gender quotas - courtesy image

The Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, in partnership with development partners, has launched the South Sudan Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment Project (SSWSEEP) to expand women’s access to livelihoods, entrepreneurial support, and services for survivors of gender-based violence.

Speaking at the launch event in Juba on Tuesday, Jan. 6, Naomi Thomas, representing the Minister of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, said the initiative will strengthen national systems to rescue survivors of gender-based violence and support their healing and empowerment.

“Through …component 3, we are strengthening the national system to ensure that survivors are not only rescued from harm but supported on a pathway to healing, recovery and empowerment. Component 3 is unique in its comprehensive approach. It brings together prevention, response, protection, and sustainability under one coordinated framework,” Naomi said.

“The establishment of a safe house with the capacity to accommodate diverse survivor needs including women with children, adolescent girls, and persons with disabilities,” she added.

Gune Annet Mule, a gender-based violence specialist at the Ministry, said the project will serve populations across ten states and two administrative areas.

She highlighted the construction of a safe house in Central Equatoria State for high-risk individuals.

“The establishment of helpline and this helpline will be operational in the ten states of South Sudan including the two administrative areas of Pibor administrative area and Ruweng Administrative Area. And also, it has provision and construction of the first of its kind. The safe house which is for the high-risk individuals that will be constructed in Central Equatoria that is Juba,” Annet said.

Andrua Sarah Johnson, deputy information officer at the South Sudan Women with Disabilities, emphasized the need to include persons with disabilities in the project.

“My expectation to the implementers is that they should also put people with disability into the centre of their implementation, not leaving us behind. Because I remember during the assessment, people with disability also go for the assessment,” Sarah said.

The project comprises four key components: community empowerment, support for women and girls, women’s entrepreneurial opportunities, services for survivors of gender-based violence, and institutional strengthening and project management.