in in Sudan but if you open just a discussion with one of the youth you find that they want all that to stop they always say this is not all of us this is the militaries who stay in the in the above we don't want that but the military structure is like that so we need to open this discussion to to understand them and give them the chance to understand our side and then focus to bring them on our side I think this is very important especially in that time and this is what we learned from December position also exactly I I think I think to answer your question Matthew I think again I think we always like stuck in the in the in the two sides of either black or white with the military whether in or out as if like you know it's just like one or the other why is the question should be how can we deal with the military going forward and how are we going to to reform the military apparatus the security apparatus or even the paramilitaries and so on because at the end of the day I mean it would be nice to live in a world where we don't need an army we don't need military and you know no one has to carry an arm to defend one's country and so on but it doesn't seem to be logical for the time being so we have to deal with what we have now I think the question should be about talking about unified national security strategies talking about how can we sways those people who are like in line with our democracy values in our principles and so on and I mean at the end of the day Sudan can fit everyone as long as we have the main principles as long as we believe in in democracy and those who refuse and that's another case so as long as these people seem to be sharing the same principles so as I mentioned unified security strategies wild consultation about the role of military the level of intervention in politics the level of intervention in state governance and so on should be the question rather than whether the military should be in or out now I mean I do hope in the future that no one can no country needs an army but I don't know if I would need to see that life there now also I can add to that on what Johara mentioned I feel like there is a gap in understanding democracy and human rights in the military sites like one of the wonderful things happening in these protests like you find activists younger activists by the way who stand in front of the military and tell them about the value of democracy and value of accepting other and value of of of human rights so this protester I mean sometimes not always they try to increase the awareness for the other part we didn't I mean this aspect is absent completely on their structure and their their their culture question of capacity building I think these forces need a lot of capacity building in terms of human rights and interests Hi if I can just add to that I think as well as Johara said really all of them need to have a lot of capacity building in a human rights and how to deal with the human rights without using gun and other things so just would like to agree with that they really need it they really they don't have any capacity building in that so it's a very big gap if we can if you would like to have a civil country in the future government and everything we need them to be a part of it by training them and by having a capacity building for them all Yes and I just want to add something conceptually from the non-violent struggle perspective and in terms of how you build the participation and how do you build alliances what typically happens with the security sector is they do not necessarily can always be completely on your side nor that should necessarily be the goal of the movement but more about convincing them to look the other way so to speak and there will always be a difference and I think someone mentioned at the panel that this is not the monolithic structure there will always be a difference at the calculation at the different level of the of the security services where the top leaders usually have much more to lose whereas that is not consisted only on a small percent of the leadership but the security services are also consisted of others who have completely different calculation and it is possible with the successful movement and the successful outreach and the successful messaging to those different tiers of the security sector to change their calculation and to have them more or let me put it this way less oppressive towards the movement which is sometimes sufficient Yeah it seems like a lot of the focus has been on these high level dialogues between the generals and the leadership of the opposition but perhaps we should be more interested in kind of these middle or low level interactions between everyday protesters and everyday soldiers and how to bridge those divides Okay so I'm going to turn to audience questions now we have a couple great ones first Nick Swanson asks about food insecurity in Sudan so as far as I understand this is becoming a very serious issue this summer and part-fueled by the war in Ukraine I read recently that something like a quarter of Sudanese are likely to suffer from serious food insecurity over the summer and fall so how do how do the panelists think that this situation is going to impact the ongoing protest movement I guess in combination with general economic struggles that Sudan is currently experiencing Matthew I'm sorry I feel like I missed the first part of your question if you may just like repeat it in summary please how food insecurity relates to what yeah just the the ongoing protest movement how how will increasing food security insecurity in Sudan affect the ongoing protest movement is the question yeah if I if I may jump in here yeah food insecurity seems to be a looming crisis or if it hasn't started already forecasts are saying that like at least one one out of four Sudanese people are insecure or in the danger of being food insecure over the next month and an important link to make here to the non-violent movement is how access to bread and access to food has been one of the triggers if I may say to to to the ongoing to to the ongoing revolution so yes it does affect because the the hardest economic situation is the more difficult it is for people to to if I if I may say to to deal with whatever political injustice that's there because at the end of the day there is the active there is active mass that engages in political activities and there is a huge decent amount of people that just cares about making a living which is fine but you know these difficult situations eventually would would lead more people to get involved in this this satisfaction is a is a political situation and this satisfaction with this existing regime whatever it is because at the end of the day for many people their goal is to make a living to have a