STAKERHOLDERS' WORKSHOP ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE NEW SUDAN:

FACTORS AFFECTING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS TO, CONTROL AND
OWNERSHIP TO SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL RESOURCES

29^th^ to 30^th^ November 2001

Lenana House, Nairobi-Kenya

Organized by

Development Assistance Technical Office (DATO), in Collaboration with
the Women and Natural Resources Working Group

Funded by

United States International Development Agency (USAID)

Facilitated by

Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

THE NEW WOMAN

By Helen Wongo

The hands which gently tend the leaves

Will now help banish darkness

They'll work hard to put down evil

And rise up for all new life

The hands which gently tend the leaves

Will help nourish all that is good

They'll work hard to weed out poverty

And bring new culture and art

The hands which gently tend the leaves

Will show new ways for humankind

They will work to build those structure

In which truth and right will be found

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The goal of the workshop on the status of women in the New Sudan was to
create awareness, establish a better understanding of women's
development needs and related issues as well as increase women's
participation in social and economic and political development. While
the specific objectives were to share ideas, experiences, and lessons
learned with all stakeholders; women, practitioners, policy makers,
planners, NGOs and gender experts; identify major factors contributing
to the marginalization of women; and develop a common strategy and
action plan for improving their status.

It is hoped that after the workshop the stakeholders will have a better
understanding of factors preventing the participation of women in
social, economic and political affairs; identify a mechanism for
coordination, commitment to pursuing women's development rights and a
policy framework to guarantee equality and gender equity.

The workshop presentation was organized with an aim to giving background
information on the status of women as well as an opportunity for women
to tell their story. There were presentations from agencies to highlight
their activities in the main areas of concern such as Civic Education,
the role of women in natural resource management and utilization,
political participation of women and their legal status under customary
and statutory laws of the New Sudan.

There were many concerns and issues raised in relation to the
participation as well as the marginalization of women, during the
workshop. The most important were;

1.  Non-adherence of donors and NGOs to the global policies on equity
    and non-discrimination and rights of women.

2.  Differences in the way different actors perceive gender and
    empowerment of women.

3.  Lack of accountability of the authorities and agencies to the local
    people.

4.  Absence of a policy framework and guidelines for humanitarian
    interventions as well as for ensuring gender equity

5.  Absence of gender impact assessment tools to ensure that any
    intervention undertaken in the New Sudan remains gender sensitive.

6.  NGO operating in emergency mode, which focuses on saving lives
    rather than impact and community participation.

7.  Absence of a network and forum for sharing, discussing and
    advocating for gender issues.

8.  Limited participation of local authority, communities, and
    especially women in the identification, prioritization, design and
    implementation of humanitarian interventions

9.  Weak institutional capacity of SPLM institutions, Civil society
    organizations including organization and groups.

10. Ineffective Legal and Judiciary systems of the New Sudan

11. Preoccupation of the SPLM authorities with other issues

12. Traditional beliefs and practices of many societies in the New Sudan
    limit the participation of women in the public domain as well as
    their access to, ownership and control of social, economic and
    political resources.

13. The low social, economic and legal status of women under the
    customary and statutory laws of the New Sudan of women in the New
    Sudan.

14. Low levels of Education in the New Sudan, particularly women.

15. General effects of the eighteen years of civil war which has caused
    cultural and moral decay, demographic changes resulting role changes
    and increase in women's workload

The issues raised during presentations on day one received good and
thorough discussion as well as general and specific recommendations to
the key players and stakeholders.

Sudanese communities

1.  Introduction of Civic Education for civil authorities, community
    elders and women leaders

2.  Education of communities about negative traditional practices e.g
    early marriages, wife inheritance and heavy workload on women and
    girls.

3.  Sensitization of women and men about workload of women and girls and
    promotion of equal assignment of duties for girls and boys.

4.  Women leaders to begin taking legal action against negative
    traditional practices on women and demand for appropriate punishment
    whenever necessary.

5.  Campaign and demonstration of the importance of effective
    participation of men and women in socio-economic and political
    decisions through drama, workshops and dialogue.

Women institutions and organization

1.  Women must complete the establishment of the structure of the
    Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare, develop Policies and
    guidelines, staff its offices and develop functional linkages with
    agencies and relevant SPLM institution.

2.  The Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare in collaboration with
    women organizations and indigenous NGOs should establish a network,
    technical working groups and Coordination mechanism to promote,
    lobby and advocate and ensure that women's concerns receives
    attention at all levels of planning, policy formulation and decision
    making.

3.  Women should be taught civic education and made aware about their
    human rights and how to pursue their interest with NGOs and SPLM
    authorities.

4.  The Commissioner for Women and Child Welfare should establish the
    Secretariat's office in the New Sudan and quit staying abroad.

SPLM Authorities

1.  Education should be made compulsory for girls and boys in the New
    Sudan

2.  Girl child education must be promoted by addressing community and
    household level problems contributing to low enrolment and retention
    of the girl child.

3.  Develop a policy and legal framework for ensuring gender equity in
    development interventions.

SINGO

1.  SINGOs should take the campaign against negative traditional
    practices by acting as role models e.g. they should in-cooperate and
    influence gender issues and provide guidelines for activities being
    carried out within the SINGOs to avoid confrontations within the
    households/communities and ensure gender equity.

2.  SINGOs should also influence Civil Authorities of the New Sudan
    (CANS) to accept women participation in public affairs, assist in
    the development of institutional capacities of women organizations
    including the Secretariat for Women.

3.  Finally, SINGOs should explain to communities the roles of
    communities and that of humanitarian agencies in development.

Donors and International Agencies

1.  Agencies should begin serious gender equitable development
    activities if the situation of women in the New Sudan is to improve

2.  Donors and agencies should consider funding institutional capacity
    building processes for women organizations and offer scholarships
    for women in primary, secondary, post secondary institutions to
    boost the level of education, as well as increase the number of
    women who are competent to work health, management, policy
    formulation and Law.

3.  Donors and agencies should respect and adhere to the global policies
    on gender equity and human rights, which should be reflected in
    their policies, guidelines, program design and impact

Way forward

-   Dissemination and discussion of workshop report with all
    stakeholders with an aim of reaching a consensus on how to increase
    women's participation in social economic and political decision
    making

-   To dialogue on the concept of women's empowerment and gender equity
    in the context of south Sudan.

-   To organize a forum which will start immediate work on policy
    framework to ensure gender equity as well as a tool for assessing
    gender impact of programs.

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-   To conduct a baseline study on the status of women in the New Sudan
    and establish where things are with regards to women's empowerment
    and gender equity.

**ACRONYMS AND ABREVIATIONS**

AAH Action Africa Health

ARC American Refugee Committee

ADRA Adventist Development and Relief Association

ARC American Refugee Committee

ADRA Adventist Development and Relief Association

BYDA Bahr el Ghazal Youth Association

CRS Catholic Relief Services

DATT Development Assistance Technical Team

NCA Norwegian Church Aid

NPA Norwegian People's Aid

### MRDA Mundri Relief and Development Association

WV World Vision

SMC Sudan Medical CARE

SUHA Sudan Health Association

NSCC New Sudan council of Church

SCF Save the Children Fund

DOT Dioceses of Torit

SPLM/A Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army

IDEAS Institute of Development, Environment and Agriculture

> Studies

SUPRAID Sudan Production Aid

WODRAN Widows Orphans, Disabled Association

MALTESER

ZOA

MSF-Belgian

GOAL-Ireland

DIAKONE

CEAS Church Ecumenical Association of the Sudan

CONCERN

SFS Norwegian Group for Peace in the Sudan

UNICEF United Nation's Children's Education Fund

WHO World Health Organization

WFP World Food Program

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation

NSWF New Sudan Women Federation

NESI New Sudan Indigenous Organizations

FOSCO Federation of Sudanese Organizations

SKILLS Skills for Southern Sudan

SWAN Sudanese Women Association in Nairobi

NSWA New Sudan Women Association

**Acknowledgement**

I would like to thank the Agency for International Development (USAID)
for funding the workshop and proposed study on factors affecting women's
participation, access, control and ownership to social, economic and
political resources in the New Sudan. Also my thanks go to CRS for the
support in workshop arrangements. I appreciate the efforts of all
participants including staff of agencies especially those who presented
papers. It is hoped that the discussions that transpired during the
workshop will lead to a better understanding and appreciation of issues
contributing to the low status of women in the New Sudan as well as
their development needs. I also hope that agencies, policy makers,
planners and practitioners will take the concerns of women in the New
Sudan seriously and make efforts to draw up policies and programs to
reduce their discrimination.

**Anne Itto (PhD)**

**Coordinator for the Women and Natural Resource Working Group**

**Member of DATT/SPLM**

**DAY ONE, THUSRDAY, NOVEMBER 29^th^ --30^th^ 2000**

**[1.0 OPPENING ADDRESS]{.underline}**

**1.1 Anne Itto (Development Assistance Technical Office)**

The Commissioners for the Secretariats of Women and Child Welfare and
Education, NGOs, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf
of my colleagues in the Development Assistance Technical Team (DATT),
and the Women and Natural Resource Working Group (WNRWG), I would like
to welcome, and thank you all for the contribution you have made and are
making to improve the humanitarian situation in the Sudan. We appreciate
and are truly grateful for the lives saved and livelihoods restored. I
apologize for any inconvenience caused due to delays in fixing the dates
for this workshop, but remain hopeful that we'd have a deeper
understanding and appreciation for women's development needs and
concerns by the end of this workshop.

What I would like to bring to the attention of this workshop are the
changes that have occurred in the New Sudan since 1989, when the
Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) was launched. Most of these changes have
been positive and are important to acknowledge as they offer new
opportunities for social, economic and political developments in the New
Sudan. These changes include:

1.  Establishment of structures of governance including legal and
    judiciary systems.

2.  Clearly articulated vision for development in the New Sudan

3.  Increased participation of indigenous NGOs, technical institutions
    and professional groups.

4.  A more organized and vibrant civil society.

5.  Increased interest to invest into the future; and

6.  A bastion of economic and development activities resulting from
    relative peace and access to the outside world through East Africa.

I am very pleased that many agencies have recognized these positive
social, economic and political developments and have responded by asking
critical questions about the impacts of their programs on local
communities, as well as the role they could play. For example, UNICEF
responded to improved operational environment by establishing two bases
in southern Sudan and hiring more Sudanese staffs. Other agencies have
and are considering multi-year program funding.

One such agency is USAID, which has gone a step further to fund a
development-type program\-\--the Sudan Transitional Assistance for
Rehabilitation (STAR), whose main objective is to enhance good
governance and reduce heavy reliance on relief. The activities
implemented under the STAR include economic rehabilitation, capacity
building for civil administrators, Health and Education Departments,
Judiciary and Strategic Analysis and Capacity Building in Agriculture
and Natural Resource (SACB).

The women and natural resource working group funded under the SCAB
organized this workshop. The workshop aims to address the problem of low
participation of women in rehabilitation and development activities,
particularly in decision making in natural resource management and
utilization, as this has remained a problem despite many years of
humanitarian interventions. This concern has been confirmed by the
result of a quick analysis of STAR program project beneficiaries, which
showed that only 10-20% of the total beneficiaries are women. It was
also evident that most skills training programs such as in the
agriculture, health and econmoic sectors have not taken into account the
fact that women not only constitute over 60% of the population but are
the main producers and service providers in the New Sudan. You will hear
more about how women view humanitarian assistance to Sudan from workshop
presentations.

I would like to conclude by thanking you all for coming. My special
thanks go to USAID in the person of Brian D'silva for his vision and
support, the SPLM for creating political space for women and the New
Sudanese women for rising up to the challenge.

1.2 Mama Kezia ( Commissioner for Women, Gender and Child Welfare)

The Guest of Honor Mrs Kezia Layinwa, the SPLM Commissioner for Women
and Child Welfare, Asked for a minute of silence in memory of the fallen
icon of women fighting for freedom and liberation, the late Commander
Ager Gum. One minute of silence was observed. She then went on to
welcome and thank all invited guests, especially NGOs for the
contribution they are making to empower women in the New Sudan.

The Commissioner, Mrs. Kezia told the workshop that women play a great
role at household, community and national levels. She commended their
contribution as mothers, wives, sisters, peacemakers, producers, farmers
and income earners to the liberation struggle. She also pointed out that
some women, like the late great Ager Gum have elected to pick up arms
and fight along side men on the front lines. So, women shed blood and
die for this country just like men and this should be recognized and
appreciated. She said that she is saddened by the fact that women still
live in poverty, are least educated, lack skills, have low legal and
social status and do not participate effectively in social, economic and
political decision making. She called upon the SPLM Leadership to be
serious and increase their efforts to promote women.

