South Sudan

WPHF is supporting local civil society organizations in South Sudan to respond to COVID-19 on the front lines and advance women’s meaningful participation in peace processes.

Our Work

In South Sudan, WPHF is channeling programmatic and institutional financing to local women’s groups and civil society actors responding to the gender dimensions of the  COVID-19 pandemic, while supporting the direct participation of women in peace processes across the country.

Our Partners

WPHF has supported three projects implemented by five women-led and women’s rights civil society organizations in South Sudan:

WPHF COVID-19 Emergency Response Window Partners: Responding to COVID-19 in Crisis Settings

• Child Care Organization (CHICO) on a project aimed at sustaining its work on peacebuilding and reconciliation processes around women and child abductions in the state of Jonglei. This initiative will allow CHICO to strengthen its technical, operational, and financial capacities by purchasing accounting software systems, setting up an internet connection, and training staff on COVID-19 awareness.
• Jonglei State Women Assocation (JSWA) — together with the South Sudan National Union Association of Disability Groups and The Excel Empowerment Centre (TEEC) — on a project that seeks to enhance women’s participation and leadership in humanitarian action and COVID-19 response through community trainings on hygiene and handwashing and radio awareness-raising campaigns.

Explore the full list of WPHF COVID-19 Emergency Response Window partners around the world.

WPHF Rapid Response Window Partners: Increasing Women’s Participation in Peace Processes and Agreements

• Community Youth for Development Aid (CYDA) — together with the Global Alliance Innovation for Povertyand Women Health and Resilience Mentors — on a project that aims to strengthen the monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of the gender provisions included in the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS’s). CYDA and its partners will produce a technical document, facilitate consultative workshops, and develop a participatory plan of action to ensure that women’s perspectives influence the implementation of those gender provisions.

Explore the full list of WPHF Rapid Response Window partners around the world.

Background

South Sudan has been beset by multiple crises since the country gained independence in 2011, with escalating humanitarian, socio-economic, and political consequences following the onset of conflict in December 2013.

What started as a political dispute between factions of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) devolved into large-scale armed violence that drove a grave humanitarian crisis across the country, disproportionately affecting women and children. In addition to the loss of livelihoods and family members, these two groups continue to be subject to harrowing atrocities, including rape, abduction, forced marriage, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women and girls— including rape perpetrated by soldiers in uniform—is widespread in South Sudan, where a culture of impunity has become systemic in the absence of political and institutional commitment to hold the perpetrators of abuses accountable.

Even though South Sudan has translated the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 framework into a National Action Plan (NAP), the country’s national gender machinery lacks the adequate resources and capacity to implement it. While South Sudan has a large number of CSOs, only a few have developed their organizational strength and technical capacity to participate in peacebuilding initiatives. Similarly, women’s networks and coalitions, despite their key role in shaping peace talks during the negotiations, are weak, divided, and underfunded. Against this background, there is an urgent need to support the capacities of women CSOs to enhance their engagement in the implementation of transitional peace arrangements and to ensure the amplification of the most marginalized women’s voices.

Our Vision

In South Sudan, WPHF aims to ensure the financing and coordination of local civil society organizations working to empower women as key actors in the peace processand COVID-19 response, driving progress on women’s meaningful contributions to sustainable peace.