good welfare and to have a good life and so on but the moment that starts to be an issue then it might be a cause for more people to be angry and so on in addition to the people that are already mobilizing and so on so I can add short sentence questioning that based on our interviews and in the report also one of the successful keys like people moved not based on the political issue based on their needs and based on how they sit like the leaders are are mobilizing and moving based on their need not high high level of political aspect that's why I think insecurity is supporting revolution to continue food insecurity thanks I just got another question from Hamid Khalifala which is what needs to change to enable the international community to engage with the pro-democracy movement is to stand more effectively specifically the resistance committee so so we know that since in a post-bashir landscape the resistance committees have taken on more of a central role in the in opposition organizing as the the FFC and the SPA seem to have become less credible actors so how how does the international community more effectively engage with the resistance communities? If I can jump to this directly I think the most important thing that they need to have more communication with them they need to listen for them more and they need to listen from everyone in the residential committee especially to know from them what they need to know from them their objective to know their name from them the change they are looking for so I think the first thing and the most important thing that they need to listen for them and have a more communication with them more communication too not just like a meeting maybe it can be through the messages they can send it through the media especially the social media through the direct meetings through the online meetings through the every every communication tools they can have it so whenever you have more communication and more connecting with the residential committee they can trust you more and they can tell you more about what they need and the change they are looking for so this is my adding point the communication and the communication and the communication I think Mona sums it up very nicely but I would like to elaborate more on this I think the benefit of the resistance committees or the advantage of them is that them being horizontal in a sense that there isn't like a clear hierarchy however this is also a disadvantage for some people is that it's not easy for you to get someone as a leader of the resistance committees and get consensus on whatever point that they say and so on and this is a new domain that the international community has to deal with like historically you go into a country you get five opposition leaders you get them in a nice hotel you have a meeting and then you have consensus they share it back with their people but now it's not the case now we have to do the hard exercise of appealing to people make them come to us rather than sending invites and so on in a sense that we need to find ways that resistance committees can actually trust us and come to us and share things be it international communities be it all civil society be it whatever and so on and this is a very important thing however doing this exercise is always crippled by the international community's bureaucracy the resistance committees have a very fast pace one day like they organize something next day they're out in the street but the international community is always crippled with the bureaucracy of making decisions of hearing this statement and then monthly they will hear like an action coming out of that statement as well so it's a new demand that we need to investigate and if the international community is actually keen on moving forward the new methods need to be adopted the same way we adopted new nonviolent action techniques that the international bureaucracy needs to adopt new ways that fit the new scenarios that we're dealing with and it's not just the Sudan thing across the globe people are evolving and innovating new techniques and hence the global governance system needs to adopt Maria would you like I thought I got something that you wanted to add something here no you're good okay yeah I mean I oh go ahead Sarah okay it's in the way in the same way I just want international committee if you can send them a sincere understand that the future of Sudan is built by the image of this generation this new generation so stop dealing with the old generation you need to understand that this generation had a view of future of Sudan and it's a most bright view of Sudan so according with them as a leader give them a chance give them the space to present to the world that the only way to understand how they think and where we want to go thank you yeah so more more dedicated engagement with youth activists I think it's the clear message there despite the coordination difficulties of decentralized movements so one other audience question comes from Real Khalifa who asks how important was the use of social media in terms of mobilizing people into non-violent action and particularly in creating solidarity amongst the Sudanese diaspora living abroad I'll pitch that to Maria and Zahra to start because they address it in the report yes it was it was incredibly important that was one of the spaces that we didn't analyze in depth in the report but that definitely played an important role as a communication space as mobilization space as a space where all sorts of activities were taking place including you know reporting on the on the security risks that were that were present during the mobilization and so on definitely the internet penetration is a factor there and not everyone across Sudan was able to use these spaces I mean social media and different messaging applications so people figured out the way how to how to move and transition between those who had access to internet and using more traditional means of communicating even you know from the meeting to the communities verbally based on what was happening on the social media so thank you for that question I wish we spent more time in the report discussing that but it was definitely a very important element of an important let's say a factor that facilitated organization and as one of the even senior civil society leaders said during the interview basically Facebook at one point during the revolution became this public forum like a public assembly where the ideas were shared where the ideas were refined and through which for example SBA accepted some ideas that were coming from the ground up yeah I also want to add the question that it's not provided concerning that I think Diaspora, so Denise Diaspora play a great work during the revolution during September revolution until