However, since 1998 the Secretariat for Women, Gender and Child Welfare
have made tremendous effort to promote the activities of women. One of
the first activities organized by the Secretariat of Women and Child
Welfare was the Women's Conference held in New Kush in August. During
this conference women discussed issues affecting their lives and that of
their families and the resolutions of the conference was presented to
the SPLM Leadership for action. As a follow up to the New Kush
conference, the Secretariat held another strategic workshop in Yambio in
August of 2000. The workshop, which was aimed at bringing women together
to draw a five year plan for the Secretariat, was attended by over
eighty women from Equatoria and Upper Nile. The main weakness of this
workshop was the lack of participation by women from Southern Kordofan,
Southern Blue Nile and Bahr el Ghazal. However there is a plan to
continue similar workshop in these areas as soon as funds become
available.

In the Yambio Conference women came up with their Vision for the New
Sudan, Mission, Strategy, Programs and a Structure for Women and Child
Welfare Secretariat as well as resources required. A way forward and an
action plan rather than a five years plan was drawn due to limited
participation and information and data regarding the social, economic,
legal and political status of women, as well as well as indicators to be
used for measuring change.

She asked that NGO improve the coordination of interventions especially
those targeting women to prevent or minimize duplication of efforts and
gaps in services to communities. She also requested NGOs to begin
working directly through the Office of the Commissioner for Women and
Child Welfare because that would enhance coordination of activities as
well as the institutional capacity of the Secretariat. She assured
agencies that any assistance given to her Secretariat directly will
increase benefits to women and their families as compared to the impact
felt when her office is by-passed.

She concluded by thanking the SPLM for creating political space for
women and welcomed ideas and suggestions that will contribute to
improvement of the institutional capacity of the Women and Child Welfare
Secretariat, which will in turn increase its ability to support the
enhancement of the status of individual women.

2.  PRESENTATION OF WORKSHOP GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED RESULTS

By Anne Itto, (Development Assistance Technical Team (DATT) and
Chairperson, for the Natural Resource Management and Utilization
Committee (NRMUC).

2.1 Background

Despite over a decade of humanitarian assistance to the Sudan and over
2.5 billion US\$ of aid, the situation of women remains desperate and
their participation in social, economic and political decision making
remarkably low. This has been blamed on many factors including the
nature of humanitarian assistance to Sudan, some negative traditional
practices, lack of political commitment on the part of the SPLM
Leadership, educational levels, lack of appropriate information system
and technology and gender desegregated data on socio-economic and
political activities.

2.2 Purpose

##### The goal of this workshop is to create awareness, establish a better understanding of women's development needs and related issues and to increase women's participation in socio-economic and political developments in the New Sudan.

##### 2.2 Objectives

1.  Ideas, experiences and lessons learned from women programs have been
    shared between women policy makers and planners organizations, NGOs
    and gender experts.

2.  Factors contributing to the current situation of women in the New
    Sudan have been identified.

3.  A shared strategy and action plan for improving the status of women
    has been developed.

##### 2.3 Expected result

1.  A good understanding of factors affecting the effective
    participation of women in social, economic and political
    development.

2.  A mechanism and policy framework to guide program designs for
    greater gender women's participation and gender equity.

3.  Commitment to pursue women's right and access to social, economic
    and political resources and development needs.

3.0 PRESENTATION OF BACKGROUND PAPERS

Paper One:

The Status of Women in the New Sudan: Factors affecting the effective
participation, ownership, access to and control of women to social,
economic and political resources.

3.1.0 Introduction

So much has been published about the historical background to the
conflict in the Sudan, the effects of which include over two million
deaths, twice as many internally displaced and refugees in the
neighboring countries and all subjected to the devastating effects of
wars and conflicts. Until recently, very little was known about the
dehumanizing practice of abduction and taking of southern Sudanese women
and children as war booties by Sudan government troops and militiamen,
being forced to work under slave-like conditions in farms and homes in
northern Sudan.

What has perhaps been missed out completely is the central role women
play in the Sudanese society, especially in peace and during times of
conflict. This central position has made women targets of military
operations, such as shooting, landmines explosions, high altitude
bombing, as well as various forms of physical and psychological abuses
leading to death and serious disabilities as they struggle to survive.

Despite all these, women have done the best they could, held their
communities together, became innovative, learnt skills and assumed
responsibilities for the social, economic and physical security of their
families as well as communities, which has been at a very high personal
cost. Women are indeed a resource and a force, which must never be
ignored for any reconciliation, peace building, social reconstruction
and development interventions to succeed in the Sudan.

3.2.0 Background

The tragedy for the Southern Sudanese people began centuries ago when
outsiders from Europe and Middle East became attracted to the gold,
ivory, copper and iron in the interior. This started with trade followed
by slavery and colonization first, by the Arabs then Turks, then the
Egyptians and the British. During the colonial period which extended
from 1889 to 1956 there was consistent negligence of development in the
south and other marginalized areas; the betrayal of the South to
self-determination, and finally handing over politico-economic control
of the country to northern Sudanese politicians. As a result, at
independence the north had factories, roads, railway, steamers, the
largest irrigated and mechanized scheme in the world, while the south
and other marginalized areas had nothing.

Similarly, the governments in Khartoum after independence adopted
policies that undermined any form of governance and focused on
arabization, islamization and sustained ruthless exploitation of the
resources of the south at the expense of its development. Consequently
support to small holder farmers of which women make 80 %, health,
education and physical infrastructure were given low priority and
utterly neglected. These policies, coupled with the culture and
traditions of southern Sudanese societies, which treat women as
property, made it difficult for women to get education and learn skills.
Hence the low levels of literacy, numbers of women working in technical
and professional fields, as well as in public offices.

It should however be noted that things have started to change
particularly, during the years of conflict. Some conservative
communities have moved and got exposed to other communities where women
have the opportunity to go to school and work, while other changes have
been a result of demographic changes caused by the war, forcing women to
assume new roles and consequently gaining self confidence. In addition,
the SPLM has also made efforts to address the problems of gender
imbalance and lack of women's participation through affirmative action.
To some extent NGOs have also made contributions by funding women
activities, making it possible for them to undertake projects in income
generation and skills training.

To-day southern Sudanese women are more organized than any other common
interest groups, using their talents and newly acquired skills to create
new options and opportunities for themselves. They however, have to deal
with oppressive traditions and practices and ineffective legal systems
and structures. Compounding these problems are the weakened social
structures and institutions causing erosion of social norms and value,
increased violence and abuse of human rights.

In order to understand and increase the participation of women in
reconciliation, peace building, post-conflict reconstruction as well as
social, economic and development in the New Sudan it is important to
understand the role, challenges as well as the opportunities women have.

3.3.0 Roles of women in Southern Sudanese societies

a\. Traditional roles of women in their households

In Sudanese societies, roles are allocated by gender, regardless of the
community's main source of livelihoods. In agricultural societies;
women's role in addition to child bearing, caring and teaching society
norms and values, include preparation of food into usable forms, cooking
meals, fetching water and firewood, fishing, collecting grass for
construction of houses, land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting
and storage of food. In addition, many women keep small livestock such
as chicken, ducks and occasionally goats, used as food, for earning
income or exchanged for farm labor. Women also engage in economic
activities such as sale of surplus farm produce in the local market,
production of cash crops, sale of crafts, firewood and assorted
services.

On the other hand, in cattle keeping communities lives and livelihoods
revolve around the cattle. Social institutions such as marriages and
divorce are highly influenced by the need to acquire and keep cattle. In
these communities it is the women's responsibility to care for children,
nurse the sick, fetch water and firewood, clear land, plant, weed,
harvest, thresh, cut grass and reeds for houses, collect wild foods, and
fish. In addition, women milk cows, process milk to sour milk, cream,
butter and cheese.

######## b. Traditional roles of women in their communities

Men and women also have very distinct roles in their communities. Men
are expected to participate in settling family disputes, marriages as
well as guarantee community security. On the other hand, women are
expected to provide services during ceremonies, offer their advice or
opinion quietly through male members of the household, and are entrusted
with maintenance of peace and harmony within and between households and
communities. In most southern Sudanese societies women play a very
important role in reconciliation, peace making and building processes.
Women have the unique social role and ability in most Sudanese societies
of being able to stop conflict or cause men to go to war, at family,
community and trans-ethnic levels. On the other hand they often are
permitted to move or trade across enemy territories, prepare ground for
peace negotiations, as well as marry across enemy lines to protect or
maintain peace agreements.

However, there has been significant change in roles during these 18
years of the civil war. Many women have been separated from their
husbands while others have been widowed, or married to men who spend
most of their time fighting on the war fronts. This has caused up to 50%
of the women in southern Sudan to assume the role of heads of households
and have become responsible for food, care as well as physical security.
Luka Biong in his study on the impact of conflict on asset management
reported that women in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, unlike their men walk
4-6 days to markets in government held territories to purchase grain,
soap and salt for their families. This has not only increased their
workload but exposure to danger and risk, a responsibility that used to
be undertaken by men. The war in the Southern Sudan therefore has both
negative and positive impact on women. On the one side women have
assumed more roles resulted in increased workloads and exposure to risk
women, while on the other, it has offered women opportunity to learn new
skills and to become more self-confident.

c\. Role of women in public domain

The SPLM pledged to liberate every individual and society from all forms
of political, economic, social and natural constraints to freedom,
development, pursuit of happiness and self fulfillment, social justice,
democracy, human rights and equity for all irrespective of ethnicity,
religion and gender. However, despite sentiments about the protection
and promotion of women's rights as expressed in the National Convention
in 1994, there is still a wide gap between the current status of women
and what is desired (Judiciary Committee report 2000). Very few women
work in key decision position in SPLM institutions including the
military. The various resolutions on policy and prescriptions including
affirmative action in favor of women, to ensure equity still have to
find their expression. For example, women have been guarantee 25%
representation at all decision making level in the SPLM. The challenge
has been how to get women to fill these positions, moreover those women
already in the liberation councils are complaining of being made to cook
during council meetings rather than attending meetings with their male
colleagues.

The opportunity for women to participate effectively has been limited
further by the lack of gender sensitive development policies, and
re-enforced by the absence of a law to enforce gender equity. Below is a
summary of concerns, which have their origin in negative traditional
practices, as well absence of Laws and policies to protect individual
and collective social, economic and civil rights:

1.  In most Sudanese societies, women spend most of their time and
    effort on food production and providing care to their households and
    communities. They also involve in economic activities such as cash
    or surplus food crop production and production of goods and services
    for the local markets. As a result women rarely find time from their
    already crowded schedule for leisure and attending to public issues.
    However, in practice very few agency programs target women---these
    include programs in areas considered traditionally women's domain
    such as agriculture production, processing, teaching and commerce.
    Nor has there been an attempt to address the factors causing their
    low participation, such as heavy workload, negative traditional
    practices and insensitive and ineffective statutory laws.

2.  The lack of recognition and appreciation for the material and
    monitory contribution of women to the household and community as
    these are considered mere domestic chores. This because women's
    contributions have been obscured and have the tendency of becoming
    invisible as all most all is converted to invaluable resource-the
    human capital as a basis for a nation's development.

3.  Women produce substantial amounts of goods and services for the
    domestic markets. However, in most cases the income realized is
    spent on household requirements such as food, soap, salt, clothing,
    payment of school fees and health services. Whatever is not spent on
    meeting household requirements is often managed and controlled by
    male members of the family, making it difficult for women to build
    assets, business capital or save for further investment and
    expansion of their businesses.

4.  Women's contribution to peace building, conflict resolution and
    reconciliation are more pronounced at household and community levels
    and this is recognized and appreciated by most south Sudanese
    societies. Recent examples of such contributions are the grassroots
    people to people peace initiatives and treaties at Wulnit and
    Lirlir, which hold to date. However, beyond their own communities
    for instance in IGAD, women have played very minimal role. This has
    been attributed to the attitude of the SPLM Leadership that regard
    women as incompetent or ineffective as peace builders and
    negotiators at international levels.

5.  The lack of adequate gender desegregated information and database
    and insufficient institutional support to women institutions and
    organizations suggest lack of interest, understanding and
    appreciation for women's social, economic and political development.

6.  The strong negative correlation between the level of women's
    participation and decision-making authorities and policy
    formulation, where the constitution of women approximately 60 % of
    the population in the New Sudan forms a challenge to those committed
    to equity and principles of human rights. In fact it deserves
    immediate attention and action.

