S1 EP 10: Strengthening Civilian Protection

26 May 2025
Guests: Rev Peter Tibi, Gemma Davies and Leigh Mayhew

How is civil society in South Sudan engaging with armed actors to protect civilians? And what can humanitarian actors do? In this episode of Beyond Compliance: In Conversation, Katharine and Florian talk to Rev Peter Tibi, Gemma Davies and Leigh Mayhew about how different types of actors can strengthen civilian protection.

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Cited documents

Davies, Gemma, Gray, Felicity, Barbelet, Veronique, Keeping protection paramount amidst a ‘humanitarian reset’: the need for proactive protection action to reduce civilian harm, HPG policy brief, London: ODI Global, 2025.

Davies, Gemma, Mayhew, Leigh, with The Bridge Network, Community engagement with armed actors in South Sudan: reducing violence and protection risks, HPG case study. London: ODI, 2024.

Davies, Gemma, Barbelet, Veronique and Mayhew, Leigh, Reducing violence and strengthening protection of civilians: debuking assumptions, HPG policy brief, London: ODI Global, 2024.

Speaker information

Rev. Tibi has served as the Principal at Imatong Bible College in Juba, Sudan. He served as an administrator and Assistant Executive Secretary for Africa Inland Church-Sudan, and worked within AIC for 13 years. He moved on to the New Sudan Council of Churches, where he served as the Deputy Executive Secretary; then in the Sudan Council of Churches as Acting Executive Secretary and General Secretary. Rev. Tibi has served as the Executive Director of RECONCILE, International, since November of 2009.

Gemma Davies is a Senior Research Fellow for the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI. She has extensive experience working with a range of international humanitarian and human rights organisations, as well as the Department for International Development, in several conflict and fragile affected states, predominantly in Sub-Saharan (East, Horn and Western) Africa. Gemma specialises in a range of issues including protection of civilians, forced displacement and humanitarian negotiations.

Leigh Mayhew is a Senior Research Officer within ODI’s Global Risks and Resilience programme, and a fellow at The Centre on Armed Groups. His research focuses on armed group dynamics, illicit economies and development, smuggling networks and the intersection with armed conflict, radicalisation, and the security dimensions of climate change. Currently, Leigh’s work is focused on how communities engage armed actors to advance community self-protection.