the moment so I want to highlight some issues that they did actually very effectively when the regime shut down the internet two times the Diaspora people transfer the information about human abuse to the world so if you remember the campaign of Blue Sudan it's completely organized by Diaspora people they also add a lot in organizing people in the crowd and they are very well organized and I see a lot of Diaspora people in different countries supporting the revolution or supporting it but Sudanese revolution they are unique because they started to organize themselves there is a lot of group intuitures in Facebook in different groups even in the ground to support the idea of revolution until the moment they continue they didn't stop they didn't feel that we're done and they organized even offline activities remember the big march in US in Washington based on supporting the revolution and so I think this is one of the unique aspects of Sudan revolution and as Maria said we didn't cover this in our report but we think this is another thing because in my opinion this is something need to be researched separately it's a big issue how the Diaspora doing what they doing for the revolution and still doing till the moment yes and there were some we didn't investigate this further as Zafra mentioned but it's definitely worth exploring more because in this case Diaspora played a very positive role which is not always the case when we are talking about different Diasporas around the world and I think they also supported with funding which I think it's really important to mention if I may appeal to a certain part of the question about how social media contributed to building solidarity amongst Sudanese people be it in Sudan or outside Sudan it's true that not everyone has access to social media but it has been evident that social media has been contributing to building a unified solidarity about issues ongoing in Sudan so that is a very big country and not necessarily everyone knows about issues happening as a region and this has been the case for years you would see that you know there is a massive incident happening in eastern Sudan and the rest of the country not necessarily engaging with it or talking about it this is not the case anymore whenever something happens in any part of this country now there is access to knowledge about it and people are actually engaging demanding change and so on and not only that even politicians public figures and leaders are being called out when they don't engage to these local issues so for instance if a leader whatever leader political whatever in Khartoum tweets about something why something is happening in eastern Sudan people would be like people are dying in eastern Sudan why are you not talking about that matter and so on so it did contribute to building a unified solidarity about whatever issue that's happening across Sudan and so on and it's still ongoing and yeah these effects are difficult to kind of quantify specifically but I think it's clear that it was quite important so we're about at the end of our time here and I just want to give the panelists one last chance to chime in here with what key message or takeaway would you most like to send to our audience today about the ongoing protests and and efforts pro-democracy efforts in Sudan I'll start with Jaohara here and then we can go around the table okay I was taken by surprise actually I think I think the key message is that there is a lot to learn from the ongoing revolution and still unfolds and it's still ongoing and there's also a lot to provide so as long as we have that in mind we need to we don't need to like keep our hands of Sudan we need to still keep supporting the ongoing change we'll have to call on somebody how about Maria I think it's clear and I'm echoing Jaohara here Jaohara sorry that you know Sudan belongs to the generation that carried out this mobilization and that that was active during the revolution and that is the generation that needs to be supported Mona Jaohara Mona Jaohara feel free so I I I want to send a message for Sudanese new generation who protests especially today in the street and they've prepared for 13 of June a big event and I want to say that non-violence is work as one of our interviewers told us Mia and Maria in the sitting and said he told us it's work non-violence it's work that's what he said so it's work but also we need to commit to it and we need to understand the two pillars of non-violence to success the one pillar is to power of people building power of people extending the participatory in the revolution itself so we need to know that we want to add more people not dividing people so any mentality of dividing is again is a revolution itself a non-violence revolution so the second pillar and it's very important we need to understand our steps where we go what the the value is what's our objective what the vision of Sudan so in my opinion I learned from this report and from our trainings and non-violence research because research non-violence use two things extending the revolution itself and strategize it's very important to strategize our our steps awesome Muna you have any final thoughts for the panel before we close out thank you all for that and I'm sure that like this meeting it will be very useful for all of us and I'm gonna say so yeah I know for now being with you but we have really a very hard situation here in the hospitals we have a lot of people so I'm so sorry for that but really thank you so much for this meeting and I think again and again if we have a lot of like this meeting with Yosemite people and with the residential communities and with all the civil society it will be very useful for us and if we have more discussion in the report because the report is very important and have a lot of of finding that it's very useful for the people if we have a lot of discussion for it with more people from the community community as a general it will be very useful thank you so much again well I'd like to take the opportunity again to thank all of our panelists for attending some in very difficult circumstances we really appreciate you all being here and thanks again to the audience for joining us we hope that you found this as engaging as we did until next time thank you all again


What do you do for work? I'm a CEO. Can I ask what does that actually look like? Strategic oversight mostly. But like what do you do all day? I steer the ship. Leveraging synergies and fostering holistic growth. But how do you actually steer? Like what are some examples? I create a culture of innovation. But what are your daily tasks? Leadership isn't about tasks. Do you ever do anything? It's less about do. More about be. Being present. Being a leader. Okay. Just name one thing. Lamp. Oh my god.