7.  Finally, limited participation of women in socio-economic and
    political activities as well as in policy formulation and decision
    making does not only cause under-utilization of the human resources
    but imbalances in development. The worst fear is that when the guns
    finally stop and peace is negotiated there will be no women on the
    negotiating table, in the law and policy formulation, judiciary and
    planning of post-war reconstruction and development. *This will not
    only compromise the vision for the New Sudan, which promises all
    Sudanese individuals and society liberation from all forms of
    economic, political, social and natural constraints to freedom,
    self-fulfillment, equity, social justice, democracy and human rights
    for all, irrespective of ethnicity, religion and gender"; but will
    also violate many global policies on equality and rights of women.
    Such as, the universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
    international Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, the
    International Covenant on civil and political Rights, and especially
    the covenant on the elimination of all forms of discrimination
    against women*

##### 

##### 3.4.0 Factors contributing to low participation of women

## 

## 4.1 Breakdown of social support systems 

Families in the Sudanese societies depend very much on the social
support system for labor, physical and psychological well-being.
Peaceful environment where support from the extended African family
system could be accessed and utilized, has been torn apart by war and is
becoming scarce. Young children particularly in female-headed households
are often left alone unattended, as their mothers go to work on farms or
look for food, water, firewood or other household requirements. The
result is that children tend to eat less frequently causing malnutrition
and poor health. The concern here is that the number of female-headed
households in the nation increased from 32% in 1990 to over 50% by 1998
(UNICEF). This alarming situation has a serious bearing on women's
workload and effective participation in community and public affairs.
For instance, fetching water and fuel wood is time consuming and effort
required for their collection tend to increase with the distance a woman
has to walk to access them. Similarly, preparation of food including
processing of cereals and other crops into usable forms is tedious and
time consuming. There are cases of malnutrition among children in
Western Equatoria, which have been linked to maternal workload, as these
families seem to have sufficient food supply.

####### 4.2 Limited access to health services

Another very important contribution of women to the household and
community is the assurance of physical and mental health. ***Often women
are the first to recognize illnesses and make decisions on where to seek
treatment, modern healthcare facilities or traditional healers***. Where
the choice is to use traditional treatment women either go to
traditional healers, or collect roots, flowers, leaves, barks of various
trees and herbs from the woodlands and forests for treating various
ailments, including headaches, nutritional deficiencies and various
disorders (mental and psychological). On the other hand, if they choose
to go to a modern health care facility their knowledge of where to go
for what kind of illnesses could safe lives. ***Furthermore, women's
health both physical and psychological, as primary food producers and
caretakers is of great importance.***

It is important to note that the effect of many years of conflict has
caused severe weaknesses in social structures and the institutions of
governance. These have led to, lawlessness and erosion of social values,
increased violence and cases of human rights violation. For instance in
many conflict areas of the Sudan, women are exposed to violence as they
work in their fields, looking for indigenous wild foods, water or fuel,
when they get blown up by landmines or bombed. These have affected
women's mobility, an important component of their food production and
economic activities. In addition, women are increasingly exposed to
incidences of rape, which affect their health (STD and HIV/AIDS) or
self-esteem. Although no study has been done to determine the prevalence
of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the Sudan, the problems in the neighboring
countries of Uganda and Kenya, the porous borders and the high traffic
of aid workers causes real concern.

The psychological state of women is also affected when they are
subjected to injury, torture, imprisonment and sustained threat to
death; violent and humiliating death of loved ones, loss of homes,
property, livelihood and forced migration. Similarly, trauma could
result from increased economic and emotional pressures and reduced
family support. It is presumed that many people suffer from
posttraumatic experiences in the southern Sudan, given the effects of
the 18 years.

##### 

##### Limited access to production resources, financial assistance, business skills and information.

In addition to family food production, women engage in a range of
economic activities that include sale of farm produce, milk and milk
products, individually or assisting their husbands in cash crop
production, selling firewood and other forest products, handcrafts,
commerce and production of other services. Women require access to
resources such as fertile land, forests, woodlands, rivers and lakes.
From forests and woodlands, women get fuel wood, medicinal plants,
indigenous food plants and other forest products, such as honey,
mushrooms, etc. While rivers, swamps and lakes are a source of fish,
used as food and for earning incomes. In addition, women need to have
access to financial services for establishing or expanding their
businesses. Until recently, when a few NGOs started to offer financial
assistance to business groups, women depended on their friends, family
or traditional saving groups for credits or loans. Under the current
situation in south Sudan, women have difficulties financing their
businesses, while their access to credit is very limited..

Trade and commerce in the Sudan used to be dominated and controlled by
northern traders, who had the capital and support from the government.
The civil war has not only changed the direction of trade but the
players, commodities and markets as well as creating opportunities for
southern Sudanese to engage in business. An example is the local
grain-purchasing program supported by USAID through international
agencies operating in the food surplus areas of Western Equatoria. This
organization marketed over 6000 MT of locally produced cereals each
years to the relief market. Given that women produce over 50% of the
food grain, their contribution to the local grain purchasing though not
assessed is assumed to be substantial. Despite women's contribution in
agriculture production no efforts have been made to increase the
participation in marketing and transportation business.

Other economic activities supported by NGOs in the New Sudan for women
include local oil and soap production. Both businesses were very
profitable as nearly all soaps and cooking oil in the New Sudan are
imported or obtained from relief distribution. Yet due to lack of
sufficient financial and technological support local oil and soap
production industry remain undeveloped despite the availability of raw
materials and basic production skills locally. Absence of good
macroeconomic policy, limited availability of financial credit and other
inputs for their businesses prevented the women from developing the oil
and soap making industry.

4.4 **Literacy and professional skills**

The literacy level of Sudanese women is low and the same is true for
professional skills, making it difficult for women to get opportunities
for influential decision making and public positions. The same problems
have greatly affected the institutional capacities of women
organizations and agencies. Similarly, the absence of women in
agriculture extension, technology development, planning and policy
formulation, makes it very difficult to influence development policies
and strategies.

4.5 Ineffective Legal and Judicial systems

Customary Laws

Many Cultures and traditions in the New Sudan view and treat women as
properties and lacking capacities. It is therefore not surprising that
those resources that represent real wealth such as cows, goats and
assets such as houses are all in the hands of men. While, resources such
as farming and grazing land belong to the community and its use is
guaranteed to each family through male members. This tradition seriously
limits women's access, ownership and control to resources and
consequently violates their rights. The women who are victims to these
practices are those divorced, widowed, have no children or sons in their
marriage. By tradition these women cannot inherit nor participate in
decisions relating to these assets or properties. Control in such cases
are automatically transferred to community or self-appointed male
members of families who often tend to abuse or exploit these widows and
their children. Yet, some cultures and traditions allow women to use
assets but not its ownership. For instance, in cattle keeping
communities women are allowed to use and trade in all livestock products
such as milk, cream, butter and cheese but not ownership. A woman may
also be allowed to buy or obtain a loan buy a pair of bulls for
ox-plowing and increasing her production and consequently food security.
However, in the culture of cattle keeping communities these bulls belong
to her family and any male member of the family can pressurize her to
sell or use them for other purposes. Complaints from women in the areas
where ox plowing has been introduced has been documented.

Similarly, many southern Sudanese traditional practices, are hash to
children especially girls. For instance, among conservative communities
female children are regarded as source of family wealth, kept out of
school, to be married off at the earliest available opportunity when
they attain puberty (Judicial Committee report, 2000). Interviews in
rural southern Sudan indicate that many girls marry at age 15-16 years.
This has contributed to high number of child-mothers, high rate of
school dropout, as well as low literacy rate among southern Sudanese
women.

Unfortunately for women and girls many cases related to families are
handled by the traditional courts systems. Going through these courts is
not only too costly in terms of time but self-esteem to pursue. Many
women give up pursuing serious cases such as rape (which could lead to
sexually infected diseases including HIV/AIDS) and abusive husbands as
they expect no justice to be delivered to them.

SPLM/A Statutory Laws

The basis for the laws in the New Sudan is the resolutions of the 1994
Convention, which guarantees participation, equality, and justice for
all irrespective of ethnicity, religion or gender. However, despite this
sentiment, there are constraints that face the administration of justice
in the New Sudan. These constraints are quite considerable and they
originate from the prevailing environment of immense psychological
pressures, lawlessness, and high level of disrespect for life, private
or public property.

The above problems coupled with an ill defined basis for legal systems,
weak internal governance and limited investment in the wider civil
society has contributed to inefficiencies of the legal systems and
consequently the quality of legal services available to the people
especially women. For instance, according to the Judiciary Committee
report prepared in 2000, the *New Sudan Penal Code of 1994 Section 196
have provisions aimed at either protecting female victims of crime or
mitigated the conditions of women in conflict with the Law in penalty
terms. However, the same report admitted that there is a marked
difference in the treatment of women who have rubbed shoulders with the
Law*. In support of this there are reports that women who have received
jail sentence are kept in custody with their babies under very poor and
unsanitary conditions, while some have to sleep with their babies under
the verandah of prison buildings due to lack of space.

Furthermore, girls have been kept out of school or are being married
well before 18 years, the legal age for marriage, and without their
consent. There is also very high number of forced marriages, wife
inheritance and all forms of abuses including rape in many areas of the
New Sudan (1998 SPLM Women Conference report) which the legal and
judicial system have not been able to prevent or settle fairly. This is
despite *Section 207 and Section 202 of the Penal Code of 1994, which
are provisions against kidnapping and abduction of a woman with intent
to compel marriage against her will or to forceful seduction or illicit
sexual intercourse.* So far, no man forcefully married to a girl under
18 years of age has been convicted of rape, which by definition is an
offense.

Finally, the judges and lawyers who work in the courts and are involved
in drafting of the Laws and the legislation of the New Sudan are heavily
influenced by the values and norms of a male dominated society. This is
being re-enforced by the almost complete absence of women in the legal
profession, and the exclusion of the wider civil society from effective
participation in decisions related to legal systems.

4.6 Gender Insensitive Development Policies

The development policies in the Sudan have been based on the economic
theory that excludes domestic economy from the calculation of GDP. This
meant that the contribution of women to the social and economic welfare
of their household and communities are not recognized and consequently
excluded in the preparation of development policies, plans and budgets.
Thus, women's developmental needs such as inputs for food production;
extension services, improved labor saving and cost effective production
technology, credit and market support services receives little or no
attention. Other factors contributing to further negligence of women's
development needs include absence or low numbers of women in extension,
agriculture production technology development, environmental technology,
planning, and research, management and policy formulation. It is
therefore important to note that unless SPLM enacts a law or laws that
makes gender equality a legal base for development policies in the New
Sudan it may be difficult if not impossible to realize the vision and
objectives for the liberation struggle.

5.0 Recommendations for enhancing the participation of women

The fourth women world conference among other things requested
governments to recognize women's contribution as producers and
decision-makers to formulate policies that ensure that their needs and
social economic realities are taken into consideration. The conference
also considered the accountability of government for their policies and
program, including national budgets and for cooperate and agencies for
the social impacts of their operations, as very important. There was
also a concern that the conventional economic policy leave out much of
the work that women do especially the unpaid for care that women do for
their families and communities. In south Sudan these conditions are very
far from being addressed despite the political will and the signing of
the UN conventions for human rights through the Operation Lifeline Sudan
(OLS) ground rule. This is mainly due to the high cost of the liberation
struggle, which causes social, economic and political development to
take secondary place.

In general, to facilitate as well as prepare women for a more effective
participation in post-conflict reconstruction processes and development,
efforts must be made to understand the issues underlying the conflict
and what needs to be done to reverse or address these situations. This
should be done by undertaking a baseline study on the status of women in
the New Sudan.

Secondly, women should occupy a central place in planning to reflect the
role they play in southern Sudanese societies. For instance, women's
ability to survive and support other members of their family must be
seen holistically including elements of their personal physical and
psychological well being, protection of economic resources and
activities, community support, and national and international issues of
governance, representation and human rights. *In other words, women's
ability to provide economic security to their households does not depend
only on access to means of production, but to community in which their
needs can be addressed as equal and active community members.*

Furthermore, women's health issues are key to performing of their
duties, and therefore must be seen in a context of support systems that
can address the range and depth of problems women experience. These
include psychological and social adjustment, personal integrity, injury
and disability as well as physical and reproductive health. A careful
examination of the health policy and programs in the south Sudan will
demonstrate that not enough attention has been paid to develop health
care strategy that is sensitive to the situation of women and children.
Although New Sudan has developed a comprehensive health policy, which
includes cost sharing, it is not yet clear if this will not overburden
women particularly widows, and consequently reducing their access to
health services.

It is also very important to recognize the positive and negative aspects
of conflict. Difficult conflict situations have provided opportunities
for women to experience and demonstrate their ability to protect and
promote peace, food and economic security through their emerging
organizations and networks. Women in New Sudan have learnt many skills
including local oil and soap production, business, organizational and
grassroots peace negotiations such as at Wulnit and Liliir, and gained
tremendous self-confidence. Developing a strategy to build the
capacities of individuals and women organizations, agencies and the SPLM
institutions to incorporate gender in their policies and programs is key
to effective participation of women in issues affecting them and their
nation.

