Abandoned shops line the streets of once bustling towns across Ayaci and Magwi County near Torit in the eastern part of South Sudan.

Youth in Torit in the Eastern Equatoria region took to the streets last weekend to celebrate International Youth Day, voice their many concerns and express their desire to play a bigger role in the future of the country.

 “Sharing my skills of dressmaking with women in South Sudan is a rare opportunity for me which will make me very happy for all of my life,” says Mohir Hossad a Bangladeshi UN peacekeeper proactively redefining gender roles in Wau, a town in northwestern South Sudan.