When young South Sudanese have guns, which they do, and are raiding other people’s cattle and produce for their livelihood, which they are, how do you get them to lay down their guns? The answer is an alternative form of income, another livelihood.  

And the path to income is cooperatives according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Cooperatives, economic organizations in which work and risk are shared by members, are forming in more and more corners of South Sudan.  

They are an acknowledgement that it is easier to surmount livelihood challenges, specifically food insecurity and climate crises, together as a community as opposed to alone as individuals.  

But they may be more than just a path towards economic empowerment, they may also bring peace and security to the world’s youngest nation.  

Ahead of the International Day of Cooperatives, which is marked annually on 5 July, UN News’ Naima Sawaya sat down with FAO’s Louis Bagare, who’s based in South Sudan, and began by asking him to explain what role cooperatives play there.