Table 1: Areas of concern for women in south Sudan and suggested
solutions

+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Areas of      | Specific problems        | Suggested Solutions      |
| concern       |                          |                          |
+===============+==========================+==========================+
| LAWS          | violates rights to       | Education of women and   |
| (believes)    |                          | members                  |
|               | Reproductive health      |                          |
| Customary:    |                          | of their communities     |
|               | Affects access, control  | about human              |
|               | and ownership of         |                          |
|               | resources                | rights and the rights of |
|               |                          | women.                   |
|               | violates right to when   |                          |
|               | and who                  | Campaigns for girls'     |
|               |                          | education                |
|               | to marry                 |                          |
|               |                          | Awareness campaigns      |
|               | violates right to        |                          |
|               | education                | about impact of some of  |
|               |                          | the                      |
|               | and personal freedoms    |                          |
|               |                          | oppressive culture and   |
|               |                          | traditions               |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | on communities and women |
|               |                          | in                       |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | particular.              |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Creating community       |
|               |                          | awareness about          |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Legal services           |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| LAWS          | violates rights to       | Education of women and   |
| (believes)    |                          | members                  |
|               | Reproductive health      |                          |
| Customary:    |                          | of their communities     |
|               | Affects access, control  | about human              |
|               | and ownership            |                          |
|               |                          | rights and the rights of |
|               | Of resources             | women.                   |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | violates right to when   | Campaigns for girls      |
|               | and who                  | education                |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | to marry                 | Awareness campaigns      |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | violates right to        | about impact of some of  |
|               | education                | the                      |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | and personal freedoms    | oppressive culture and   |
|               |                          | traditions               |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | on communities and women |
|               |                          | in                       |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | particular.              |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Creating community       |
|               |                          | awareness about          |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Legal services           |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| LAWS          | Does not offer women     | Campaign and lobby for   |
|               | adequate                 | drafting of              |
| Statutory:    |                          |                          |
|               | Protection against the   | the basic law; the       |
|               | violation of their       | constitution of NS       |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | human, civil and         | Review, redrafting,      |
|               | political rights         | enacting and             |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Dissemination of the law |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Improving internal       |
|               |                          | governance of the        |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Legal systems            |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Investing in the wider   |
|               |                          | civil society            |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Weak Law      | Legal system not         | Review of the judiciary  |
|               | accountable to the       | and the law              |
| Enforcement   |                          |                          |
| and           | People.                  | Enforcement structures   |
|               |                          |                          |
| Judiciary     | Lacks systems,           | Institutional building   |
| structures    | structure, procedures    | for the                  |
|               |                          |                          |
| And systems   | and guidelines.          | judiciary and law        |
|               |                          | enforcement agencies     |
|               | Inadequate police force  |                          |
|               | and prison personnel     | Training women lawyer,   |
|               |                          | para - legals and as law |
|               | Insufficient number of   | enforcement officers.    |
|               | qualified                |                          |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | Legal Personnel          |                          |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | Gender insensitivity and |                          |
|               | balance                  |                          |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Health        | Physical: e.g. threat of | Preventive and curative  |
|               | HIV/AIDS                 | health                   |
| Education:    |                          |                          |
| formal        | Mental: trauma           | Program that involves    |
|               |                          | women                    |
| Informal      | Low levels of literacy   |                          |
|               | and high rate            | at all levels            |
| Cultural      |                          |                          |
| development   | of girls school dropout  | Affirmative action       |
|               |                          |                          |
| Physical      | lack of training in      | Peace education          |
| i             | management,              |                          |
| nfrastructure |                          | Promotion of primary     |
|               | planning, research,      | education through        |
|               | policy formulation       |                          |
|               |                          | law and affirmative      |
|               | and work in public       | action                   |
|               | offices in general       |                          |
|               |                          | Specialized training in  |
|               | Vocational training      | administration,          |
|               |                          | management, technology   |
|               | Culture of silence,      | development,             |
|               | violence,                |                          |
|               |                          | research, policy         |
|               | gender insensitivity,    | formulation, politics,   |
|               | harmful practices        |                          |
|               |                          | conflict resolution and  |
|               | Poor physical            | prevention,              |
|               | infrastructure:          |                          |
|               |                          | information technology   |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Integration of norms and |
|               |                          | social                   |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Values and communal      |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | engagement across all    |
|               |                          | communities              |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Civic education          |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Roads, bridges and       |
|               |                          | waterways.               |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Transport systems and    |
|               |                          | services                 |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Improvement of roads     |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Financial     | Undeveloped Financial    | Establishment of         |
| institutions  |                          | microfinance and         |
|               | Institutions             |                          |
|               |                          | credit institutions      |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Micro enterprise         |
|               |                          | development              |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Development of goods and |
|               |                          | services                 |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Banks and currency       |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Technology    | Inefficient and time     | Cost effective, time and |
|               | consuming                | labor saving             |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | Technology development   | technology ,             |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | Unaffordable             | Environmentally friendly |
|               |                          | production and           |
|               |                          | processing technology,   |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Industrialization        |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Introduction and         |
|               |                          | development              |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | information and          |
|               |                          | communication systems    |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | and technology           |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+
| Political     | Lack of a common         | Political empowerment    |
| conciousness  | political                | through                  |
|               |                          |                          |
|               | agenda and advocacy      | civic and political      |
|               | capacity                 | education                |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Political mobilization   |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Peace and reconciliation |
|               |                          | processes                |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Developing women's       |
|               |                          | political agenda         |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | Protection of women's    |
|               |                          | human, civil             |
|               |                          |                          |
|               |                          | and political rights     |
+---------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+

Second Paper:

The Role of Women in Natural Resource Management and Utilization

by Birgitta Grosskinsky

Women in Africa are key actors in the utilization and management of
natural resources, which include land, crops, water, forests (timber and
non-timber items) and wildlife (Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations and Swedish International Development Authority
FAO/SIDA). They are the main producers and providers of food and doe
70-80% of subsistence farming in Africa (J. Green and L.A. Trupp). In
addition to food crop production women are increasingly involved in cash
crop, although very often their incomes is controlled by male members of
the family Table 2. Shows the general gender division of labor in Africa
and the average time spent by men and women performing different
household tasks..

Women not only have a rich knowledge of natural resource but spend a
great deal of their time and effort in collecting, processing and
storage of the edible fruits, oils leaves and nuts collected which form
10-50% of food consumed by household in certain time of the year,
regions and seasons in the New Sudan. Despite the fact that indigenous
wild foods are collected mainly by women, girls and sometimes boys, it
is eaten by all including men (see table 3a and 3b). In addition, they
also collect fiber, fuel wood construction materials, tans, gums,
medicinal herbs, forage.

Table 2. General gender division of labor in Africa: How the work is
divided (percentage of total labor in hours)

  ---------------------------------------------------- --------- --------
  Tasks                                                \% of     
                                                       total     
                                                       labor     

                                                       men       women

  Feeding family                                       6         94

  Hunting                                              90        10

  Domestic stock                                       50        50

  Fuel and water                                       10        90

  Marketing                                            40        60

  Processing                                           10        90

  Storing                                              20        80

  Transportation                                       20        80

  Harvesting                                           40        60

  Hoeing and weeding                                   30        70

  Planting                                             50        50

  Turning soil                                         70        30

  Clearing                                             90        10
  ---------------------------------------------------- --------- --------

Table 3a. Who collects which type of food during the year.

  -------------------- ----------- ---------- ---------- -------- ----------
                       Members of                                 
                       the                                        
                       household                                  

                       Women       Men        Girls      Boys     Total food

  Bor                  69.51       0.09       91.46      47.56    type

  Fruit/berry          22          0          46         38       50

  Grain                10          0          8          0        10

  Leaf/stem            40          0          40         6        44

  Seed/kernel          14          0                     14       10

  Tuber/root           26          0          40         24       44

                       114         0          150        78       164

                                                                  

  Yirol                85.83       4.00       89.604     54.404   

  Fruit/berry          33          1          42         35       43

  Grain                7           0          4          1        7

  Leaf/stem            34          1          35         6        35

  Seed/kernel          22          1          16         13       22

  Tuber/root           13          2          13         12       17

                       109         5          112        68       125
  -------------------- ----------- ---------- ---------- -------- ----------

Table 3b. Who is most likely to eat which food

+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
|                   | Members  |         |         |       |         |
|                   | of the   |         |         |       |         |
|                   | h        |         |         |       |         |
|                   | ousehold |         |         |       |         |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
|                   | women    | Men     | Girls   | Boys  | Total   |
|                   |          |         |         |       | food    |
|                   |          |         |         |       |         |
|                   |          |         |         |       | types   |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Bor               | 74.29    | 68.29   | 95.12   | 98.78 |         |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Fruit/berry       | 28       | 22      | 50      | 90    | 50      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Grain             | 10       | 10      | 10      | 10    | 10      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Leaf/stem         | 42       | 40      | 42      | 42    | 44      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Seed/kernel       | 14       | 12      | 14      | 14    | 14      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Tuber/root        | 26       | 26      | 38      | 44    | 44      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
|                   | 122      | 112     | 156     | 162   | 164     |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
|                   |          |         |         |       |         |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Yirol             | 87.20    | 76.80   | 97.60   | 99.20 |         |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Fruit/berry       | 33       | 21      | 43      | 43    | 43      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Grain             | 7        | 7       | 7       | 7     | 7       |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Leaf/stem         | 35       | 35      | 35      | 35    | 36      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Sedd/kernel       | 22       | 22      | 22      | 22    | 22      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
| Tuber/root        | 13       | 12      | 16      | 17    | 17      |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+
|                   | 109      | 96      | 122     | 124   | 125     |
+-------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------+---------+

Because of the different purposes, and uses of the common natural
resources within a community there are instances where the interest of
women and men conflict in the use and management of natural resources.
For example there are frequent disagreement between male and female
members of the community about when to burn the grass, where shea tree
grows. Shea tree is used by women to produce a very valuable oil used
for food, cosmetic and for earning income. Men normally like to burn
grass late in the dry season for hunting game, which unfortunately,
coincides with the flowering of the shea tree. On the other hand, women
prefer early burning of grass to avoid the same. But in these
communities women have very little say about forests, land and burning
of grass. So very often women can not prevent burning of grass, which
destroy their source of food, income and livelihoods. Yet, in other
places shea tree is cut and used for charcoal production. Without
legislation to protect this useful tree, women might loose an important
source of livelihood.

Women also collect, process, preserve and store food and other materials
from fruits, leaves, flowers and stems of tree, shrubs or vegetables,
planted or natural, or animals to meet household needs for food, shelter
and income. Improved technology for processing, preservation and storage
might increase production and consequently availability of food and
incomes for their households. As in the case of Shea tree there is
possibility for conflict of interest to develop between different users
including government, which often involves investment in modernization
and industrialization. For example, more likely governments will invest
in timber production and this could lead to degradation of natural and
plantation forests. This in turn reduce women's access to fuel wood,
construction materials, fibers and indigenous food plants.

Similarly, when governments invest in livestock production it often
involve large livestock and animal products such as skins and hides
processing and marketing. While in most Sudanese communities women deal
largely with small livestock and processing of milk in milk products. It
is therefore very important to understand and appreciate the different
ways in which men and women and other members of the community use
different types of natural resources, to ensure equity and preservation
of livelihoods.

Constraints for women in natural resources utilization and management

1.  Heavy workload

2.  Lack of institutional support:

> Education
>
> Agriculture Institutions

3.  Lack of awareness ( about such practices as water catchments
    systems, potentials of medicinal plants

4.  Lack of more efficient, time and effort conserving appropriate
    technologies (for production and processing such as oil processing,
    soap production, fruit and vegetable drying and preservation)

5.  Resource degradation (complaints about how hard it is to get fire
    wood, construction materials and fibers near settlements)

6.  Economic barriers (access to credit and loans, while most cash is
    controlled by men)

7.  Access, control and ownership to resources (property rights, and
    societies attitude towards women in general limit their business and
    investment options).

8.  Insufficient involvement of women in decision and policy-making

Recommendations

1.  Build and strengthen women's knowledge and skills on natural
    resource utilization potentials

2.  Ensure access to and control of natural resources

3.  Increase the development of and access to appropriate technology

4.  Increase opportunities for women involvement in social, economic and
    political decision making

5.  Strengthen the capacities of institutions to respond to women needs

Paper Three:

Women's view of humanitarian assistance to the New Sudan and how it has
met their needs and aspiration

By Lona Lowila

Lona started by listing the contribution of women to social and economic
well being at household and community levels, which included their role
as teachers and promoter or custodian of social values and norms. In
addition women are councilors, doctors, nurses, and chemists, making
them responsible for social, physical and psychological well being of
their households as well as communities. Women are also regarded symbols
of peace though often they can encourage or aggravate conflict
situations.

