The National Transformational Leadership Institute in partnership with UN Women and Ministry of Gender Child and Social Welfare with support from Norway, organized a 40 days training for women leaders from the 10 States and 3 Administrative Areas (AA). Under the theme “Transformative Leadership for Sustainable and Inclusive Peacebuilding.” the training was held from 7th March to 28th April, 2023 bringing together 30 women leaders including Directors, Inspectors, Social Workers, Activists and Chairpersons from all the 10 States/3AA Ministries of Gender and Women’s Associations.
Different training methodologies were employed by the trainers that included mini-lectures, interactive discussions, group exercises and presentations, sharing of experiences, plenary discussions and storytelling. These methodologies enable learners to ably comprehend the training content.
The overall objectives was to equip gender machineries with knowledge and skills on transformational leadership, conflict management, women’s economic empowerment, gender based violence and trauma awareness, and to form a network for information and experience sharing among all the Ministries of Gender at State and National Level.
The participants remarked that South Sudanese women can mobilize and agree on many issues however they are sometimes divided along political and tribal lines, rural and urban women, educated and uneducated.
It was also noted that the women movement in South Sudan is not that strong like that of the Liberians. While they can mobilize for a cause, some drop off along the way due to various selfish reasons including desire for money, jealousy, cowardice, among others. However, to foster solidarity among women in South Sudan, the participants therefore recommended identifying key allies to rally behind them such as other women from different walks of life e.g. the police (women in uniform), church, mosque, CSOs, NGOs, the government, academia and the media.
The participants also noted that there is poor salary for civil servants especially soldiers which discourages women from joining organized forces. The women said they often did not have collateral to take loans from formal institutions but rather resorted to family and friends. This is partly because of the few available financial institutions in the states and stringent regulations for women to acquire loans. Still, others reported having no knowledge about pre-requisites for acquiring a loans such as having collateral like land and other assets which the women did not have.
By the end of training, there was a call to extend similar trainings to the grassroots women down at Payam and Boma levels ahead of the elections. Furthermore, women should different avenues such as radio & TV talk shows, social media and print media to disseminate the R-ARCSS.