gender equality as smart economics 81689 Empowering Girls and Women in South Sudan REPORT FROM THE FIELD By Mayra Buvinic and Trine Lunde, PRMGE Building the Private Background Sector With Women The scant available data we have (from the 2006 Civil war decimated the private sector. Markets, roads and Sudan Household Health Survey and anecdotal commercial credit disappeared. A WB-led PSD project updates) conveys the dire situation of girls and (under the MDTF) seeks to develop an enabling environment women in South Sudan. Earlier assessments have for private sector growth in South Sudan. GAP added shown that girls in Southern Sudan are more likely $500,000 to this project to strengthen women’s entre- to die in childbirth than complete primary school. preneurship. 25 female entrepreneurs were each awarded No other country reports numbers this bad: $20,000 through a commercial bank to use as collateral. They were selected as part of a Business Plan Competition I Maternal mortality ratio: (BPC) for entrepreneurs and received business development 2,054 (per 100,000 skills training. The competition drew more than 1,600 live births) applications from across all Southern states. I Infant mortality rate: 101 (per 1000 live births) We visited a Poultry Farm set up by Florence (in the photo), I Contraceptive use: 3.5% one of the winners, and met I Women aged 15-24 who with several other female BPC are literate: 2.5% winners. Florence is growing I Primary school girls’ net indigenous poultry (bought in attendance rate (in 2006): Uganda). She had difficulties 14.0% finding the material to build the shed, getting the permits, I 36% of those enrolled in primary school (in 2009) transporting the chicks, and are girls getting the vaccines. But she has succeeded and expects I Marriage before age 15 for women: 16.7% substantial profits once the chicks grow and she can sell I Marriage before age 18 for women: 40.7% the broilers in Juba. Florence was able to get communal World Bank Initiatives village land for her enterprise. Another winner in the compe- PRMGE began work in South Sudan in early tition, Mary (on left in photo), 2009, with support from Norway (of about had won the BPC award to US$4.5 million). In addition, the Multi-Donor construct ‘Juba Modern Toilets’ Trust Fund for South Sudan (MDTF-SS) has (flush toilets) next to a market- committed $10 million to a Gender Support and place but had been unable to Development Project. In a year’s time, Bank access government land. She staff, including a locally hired gender specialist, was likely going to channel have made heartening progress, especially the funds to build a health clinic. Janet is in the brick considering the challenging environment 1. making business. They and the other women we met 1 Bank staff and consultants working on this agenda in South Sudan include: (i) Alwaleed Alatabani, TTL of the PSD project and Dorothy Daka Matanda, Private Sector Development Specialist; (ii) Yasmin Tayyeb, TTL of the AGI and the Gender Support and Development Project, and Verena Phipps, consultant - Shubha Chakravarty, Economist is managing the impact evaluation with the support of Salman Alibhai, a consultant based in Juba; and (iii) Tesfaye Bekalu, TTL for the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project and Gunther Gutknecht, Water & Sanitation Specialist. Museme Munira Issa is the Bank's Gender Specialist in Juba and supports the integration of women’s economic empowerment issues in all of these (and other) projects. were motivated, clear about their business needs and Fostering Women’s Participation very resourceful. On their own initiative, they have spear- in Rural Water Management headed the launch of the first Southern Sudan Women $500,000 in GAP monies Entrepreneurs Association. This is a welcome, unantici- will seek to build women’s pated benefit of the project and should help to strengthen capacity to manage, operate women’s participation in the nascent private sector. We and maintain rural water will support the legal, spatial and IT set-up of the asso- supply and sanitation serv- ciation with additional GAP funds, and support capacity ices (16 water points/small building activities that respond to the needs expressed distribution networks and 5 by the Association. ablution blocks), as part of a A second GAP award of $500,000 has been channeled, larger rural water and sani- also within the PSD project, to local microfinance service tation project. The project providers to extend loans to women. PSD project funds became effective in May 2010 and the implementation of will be used to provide TA and collect information for the component to empower women would begin tentatively monitoring and evaluation. The project’s monitoring and later this fall. The Ministry of Water Resources and Irriga- management information systems will disaggregate data by tion is fully on board and has already identified a project gender. We will offer gender training to local project staff coordinator for the women’s empowerment component. on how to design and use gender-sensitive monitoring. Gender Support & Empowering Adolescent Girls Development Project and Young Women Increasing the government’s capacity to mainstream South Sudan is one of the 6 gender issues and coordinate programs that help girls countries in the Adolescent and women is a key complementary element to the Girls Initiative (AGI) and, above initiatives. With $10 million in funding from the after Liberia which started a MDTF-SS the Bank is helping the Ministry of Gender, year earlier, is among the Social Welfare and Religious Affairs develop a gender first to begin implementa- mainstreaming policy and build its institutional capacity. tion. The $3m initiative will Project components include: a country gender assessment reach 3,500 adolescent girls to inform future gender policies; a capacity-building in 4 states with technical, training program intended for GoSS and State Ministry life-skills and business employees; and a grant competition seeking proposals development training for income generation/employment. from local NGOs and CBOs for economic empowerment 100 village-level Adolescent Community Clubs (photo) programs targeting local women. In the first round of the will provide safe spaces for girls to receive the training. grant competition, nearly 50 proposals were selected out of The implementing agency is BRAC, an NGO with head- 177 originally submitted by local groups from all 10 states quarters in Bangladesh, that has schooling and micro- in South Sudan, with a total allocation of approximately credit programs throughout South Sudan and will be $1.5 million. A total able to offer joint savings and micro-credit to the girls of $4 million has who have successfully completed the training. The Bank been allocated for is overseeing a rigorous project impact evaluation (with this component, with treatment and control groups). The baseline survey (of a second call for 4,200 households) for the impact evaluation has been proposals already designed and is about to be rolled out; the first adolescent underway. Finally, club will open this July/August. We visited two commu- the gender project nities where BRAC operates and where the AGI is likely will support the to be implemented. We were very favorably impressed Ministry through the with the organization’s reach in these poverty-stricken construction of new communities and with young women’s intense interest office facilities to in getting training (in computers and business, they help centralize and mentioned) for income generation. Reflecting the statistics improve internal quoted above, nearly all of the girls we spoke to were coordination. young mothers with one or more children. June 2010