Women get involved in commerce and trade especially during the period of
conflict, as most traditions allow passage for women through enemy lines
for visits or trade. They earn substantial incomes to their households
although these are often spent on other household requirements or could
be controlled by male rather than being used for acquisition of assets
or investment into more profitable businesses.

In the early and recent Southern Sudanese history there were women who
commanded armies and queens who were heads of states. Until three years
ago there was a powerful female chief in Ibba in Western Equatoria This
should serve as examples of women's competence and acceptance as leaders
or top decision-makers among their societies. Yet in practice the SPLM
leadership seem to forget women's capabilities and reserve leadership
positions for men however incompetent.

She then summarized the type and nature of humanitarian assistance to
Sudan since the Operation Lifeline Sudan was launched in 1989. These
started as relief distribution of food and non-food items followed by
distribution of agriculture production inputs including extension
services to enable affected population to return to self-reliance in
food. The distribution of agriculture production inputs is often
referred to as food security. In the last few years many agencies have
expanded their programs to include skills training, education and
economic activities. Unfortunately 3 to 20 % of the program
beneficiaries are women despite the contribution women make to this
sectors, at households and community levels.

On the other hand, under income generation, tailoring, tea-making and
operation of restaurants were promoted for women. These businesses were
not only low-income earners but tend to keep women away from their
children. More profitable businesses like local oil and soap production
only added more work to women and were not develop beyond experimental
stage. Yet NGO continued to design and implement programs without
consideration for problems expressed by women which include; low levels
of education, their status under the customary and statutory low and
their significant absence in decision making positions in SPLM
institutions.

She then recommended that agencies should begin to engage women in
dialogue through their organizations and develop a strategy that will
ensure that women's development needs are addressed and met more
effectively.

Comments and Questions on background papers

Comments

-   The biggest failure of humanitarian assistance to Sudan is its
    refusal to invest into the Sudanese people and institutions. As a
    result most interventions are emergency oriented and civic education
    takes secondary importance. It is therefore important that south
    Sudanese begin feeling responsible for diagnosing and addressing
    their own needs for social, economic and political, rather than
    depending on NGOs.

-   Among other things socialization of girl child to feel inferior and
    be tolerant to abusive treatment as well as agencies consideration
    of knitting, tailoring and cooking as the most appropriate skills to
    be promoted for women instead of addressing the root causes of their
    marginalization have been detrimental. This has effectively diverted
    attention and funding for addressing important issues such as low
    levels of education, traditional practices and the ineffective laws,
    which have had serious effect on the level of women in
    socio-economic and political affairs of the New Sudan.

-   Women must prioritize issues affecting them and advocate with donors
    and agencies for their development needs, especially support to
    institutional development. This should be supported by more
    stakeholders workshops, guidelines for the design of gender
    sensitive interventions, impact assessment as well as creating
    awareness among women leaders, local authorities, decision makers
    and NGO staff. This will minimize the biases introduced into design
    of development programs as a resulting of most agency staff being
    male or lacking gender awareness.

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-   Women in the New Sudan are not organized, This makes it very
    difficult for them to advocate and lobby for their concerns and
    interest.

-   Sudanese women must determine their role in the social, economic and
    political development of the New Sudan now otherwise it will be very
    difficult for them to influence the process of liberation.

-   Men in the New Sudan are the main offenders or violators of women's
    right and it is therefore important that they are included in the
    general education of communities and institutions on the rights of
    women.

-   Women have interest to develop their capacities to enable them
    participate more effectively in social, economic and political
    decision-making. But this has always been an uphill battle
    characterized by lack of support from the SPLM political office.

-   SPLM is not serious about the advancement of women in social,
    economic and political affairs and this is reflected in the lack of
    programs to enable women take advantage of the 25% representation in
    all decisions-making levels of SPLM institutions.

-   While some women at the workshop blame women elite for neglecting or
    working against the broader social, economic and political needs of
    grassroots women for fear of competition, others accuse of promoting
    men's political agenda at the expense of women.

-   The absence of a gender sensitive policy and laws to enforce gender
    equity has contributed to both SPLM plans and humanitarian
    interventions not meeting the needs and aspirations of women.

-   The workshop unanimously agreed that the Sudanese culture and
    traditions as well as the general effects of war and conflict
    present a big challenge to the effective participation of women, as
    these affect their status, access, ownership and control of social,
    economic and political resources..

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-   Many participants also wondered whether the M.O.U. signed between
    the SRRA and humanitarian agencies was gender sensitive and how far
    SRRA has gone in effecting its implementation

Questions

-   What is the role of men in the liberation of women?

-   What is the role of women NGOs in the liberation of women?

-   When will men relinquish or share some of their powers to women?

Paper Four:

Civic Education and Political Participation of Women in the New Sudan

Adriaana Abuk for BYDA

BYDA's vision is to contribute to the process of realization of
peaceful, just and prosperous New Sudan that preserves the positive
traditional and new values; ensures harmony between the communities in a
cultural and social diversity; tolerance for different religious and
political beliefs. In a way BYDA considers itself an agent for this
civil and democratic changes through practical interventions at the
grassroots levels.

Conceptual Analysis for Transformation

Framework for reflection

Reduction in oppression and dependency; disunity and culture
impoverishment; breakdown in social, economic and political relations;
vulnerability and powerlessness of the people of the new Sudan.

Framework for action

To promote autonomy, justice, liberation, unity, revival of culture,
good governance and economic reliance in the New Sudan.

Definition of civic education

Civic education is education in self-governance; whereby citizens are
actively involved in their own governance, aimed at creating an informed
and responsible citizenry and aware of obligation and rights, capable of
self appraisal and sacrifices for general good and welfare, committed to
freedom of self and other social emancipation, respect for human rights
and civil liberties.

Targets for Civic Education

1.  To achieve change in programs or behavior in institutions and policy
    decision-makers at policy level.

2.  Empowering NGOs and grassroots groups so that they are capable of
    holding the liberation movement accountable and responsive to
    community needs.

3.  Expansion of democratic space in which NGOs and popular
    organizations function at Civil society level.

Civic education in the context of women political participation

BYDA believes that the ideals of democracy are truly realized when every
member of political community (the citizens) actively participates in
the process of decision-making. Citizen participation in matters that
affect their lives must be based on informed, critical reflection and on
the understanding and acceptance of the rights and responsibilities that
go with citizenship. This in the context of political participation of
women should necessarily focus on issues such as:-

1.  Cultural Revitalization: Promotion of positive cultural and
    traditional values and discarding cultural aspects that discriminate
    against women.

2.  Illiteracy as factor in women marginalization: The importance of
    education of girl-child; literacy and empowerment of women for
    political and social participation in society.

3.  The institution of marriage: And the need to struggle against
    backward traditions and customs; customary marriages; forced and
    pre-arranged marriages; divorce, wife inheritance (co-habitation);
    ghost husbands; etc. and all other custom that restrict the freedom
    of women.

4.  Women's Human rights: Women's rights are human rights and should be
    enshrined in basic laws of the New Sudan.

5.  Gender mainstreaming and development: Why is women participation in
    development and leadership generally low?

6.  Strategies for increasing equity: Why women access to social,
    economic and political resources is low?

Strategies for civic education in the New Sudan

1.  Linking peace, reconciliation and civic education for democratic
    change at the grassroots to the issues of food security, gender,
    restoration and promotion of possitive cultural and traditional
    values of people of south Sudan.

2.  To contagiously develop and implement a genuinely people led
    approach and practice in all its activities.

3.  Creation of awareness of the people to amicably solve their
    problems.

4.  Encourage dialogue and tolerance of other people's opinion.

5.  Share experiences, reflect and look deeper into the challenges
    facing families, communities, organizations and question the systems
    that they work in

6.  Organizational capacity building as a tool for promotion of civic
    education

Paper Five:

Rehabilitation of Judicial Structures and capacity building

By Paul Savage of Christian AID

Christian AID's legal and judiciary reform program falls under BASIS,
which stands for Building Accountable Societies in Sudan. The BASIS
program aims to contribute to the building of responsible civil
authorities, civil society and citizens so that together all the people
of the south Sudan can make a positive contribution to their own social,
economic and political rehabilitation and development.

This will be achieved through contribution to the building of just and
representative governance structures at the institutional,
organizational and communal levels, which respect and serve the people
of south Sudan and seek the opinions and active participation of the
people on whose behalf they govern.

Approach and practice

The BASIS Program has three main components. These are

1.  A legal component

2.  A civil Society strengthening and civic education component

3.  A capacity building Component.

The Legal Component

The aim of this component is to effect the rehabilitation of the legal
structures and systems in the south Sudan and especially in the SPLM
controlled areas in order to improve the administration and delivery of
justice to the people of south Sudan.

The past 12 years of international involvement in the Sudan has largely
been in the area of emergency relief with an emphasis on food delivery,
basic health services and other livelihood security interventions to
stave off famine or food insecurity. Increasingly seen as a limited
response to the real needs of the people there has been a call fo more
rehabilitative and developmental support for south
Sudan\-\--particularly to develop local capacity to manage their own
affairs. In response to this call, in the last few years there have been
attempts to develop effective civil authority structures and encourage
the establishment of indigenous civil society organizations. There have
also been efforts to rehabilitate the economy of the south Sudan in
certain places.

In doing this it has become clear that the legal framework and the good
administration of justice are key to the success of these other
activities. *It has become increasingly recognized that it is effective
rule of law that provides the protective environment for people to
undertake productive activities and contribute to their own livelihood
security and civil society as a whole*. The safety and security provided
by a functioning legal system, is the foundation on which society can
develop and operate. It defines and protects people's rights and
responsibilities and gives them recourses to justice should those rights
be infringed.

The BASIS program has undertaken the task of assisting local partners
towards the rehabilitation

of the legal systems in south Sudan. This is a new area of work for
Christian Aid and means

working with partners\-\--notably the SPLM's Secretariat of Legal
Affairs, the Office of the Chief

Justice and the Judiciary generally, as well as the South Sudan Law
Society. These partners

represent the institutional and organizational structures and need to be
linked to the communal

and societal norms and values so that their rehabilitation is
comprehensive and inclusive.

After a baseline assessment of the present legal context and through a
series of meetings and workshops the present reality has been analyzed
and the issues identified which impact on the Law and order environment
and the overall legal system. From this analysis and the stakeholders
discussions which followed the priority areas have been identified and
plans made to rehabilitate those areas.

The administration and rehabilitation of the judiciary and the court
system in SPLM areas\-\--through the development of management
structures and systems---such as proper producers and guidelines of
operation will be achieved through the provision of basic forms and
stationary and through the development of financial accountability for
resources.

-   The physical rehabilitation of courts and judicial
    offices---providing material inputs to enable decaying court
    structures to become fully functional once again.

-   The training of the judiciary in their legal duties.

-   The training of other essential court staff in their roles and
    responsibilities.

-   The provision of more transport and communication resources to
    improve oversight and monitoring of the justice system.

-   The development of a paralegal training program to enhance access to
    legal knowledge and advice in south Sudan for ordinary citizens
    including through legal aid as well as institutions themselves.

-   The review and redrafting of the laws (and supporting policies) of
    the New Sudan and the dissemination of those new laws within the
    legal system and to wider society. This will include discussions
    about the relationship between customary and statutory Law.

-   The education of the public in the new laws and their rights and
    responsibilities under the law and their relationship to the law and
    the legal structures

Key elements for capacity building

-   *The Judiciary management Committee:* Recently established and
    presently based in Rumbek, the JMC is a team of three mandated to
    oversee the rehabilitation and management of the judicial structures
    and systems in SPLM areas. Headed by a senior High Court Judge- and
    assisted by a finance Controller and administrator the team will be
    crucial for the development and implementation of good systems and
    practice. Their skills need development for the legal system.

-   *The Joint Oversight Committee:* is a key body established recently
    with the mandate to oversee the whole legal rehabilitation and give
    it direction and coherence. Formed from the heads of the 3 main
    legal partners- the Legal Secretariat, the Chief Justice and
    Chairperson of the Law Society and including a member of civil
    society and someone from DATT of the SPLM this committee may need
    support in order for it to oversee the plans made for the legal
    system.

-   *The Judiciary and court Officials:* There are only a few trained
    lawyers operating in the judiciary (about 16) and in the south Sudan
    generally (33) so there is a huge need for training. Refreshing
    these few lawyers and training the mainly non-lawyers working in the
    court systems on the law itself, on legal procedures and court
    systems is essential for the effective administration of justice.

-   *The Law review Committee:* mandated to redraft old and draft new
    laws. There is a limited drafting skills in the legal fraternity so
    developing drafting skills is an essential part of getting good laws
    written and passed.

-   *The south Sudan law Society:* with only 33 members the SSLS is a
    small organization representing all the lawyers in south Sudan. with
    a broad mandate to improve the delivery and administration of
    justice and monitor the human rights environment in south Sudan it
    faces many challenges and demands. The Executive council has 1
    members and need skills training across a range of areas to be able
    to deliver their high ideals providing legal aid, train para-legals
    and monitor human rights.

