This paper is about youth leadership development in the context of South Sudan. Youth in South Sudan face numerous and complex challenges that prevent them from realizing their potential and contributing to the creation of peace, stability, and prosperity for themselves and their communities. Obstacles include, but are not limited, to poor quality and lack of access to education programs, increasing youth unemployment, the involvement of youth in the ongoing inter- and intra-ethnic conflicts, and the exclusion of youth from participating in meaningful and productive community activities. The presence of these challenges calls for programs that are informed by youth leadership development theory, research, and practice. In this paper, I present a review of scholarly literature on leadership theories pertinent to social change and youth development. I also conduct a study on three existing youth leadership development projects. Furthermore, I use the literature review and three case studies to draw design principles and curricular guidelines to inform a youth leadership program that I intend to establish in South Sudan. This draft framework will support my future initiative in facilitating programs that are designed to empower youth to achieve personal goals, while equipping them with the capacity to critically analyze and solve complex social problems. The road map towards the future program will also involve the identification of key partner institutions and organizations that can potentially support in designing and implementing the future project.

This study argues for Indigenous-led community development as a salient field of study whereby both theory and practice would be held to the goals of decolonizing entrenched systems that suppress indigeneity, as well as embodying processes to rediscover, regain, and reimage aspects integral to Indigenous well-being and sustainability. Building on fieldwork with Cherokee youth in Stilwell, OK using community mapping and photovoice methods, it is argued that holistic and culturally relevant frameworks that fully situate such salient factors are needed when examining topics related to sustainability, well-being, and resurgence in Native American communities. Utilizing youth narratives, the study proposes a starting point for a Cherokee-led community development framework.