This policy brief argues that chiefs play an important role in governance and community life in South Sudan. They provide an array of vital services, from mobilising people for community projects to adjudicating disputes and administering customary law. Sometimes criticised as being an unelected group of old men, they will nevertheless play a vital role in South Sudan’s steps to building viable, effective, local government institutions. This policy brief looks at chiefs and suggests that initiatives to foster sustainable, inclusive, and participative state-building and development at the local level need to cooperate with chiefs as well as other local actors.