-   *Civil society:* needs training in legal literacy and human rights
    to advocate for better justice and good governance. The need to
    build skills in this area links to the civic education program as
    well as to capacity building within the legal partners and SINGO
    community.

Comments and questions

Comments

-   The statutory Laws of the New Sudan are gender insensitive and often
    not effectively enforced. Unless women are supported in the current
    Law review process, training them as lawyers and paralegal,
    increasing their knowledge of the laws of the New Sudan and their
    human rights, they will always be discriminated against.

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-   One participant cautioned the workshop about arriving at the
    conclusion that Sudanese culture is bad. He advised the New Sudanese
    against avoiding being sucked into the global cultural values at the
    expense of their won values and what they want to pursue.

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-   The recognition of customary law by the 1994 convention which
    somewhat denied women's right is a big dilemma. In the light of
    this, he advised women to identify specific areas of the customary
    and statutory laws that deserve attention and advocate for change
    rather than blaming culture.

-   The workshop acknowledged that most issues regarding law are
    important but intricate and recommended that the laws of the new
    Sudan be taught to administrators, local community leaders including
    women leaders to increase awareness about the laws of the New Sudan
    and human rights.

Questions

-   Does Christian Aid have any guidelines for assessing programs for
    gender sensitivity?

-   How will Sudanese women participate in the law review being
    organized by the Legal Affairs Secretariat about which women have
    not been consulted?

-   What is Christian Aid doing to resolve the fundamental problem
    resulting from very few south Sudanese women having legal
    background?

-   What are the criterion for appointing judges and magistrate?

-   When will laws allowing advocates and paralegal to practice be
    enacted?

Paper Six:

Adult and girl child education in the New Sudan

By hon. Kosti Manibe, SPLM Commissioner for Education

The Commissioner for education admitted that there was no adult literacy
education program in the New Sudan. Only very few agencies offer this in
very limited way. However if education and literacy level is to improve
in the New Sudan, adult literacy is key and must be taken seriously.

He sighted two important articles from the SPLM Education policy that is
particularly relevant to this workshop. These are;

1\. Article 1.1 "education shall be the right of every child regardless
of ethnic, cultural,

religious and socio-economic background." and

2.  Article 1.4 "Education shall contribute to create gender equity by
    encouraging schooling of female students and provision of female
    teachers.

Many workshops have emphasized the education of girl child, however the
statistics of school enrolment and dropout rate for girl child gives a
different picture. This is because the realities in the New Sudan do not
allow these ideals to be realized. As a result the enrolment and
retention of girls in schools remain far behind that of boys (see tables
below).

Table 4a. Primary Schools

+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| School information  | Upper     | Equatoria | Bahr el   | Total     |
|                     | Nile      |           |           |           |
|                     |           |           | Ghazal    |           |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Schools             | 261       | 361       | 396       | 1018      |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Pupils enrolled     | 51,755    | 75,894    | 86,834    | 214,483   |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Boys                | 37,999    | 48,075    | 73,241    | 159,315   |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Girls               | 13,756    | 27,819    | 13,593    | 55,168    |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| \% girls            | 27%       | 37%       | 16%       | 26%       |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

Table 4b. Teachers

+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| School information  | Upper     | Equatoria | Bahr el   | Total     |
|                     | Nile      |           |           |           |
|                     |           |           | Ghazal    |           |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|                     |           |           |           |           |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Total number of     | 1324      | 2810      | 2206      | 6340      |
| teachers            |           |           |           |           |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Male teachers       | 1283      | 198       | 125       | 364       |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| \% female teachers  | 3%        | 10%       | 6%        | 7%        |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Trained teachers    | 2%        | 7%        | 8%        | 7%        |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| In-service teachers | 51%       | 43%       | 36%       | 54%       |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Untrained teachers  | 47%       | 50%       | 58%       | 41%       |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

The secretariat of education recognized that the lack of special focus
on girls education in the policy document is a deficiency that needs to
be addressed. This is because girls continue to be grossly under
represented in schools and this tends to worsen as the academic levels
get higher.

Low girl child enrolment is attributed to many factors and this include;

1.  *Cultural attitudes*

2.  *Domestic chores*

3.  *Lack of awareness about the benefits of girls education*

4.  *Poverty*

5.  *Flowed past education policy*

6.  *Distance to school*

7.  *Absence of a girls school*

8.  *Scarcity of women role models*

9.  *Lack of clothing*

10. *Persistent famine*

11. *Effect of armed conflict*

The questions to ask about low girl enrolment are;

-   *What practical things can be done to overcome the hurdles already
    identified?*

-   *What concrete actions can we undertake within the next two to five
    years?*

-   *And what milestone can be put in place for measuring progress?*

Paper Seven:

The Enrolment of women and girls in vocational and skills training
programs in the New Sudan

By NPA staffs

-   NPA provides skills training in agriculture and health, and two
    vocational training schools, located in Equatoria and lakes.

-   In the agriculture sector NPA offer training to farmers and
    refreshment courses for NGO agriculture workers. The concern is
    while the number of female farmers attending farmers training is
    reasonably high their enrollment in the Agriculture Training Centers
    is very low. For example, out of a total 200 students trained at the
    Yei Agriculture Training Center, only 9 were women.

-   No figures have been provided for the number of women receiving
    training at the medical training for nurses but the situation is
    assumed to be the same as similar selection procedure is applied. An
    NPA medical staff explained that they try to reduce dropout rate for
    female enrolling for medical training, due to pregnancy and having
    young babies by providing full board for mother, baby and care taker
    at the school.

-   NPA has two vocational training centers, one in Yei and the other in
    Chukudum. The students at this training centers come from all the
    five regions of the new Sudan; Equatoria, Upper Nile, Bahr el
    Ghazal, Southern Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. These centers
    offer a number of theoretical and practical courses in carpentry,
    masonry and black smith. Although no figures have been given, far
    less women enroll for vocational training than in agriculture and
    health.

Comments and questions

-   Why aren't women benefiting from the scholarships for higher
    education being offered by friends (Eritrea and Ethiopia) to the
    SPLM?

-   What is the standard of the schools for which the Commissioner for
    Education gave statistics given the fact that most teachers are
    volunteers and have not received teachers training?

-   Most girls are unable to attend schools because of the heavy
    household chores, which she must share with her mother. What is the
    Secretariat for education to address this problem?

-   Many girls drop out of school after the first four years because
    they do not see employment and other benefits by remaining in
    school. What plans does the Secretariat for education have for
    dealing with this problem?

-   What is NPA doing to increase the number of women in their training
    programs?

-   There are no post secondary institution or scholarship for girls in
    the New Sudan. How can girls and women then achieve the level of
    education that is required for employment at higher decision making
    levels?

-   Many parents do not see the value of education for girls though some
    try to put their boys and girls in school especially when schools
    are close to home and fees are affordable.

The response of the Commissioner of Education to comments and questions

-   He admitted that the quality of education in the New Sudan is low
    and asked the participants to accept these facts and work from
    there.

-   Training of teachers does not solve all the problems related to
    quality of education as many teachers, after receiving teachers
    training education, leave teaching in schools for NGO jobs which pay
    better salaries.

-   Vocational training centers are very expensive to establish. It cost
    over US\$ 500,000 to establish a single one and it might take a
    while before sufficient numbers could be established in the New
    Sudan

-   The secretariat of education has plans to open primary schools,
    which offer life skills and vocational training so that when kids
    leave schools they can be self-sufficient.

-   Dropout rate of girls could only be dealt with through a
    comprehensive approach. In this regard non-formal and adult literacy
    education for parents to help then appreciate education is very
    important.

-   The Secretariat of women and child welfare must actively seek
    information on opportunities for education to ensure that women and
    girls also benefit from scholarships.

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-   The scholarship offered by Ethiopia and Eritrea governments only
    cover tuition so individual students have to raise US\$ 1200 per
    year for their maintenance. If women can raise this money there is
    no reason why they could not apply and begin to participate in the
    scholarship program.

DAY TWO (30^th^ November 2001)

4.0 DISCUSSIONS OF WOPRKSHOP PRESENTATION

4.1 Key issues, problems and opportunities

The main concerns and issues raised on day one were summarized and
presented to workshop participants for further discussion. It was clear
that many factors are responsible for the current situation of women and
many have their origin in the traditions and culture of the Sudanese
societies as well as Laws and Policies. The main issues identified were
grouped on the basis of the actor/stakeholder most suitable to deal with
the issue and these were donors, international NGOs, Indigenous NGOs,
SPLM authorities (Secretariat for Education, Women and Child Welfare and
Health, Administration and Legal Affairs), civil Society institutions
and community elders.

1.  Donor and International NGOs

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1.  Most humanitarian assistance to the Sudan are emergency oriented as
    a result it focuses on life saving rather than building the
    capacities of the affected communities.

2.  Most interventions are externally driven and may not be representing
    the local need.

3.  Most NGOs do not place women's development needs central to their
    rehabilitation and development programs.

4.  Most donor and NGOs address gender issues as projects rather than
    strategically.

5.  Most humanitarian agencies avoid working with local authorities and
    SPLM institutions directly.

6.  Focusing on addressing symptoms and effects rather than root causes
    of problems eg oppressive traditional practices, access, ownership
    and control of resources etc.

7.  Non adherence to global policies on equity and non-discrimination
    and rights of women.

8.  Minimal involvement of communities especially women in the
    identification, planning and implementation of community based
    programs

9.  Competition between NGOs resulting in limited coordination of
    programs and consequently overlaps and gaps.

10. Most NGOs lack institutional competence, personnel number and
    committed to gender equality as well as willingness to assign funds
    for gender related programs.

Problem

Interventions not effectively meeting all the development needs of
women.

Indigenous NGOs

1.  Many indigenous agencies are new and suffer severely from weak
    institutional and organizational capacity as well as limited
    resources and funding

2.  Because indigenous NGOs depend very heavily on external support it
    is very susceptible to manipulation of donors. Very often they are
    forced to implement programs which may not be a priority need for
    the local communities.

3.  Many donor do not trust indigenous NGOs to manage large funds and
    often they are forced to work under International NGOs who may not
    have the capacity and competence to provide guidance.

4.  Many indigenous NGOs lack legitimacy and are not accountable to the
    local communities they serve; and finally

5.  Most indigenous NGOs are not committed to gender equality and may
    lack the competence to design gender sensitive programs.

Problems

-   Limited contribution towards meeting local demands for humanitarian
    assistance

-   Women not central objectives for interventions

SPLM/A institutions

Issues

1.  Absence of policy framework for mainstreaming gender issues

2.  Lack of political commitment to address the root causes of gender
    inequality

3.  Lack of commitment to devolve power and authority to institutions
    responsible for organization and social, economic and political
    empowerment of women.

4.  Preoccupation of the SPLM Leadership with other issues

5.  Lack of capacities of the SPLM institutions to plan and effect
    gender sensitive policies

6.  Lack of financial capacity of the SPLM institutions to implement
    their own development plans.

Problem

Tokenism rather than real commitment to the liberation of women as equal
citizens of the New Sudan

Women Institutions

Issues

1.  Unclearly defined roles, responsibilities, lines of authority and
    often their activities are influenced or interfered with by the SPLM
    authorities

2.  Many women institutions and groups lack organizational and
    institutional capacity to articulate and pursue their own social,
    economic and political agenda.

3.  Due to lack of a common political agenda, most women in
    decision-making positions promote SPLM/men's political agenda rather
    than their own

4.  Most women institutions are not aware of the politics of
    humanitarian assistance and often are unable to present and pursue
    their interest with agencies.

5.  Oppressive traditional practices influence the attitude and behavior
    of individuals in decision making positions towards women. These
    often affect their status and access to many resources.

6.  Ineffective statutory laws allow agencies, institutions and
    individuals to get away with violations of women's rights and many
    social, economic and political injustices.

Problems

-   Significant absence of women in decision-making positions in the
    SPLM

-   Low levels of education, school enrolment and retention

-   Inefficient production, processing and marketing technology

-   Lack of access to production resources including technology and
    credit

-   Weak institutional capacity

-   Forced and early marriages

-   Heavy workload

-   High percentage of women headed house holds

-   Lack of access to social and especially legal services

-   General effects of the 18 year war i.e. lack of respect for human
    rights especially violence towards women)

Communities/societies in the New Sudan

1.  Break down of social structures and systems due to displacement and
    other war effects

2.  Cultures and traditions that treat women as properties

3.  Inability to understand the politics of humanitarian assistance and
    how to influence it

4.  Lack of understanding and awareness of the universal human rights
    and the rights of women.

5.  Moral decay

6.  Lack of awareness about the New Sudan Laws

Problems

Appreciation and protection of women's rights

Household level

1.  Changing roles due to demographic differences resulting from effects
    of the civil war and ethnic conflict.

2.  Limited access, ownership and control of resources

3.  Lack of awareness about women's human rights.

Problems

-   Food, social, economic, psychological and physical security

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-   Heavy workload

-   Hunger, malnutrition and diseases

-   Domestic violence and other conflict related violence

4.2 Opportunities

The workshop also recognized that despite the myriad of factors
contributing to the discrimination of women, many opportunities exist
for addressing some of the structural and practical issues raised during
the workshop. These include the following;

1.  Structures of governance established and to some extent functional
    in SPLM administered areas

2.  The SPLM vision for development is based on five key elements; the
    last three include empowerment of the civil society, developing the
    economy and provision of services. Women constitute 60% of the
    population of the New Sudan and certainly any thing to do with civil
    society empowerment must take their interest in consideration.

3.  SPLM has created a political space for women even though nothing
    much has been done to promote the effective participation of women.

4.  SPLM's liberation objectives focuses on equity, justice and
    prosperity for all citizens

5.  Some donors have shown interest to move from emergency to
    development in the more stable areas of the south Sudan.

6.  The SPLM Leadership is committed and ready to create the social,
    economic and political environment that will promote good governance
    and sustain peace. Such is demonstrated by the SPLM's willingness to
    begin work on the rehabilitation of the Legal and Judiciary systems
    and a Law review process.

7.  Many professional groups, including NGOs are willing to participate
    in rehabilitation and development of the New Sudan.

8.  Many areas under the administration of SPLM is experiencing relative
    peace and have access to regional and international trader through
    east Africa.

9.  There has been some positive effects of the war, especially those
    that helped to strengthen women organizations and build their self
    confidence

4.3 Responses of the participants to the issues and problems raised

After presenting the main issues and problems contributing to the
marginalization of women the workshop participants were invited to
respond in the form of comments, questions and any kind of suggestions
that will contribute to both short and long term solutions. Below are
suggestions proposed to the main actors;

Donors and Agencies

-   Donors and humanitarian agencies must deal directly with SPLM
    institutions and authority as in the long run it will be the
    responsibility of the Sudanese to deal with the problems of
    discrimination of women as most are structural and will require a
    long time to change behavior and attitudes.

-   Women must be central to any rehabilitation and development
    interventions rather than having to accommodate them in development
    programs.

-   The Women and Child Welfare Secretariat must be recognized and
    funded to enable then take more responsibilities of the changes they
    desire.

-   A technical body of women should be formed and supported to provide
    technical advice to NGOs, DATT and the Secretariat for Women and
    Child Welfare on the development needs of women and ensure gender
    equity.

-   NGOs must be requested to highlight the gender elements of their
    programs and accept gender impact assessment of their programs
    before implementation.

-   Donors and NGOs should provide technical and financial support to
    the Women and Child Welfare Secretariat to enhance its capacity to
    coordinate, advocate and lobby for issues of concerns to women.

-   Donors and NGOs should improve its coordination and networking on
    gender concerns and mainstreaming.

SPLM institutions

-   The relevant SPLM institutions have been too weak to follow up on
    the implementation of MOU particularly the elements of this
    agreements referring to program quality

-   SPLM must make efforts to develop a policy to address gender parity.

-   SPLM must identify a different mechanism for ensuring more effective
    gender sensitivity as SRRA has not been effective in presenting
    women's priority to NGOs.

Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare

-   The Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare should officially
    request SRRA to transfer the duties of the family affairs desk to
    the secretariat.

-   The Secretariat for Women and Child welfare should work closely with
    indigenous agencies (FOSCO and NESI) to identify needs, areas of
    cooperation and collaboration, how to address women's concerns and
    systematic discrimination.

-   The Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare should come up with a
    strategy and plan to increase the participation of women in social,
    economic and political decision making.

-   The Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare should develop a policy
    guidance for mainstreaming gender in all programs implemented in New
    Sudan

Women civil society groups and institutions

-   Women should develop a network and forum for sharing their concerns,
    experiences and advocate with agencies and SPLM institutions.

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-   Some of the oppressive and harmful traditional practices must be
    identified and addressed

-   Women should develop a strategy for making the customary and
    statutory laws of the New Sudan become women friendly

-   Women should campaign to create awareness among Sudanese community
    about the international human rights standards

Sudanese Communities

-   Sudanese communities must make the distinction between bad and good
    practices so that they know what values to promote and eliminate.

-   In the New Sudan culture and traditions controls every one including
    men and women. This is as a result of fear of rebuke and
    annihilation. Any changes involving change of attitude or behavior
    must involve men and women in their communities for it to succeed.

-   In the New Sudan Culture and traditions touches many things;
    education, human rights, etc. There is need for a support mechanism
    to help women and their communities cope with the social and legal
    changes that will create a situation favoring the participation of
    women in social, economic and political decisions.

Group discussion and recommendations

After an hour of open flour discussion, participants broke up into
groups. Each group was given an assignment to continue discussion on a
specific set of issues and make recommendations. These recommendations
were directed to Sudanese communities at large, the Secretariat for
Women and Child Welfare, Women organizations, Indigenous NGOs,
International NGOs and Donors.

Sudanese Communities

1.  Introduction of Civic Education for civil authorities, communities
    elders and women leaders

2.  Education of communities about negative traditional practices e.g
    early marriages, wife inheritance and heavy workload on women and
    girls.

3.  Sensitization of women and men about workload of women and girls and
    promote equal assignment of duties for girls and boys.

4.  Women leaders to begin taking legal action against negative
    traditional practices on women and demand for appropriate punishment
    whenever necessary.

5.  Campaign and demonstration of the importance of effective
    participation of men and women in socio-economic and political
    decisions through drama, workshops and dialogue.

Women (organizations/Secretariat)

1.  Women must complete the establishment of the structure of the
    Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare, develop Policies and
    guidelines, staff it and develop functional linkages with agencies
    and relevant SPLM institution.

2.  The Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare in collaboration with
    women organizations and indigenous NGOs should establish a network
    and Coordination mechanism to promote, lobby and advocate for
    women's concerns and development needs and ensure that they are
    understood and considered at all levels of planning and policy
    formulation and decision making.

3.  Women should be taught about civic education and made aware about
    the human rights and how to pursue their interest with NGOs and SPLM
    authorities.

4.  The Secretariat for Women and Child Welfare should establish its
    head office in the New Sudan and have personnel representing the
    Secretariat at all levels.

SPLM Authority

4.  Education should be made compulsory for girls and boys in the New
    Sudan as a matter of policy.

5.  Girl child education must be promoted by addressing community and
    household level problems contributing to low enrolment and
    retention.

6.  Develop policy and legal framework for ensuring gender equity in
    development interventions.

SINGO

4.  SINGOs should take the campaign against negative traditional
    practices, act as role models e.g. they should in-cooperate and
    influence gender issues and provide guidelines for activities being
    carried out within the SINGOs to avoid confrontations within the
    households/communities and ensure gender equity.

5.  SINGOs should also influence CANS to accept women participation in
    public affairs, assist in the development of institutional
    capacities of women organizations including the Secretariat for
    Women.

6.  Finally, SINGOs should explain to communities the roles of
    communities and that of humanitarian agencies in development.

Donors and International Agencies

1.  Agencies should begin serious development activities if the
    situation of women is to improve

2.  Donors and agencies should consider funding institutional capacity
    building processes for women institutions and organizations and
    offer scholarships for women in primary, secondary, post secondary
    institutions, especially in the areas of health, management and Law.

3.  Donors and International NGOs must be held accountable for
    non-compliance with the international standard on gender, equity and
    human rights.

5.0 DISCUSSION OF THE WORKSHOP RESULT

5.1 To what extent has the workshop objectives been met?

The first two objectives of the workshop were a) sharing experiences and
b) identification of factors that contributes to the current status of
women. These have been adequately achieved. On the other hand the third
objective involving the development of a shared stakeholders strategy
and action plan for improving the status of women was not completed due
to time factor. There was however proposals to the different
stakeholders and actors, which include establishing a network for
sharing gender concerns and lessons learnt, developing a gender impact
assessment matrix, developing a policy framework and guideline to ensure
gender sensitivity in all programs implemented in the New Sudan and
proving support for establishing a forum for advocacy and lobbying for
the social, economic, legal and political issues affecting women.

Another major concern was that many of the big UN and international
agencies such as UNICEF, WHO, WFP, CRS and others and a couple of key
indigenous agencies like MRDA, NSWF and SUPRAID did not attend the
workshop. This created a big gap in the discussion of experience as
together they implement large relief and rehabilitation operations in
many areas of the New Sudan. However, most of the issues raised are
crosscutting as they originate from the local traditional, social,
economic and political power structures and relations, as well as
policies of humanitarian interventions in the Sudan. The key issues
identified during the workshop and which have been recommended for
action, are summarized below;

5.2 Summary of key issues

1.  Non-adherence of donors and NGOs to the global policies on equity
    and non-discrimination and rights of women.

2.  Differences in the way different actors perceive gender and
    empowerment of women.

3.  Lack of accountability of the authorities and agencies to the local
    people.

4.  Absence of a policy framework and guidelines for humanitarian
    interventions as well as for ensuring gender equity

5.  Absence of gender impact assessment tools to ensure that any
    intervention undertaken in the New Sudan remains gender sensitive.

6.  NGO operating in emergency mode, which focuses on saving lives
    rather than impact and community participation.

7.  Absence of a network and forum for sharing, discussing and
    advocating for gender issues.

8.  Limited participation of local authority, communities, and
    especially women in the identification, prioritization, design and
    implementation of humanitarian interventions

9.  Weak institutional capacity of SPLM institutions, Civil society
    organizations including organization and groups.

10. Ineffective Legal and Judiciary systems of the New Sudan

11. Preoccupation of the SPLM authorities with other issues

12. Traditional beliefs and practices of many societies in the New Sudan
    limit the participation of women in the public domain as well as
    their access to, ownership and control of social, economic and
    political resources.

13. The low social, economic and legal status of women under the
    customary and statutory laws of the New Sudan of women in the New
    Sudan.

14. Low levels of Education in the New Sudan, particularly women.

15. General effects of the eighteen years of civil war which has caused
    cultural and moral decay, demographic changes resulting role changes
    and increase in women's workload

5.3 Actors and stakeholders key in addressing issues raised during the
workshop

Despite the fact that most interventions in the New Sudan are emergency
in nature and as such do not focus on impact and local capacities; there
are a few indigenous and international NGOs, donors, as well as churches
who have started to ask questions especially on equity and local
capacities. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) for example has developed a
gender impact assessment matrix, which it is attempting to promote to
its partners and other agencies. Some international and indigenous
agencies are supporting institutional building and civic education.
While, Christian Aid has gone a step further to support the
rehabilitation of legal and judiciary structures and systems through
partnership with local organization and institutions. On the basis of
the nature of interventions, expertise and programs, NGOs were
categorized and these categories of NGOs could develop specialized units
capable of pooling their resources, expertise and creating fora for
addressing specific issues such as civic education, campaign and
promotion of girl child education, addressing issues related with the
economic and legal status of women in general. Below is a list of
agencies and SPLM institutions grouped on the basis of their program
focus/expertise;

Table 5. STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR AREAS OF ACTIVITIES

+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| N | Program area              | Group of agencies/ institutions     |
| o |                           |                                     |
| . |                           |                                     |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 1 | Agencies involved in      | Christian AID\*\*, SSLS, NSWF,      |
|   | Legal and                 |                                     |
|   |                           | SPLM Secretariat for Legal affairs  |
|   | judiciary issues          | and Judiciary\*\*                   |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 2 | NGOs having program to    | NCA\*\*, NSWF, OXFAM-UK\*\*, NSCC,  |
|   | address                   |                                     |
|   |                           | SPLM Secretariat for Women and      |
|   | gender related issue      | Child Welfare\*\*                   |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 3 | NGOs and institutions     | ADDRA, UNICEF, MRDA, CRS, NCA,      |
|   | involved                  | World Relief                        |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | in Education              | Radda Banner, DOT, WODRAN           |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | SPLM Secretariat for education      |
|   |                           | \*\*\*\*                            |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 3 | NGOs and institutions     | NPA(health, Agriculture and         |
|   | supporting                | vocational training)                |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | Skills and vocational     | VSF- (vet), IRC (health), IPCS      |
|   | training                  | (Boma councilors)                   |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | SRRA/AMREF (health), ADDRA          |
|   |                           | (education,                         |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | Agriculture), MRDA (education)      |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | IDEAS (distance learning)           |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 4 | Agencies implementing     | NSCC\*\*, IRC \*\*, AAH, ZOA, SUHA, |
|   | health                    | MRDA, ARC                           |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | programs                  | MSF-Belgium, MSF-France, MS-SWISS,  |
|   |                           | Health-NET                          |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | WV, CRS, ADRA, NPA, SMC, MALTEZER,  |
|   |                           | DIAKONE                             |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | CEAS, GOAL, SCF-UK, SCF-US, DOT     |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | SPLM Secretariat for Health\*\*     |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 5 | NGOs involved in          | CRS, WV, AAH, OXFAM-UK, SCF, ADRA,  |
|   | livelihood                | ARC, NPA                            |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | rehabilitation and        | NCA, MRDA, SUPRAID, BYDA, WODRAN    |
|   | development               |                                     |
|   |                           | SPLM Commission for Economy and     |
|   |                           | Production \*\*                     |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 6 | UN agencies who are       | UNICEF, WHO, FAO, WFP               |
|   | expected to               |                                     |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | lead in ensuring          |                                     |
|   | international             |                                     |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | standard on gender        |                                     |
|   | equity,                   |                                     |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   | working in the Sudan      |                                     |
|   | include                   |                                     |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 7 | Involved in economic      | CRS, WV, AAH, OXFAM-UK,             |
|   |                           | OXFAM-QUEBEC,                       |
|   | rehabilitation activities |                                     |
|   |                           | ACCORD, NPA, NCA, MRDA, SUPRAID,    |
|   |                           | BYDA,                               |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | WODRAN                              |
|   |                           |                                     |
|   |                           | DATT\*\*                            |
+---+---------------------------+-------------------------------------+

5.5 Proposed action plan

The expected results of this workshop are a) a good understanding of
factors affecting the participation of women in social, economic and
political development and b) a mechanism and a legal and policy
framework for institutionalizing gender concerns. Certainly all these
could not be achieved in a two days workshop. What is important is that
the workshop participants unanimously agreed to continue work and below
are the four important action points.

1.  Disseminate the workshop report to all stakeholders to get their
    response, ideas and suggestions.

2.  Develop legal and policy framework for institutionalizing gender as
    well as tools for assessing gender impact of programs on communities

3.  Conduct a baseline study on the status of women in the New Sudan

4.  Organize technical working group comprising of gender experts, women
    organization. SPLM institutions and NGOs that will work out gender
    training for agencies, organizations and assist in gender policy
    formulation and monitoring its implementation.

5.  Organize workshops for stakeholders on the basis of the issues
    raised to develop a strategy for working out long-term solutions for
    the problems identified. Consideration should be given to work
    already done by agencies and SPLM institutions. For example, the
    Secretariats for Education and health have already developed
    policies and policy implementation guidelines. The Secretariat of
    Education has already conducted a workshop on Girl 's Education and
    has statistics on enrolment and retention.

> BYDA and Christian AID are addressing issues of civic education at
> grassroots levels, which is beginning to have some results. On the
> other hand, Christian Aid, SSLS and the Commission for Administration,
> Legal Affairs and Judiciary are involved in the rehabilitation of
> legal and judiciary structures and education to increase peoples
> awareness and access to legal services. While OXFAM, NCA and a few
> agencies have been making attempts to address gender issues and
> increase the participation of women in development activities. Yet
> traditional NGOs like CRS and many others which deal mainly with
> emergencies have started to move to development where the focus is on
> impact. Detailed work on agency activities can be found in
> organizational repots.
>
> The Matrix below is an attempt to link problems and proposed
> interventions to major players and stakeholders to enable sufficient
> examination of the issues raised, and pool together experience and
> resources, and propose a strategy for long-term solutions.. On the
> other hand DATT, SRRA and the Women and Natural Resource Working Group
> will continue to advocate the importance of women's participation in
> development activities and work towards influencing behavioral,
> attitude and policy changes. DATT will also try to secure funds for
> implanting the proposed interventions

A problem, solutions and stakeholders' matrix

+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| ISSUES         | PROPOSED                | WHO         | WHEN        |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | INTERVENTIONS           | RESPONSIBLE | 2002        |
+================+=========================+=============+=============+
| Humanitarian   | Develop gender          | SRRA, DATT, | JAN-APRIL   |
| agencies not   | assessment              | NGO         |             |
|                |                         |             | JAN-JULY    |
| Meeting all    | Matrix                  | DATT,SRRA,  |             |
| the            |                         |             | FROM JAN.   |
| development    | Define policy framework | SECRETARIAT | 2001        |
|                | for regulating NGO      | FOR WOMEN   |             |
| Needs and      |                         | AND CHILD   | FROM MARCH  |
| aspiration     | Programs and ensuring   | WELFARE     |             |
| women in       | gender equity           |             | FROM        |
|                |                         | DATT,SRRA,  | FEBRUARY    |
| the New Sudan  | Networking and          | NGOS        |             |
|                | coordination to         |             |             |
|                | standardize             | SECRETARIAT |             |
|                |                         | FOR WOMEN   |             |
|                | Approach and practices  |             |             |
|                | for ensuring gender     | DATT, SRRA, |             |
|                |                         | SECRETARIAT |             |
|                | Sensitivity in program  | FOR WOMEN   |             |
|                | design, planning and    | LOCAL       |             |
|                | implementation          | AUTHORITIES |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Hold donor and agencies | CBOs        |             |
|                | responsible or          |             |             |
|                |                         | DONORS,     |             |
|                | Accountable for         | NGOs        |             |
|                | non-compliance to       |             |             |
|                | international standards | SPLM        |             |
|                | for gender equity       |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Funding for the process |             |             |
|                | of developing           |             |             |
|                | guidelines and          |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Tools for impact        |             |             |
|                | measuring               |             |             |
+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Low            | Conduct a baseline      | DATT, NRTC  | AS SOON AS  |
| participation  | study on the current    |             |             |
| of women       | status of women and     | DATT, NSWF, | WORKSHOP    |
|                | determine factors       | FOSCO,      | REPORT      |
| in social,     | contributing to         |             |             |
| economic and   |                         | NESI, BYDA, | HAS BEEN    |
|                | The low participation   | MRDA        |             |
| political      |                         |             | CIRCULATED  |
| development    | Develop and advocate    | WOMEN AND   |             |
|                | for a women development | C           |             |
| activities     | agenda with donors,     | HILDWELFARE |             |
|                | agencies and SPLM       |             |             |
|                | policy decision-makers. | SECRETARIAT |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Support institutional   | DATT, NSWF, |             |
|                | development for women   | BYDA        |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Groups organizations.   | CHRISTIAN   |             |
|                |                         | AID         |             |
|                | Establish a forum for   |             |             |
|                | women to discuss their  | DATT, NSWF, |             |
|                |                         | SWVP,       |             |
|                | Problems, from          |             |             |
|                | grassroots to policy    | BYDA,       |             |
|                | formulation             | CHRISTIAN   |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | and decision making     | AID, Sec.   |             |
|                | levels                  | WOMEN       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Support campaign for    | NSWF, BYDA, |             |
|                | adult literacy, girl    | NESI,       |             |
|                | child education and     |             |             |
|                | skills training for     | FOSCO       |             |
|                | women                   |             |             |
|                |                         | SEC. WOMEN  |             |
|                | and girls               |             |             |
|                |                         | SEC.        |             |
|                | A Campaign to increase  | EDUCATION   |             |
|                | the number of women     |             |             |
|                |                         | DATT, BYDA, |             |
|                | in technical and policy | NSWF,       |             |
|                | decision making         |             |             |
|                | positions.              | XAID        |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Civic education         | BYDA, NSWF, |             |
|                | (general)               | NESI,       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                |                         | FOSCO       |             |
+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Low level of   | Promote the enrolment   | SEC. WOMEN  | AS SOON AS  |
| education      | and retention of girl   |             |             |
|                |                         | SEC.        | WORKSHOP    |
|                | Child.                  | EDUCATION   | REPORT      |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Encourage communities   | SPLM        | HAS BEEN    |
|                | to take responsibility  | AUTHORITIES |             |
|                |                         |             | CIRCULATED  |
|                | Of the education of     | COMMUNITIES |             |
|                | their children          |             |             |
|                |                         | NSWF, BYDA, |             |
|                | A campaign to ensure    | NESI,       |             |
|                | that SPLM Education     |             |             |
|                |                         | FOSCO       |             |
|                | Policy guarantees the   |             |             |
|                | right to education for  | DATT, NESI, |             |
|                | both                    | FOSCO       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | girls and boys and it   | WOMEN CBO   |             |
|                | is supported by an      |             |             |
|                |                         | NESI,       |             |
|                | effective affirmative   | FOSCO,      |             |
|                | action                  |             |             |
|                |                         | WOMEN CBOs  |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                |                         | SEC. WOMEN  |             |
+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Some           | Create community        | DATT, NSWF, | AS SOON AS  |
| oppressive     | awareness about the     | BYDA, MRDA, |             |
| traditional    |                         | HACDAD      | WORKSHOP    |
|                | Importance of education |             | REPORT      |
| Practices e.g. | especially for the girl | SEC. For    |             |
|                |                         | WOMEN       | HAS BEEN    |
| Socialization  | Child                   |             |             |
| of girls as    |                         | WOMEN CBO   | CIRCULATED  |
| service        | A campaign against      |             |             |
| providers at   | negative traditional    | NSWF, BYDA, |             |
| home           |                         |             |             |
|                | Practices, which        | SEC. WOMEN  |             |
| Early and      | includes forced and     |             |             |
| forced         | early                   | SSLS        |             |
| marriages      |                         |             |             |
|                | Marriages and property  | NSWF, BYDA, |             |
| Wife           | rights                  | SSLS        |             |
| inheritance    |                         |             |             |
|                | Education of community  | NSWF, BYDA, |             |
|                | elders, chiefs civil    | SSLS,       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Authorities and women   | SEC. for    |             |
|                | organization about the  | WOMEN       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | International women and |             |             |
|                | children's Rights       |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | A campaign for          |             |             |
|                | compulsory education    |             |             |
|                | for all                 |             |             |
+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Ineffective    | Establish a forum for   | DATT, NSWF, |             |
| statutory Laws | women to discus the     | BYDA,       |             |
|                | Laws                    |             |             |
|                |                         | SSLS, XAID  |             |
|                | of the New Sudan and    |             |             |
|                | its implications to the | SEC. For    |             |
|                |                         | LEGAL       |             |
|                | legal rights of women   |             |             |
|                |                         | AFFAIRS,    |             |
|                | Support the campaign    | JUDICIARY   |             |
|                | for women to            |             |             |
|                | participate             | DATT, NSWF, |             |
|                |                         | BYDA,       |             |
|                | The redrafting of old   |             |             |
|                | laws and enacting new   | SSLS, XAID  |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | ones                    | NSWF, DATT, |             |
|                |                         | BYDA,       |             |
|                | Support legal and       |             |             |
|                | paralegal training for  | SSLS, XAID  |             |
|                | women                   |             |             |
|                |                         | NSWF, BYDA, |             |
|                | to increase the number  | SSLS        |             |
|                | of women with legal     |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | education.              |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Educate community       |             |             |
|                | elders, civil           |             |             |
|                | authorities,            |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Women organizations and |             |             |
|                | groups about the        |             |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | laws of the New Sudan   |             |             |
+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| Inefficient    | Increase business       | DATT, NESI, |             |
| production,    | options for women       | FOSCO,      |             |
|                | through                 |             |             |
| Processing and |                         | INGOs       |             |
| marketing      | Business skills         |             |             |
|                | training, marketing and | SEC. WOMEN  |             |
| Technology     | credit                  |             |             |
|                |                         | DATT, NESI, |             |
|                | Support                 | FOSCO       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Support technology      | SPLM        |             |
|                | development and         | COMMISSION  |             |
|                | transfer                |             |             |
|                |                         | FOR ECONOMY |             |
|                | for production and      |             |             |
|                | small processing        | DATT, NESI, |             |
|                | industries              | FOSCO       |             |
|                |                         |             |             |
|                | Support commodity group | SPLM        |             |
|                | networking and the      | COMMISSION  |             |
|                | development of          |             |             |
|                | marketing information   | FOR ECONOMY |             |
|                | system.                 |             |             |
+----------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+

6.0 Conclusion

There is no doubt in any participants mind that women in the New Sudan
are seriously manrginalized. They are also aware that the situation
resulting in their marginalization or discrimination is complex and
intricate as most of the contributing factors have their origins in the
social, economic and political power structures which have been
translated into the values and principles of the patriarchal Sudanese
societies. In other words, change of any kind and magnitude will be a
process and is likely to take a long time. What was also clear was the
differences in the understanding of gender equity and the empowerment of
women, not to mention the level of willingness to commit resources and
staff time,

However, DATT has been encouraged to take up the challenge of being an
agent of this change because of the SPLM liberation objectives which
promises every one peace, justice, equality and prosperity. What should
be realized at this point is that there can not be peace, justice,
equity nor prosperity for all if efforts are not made to address the
obstacles preventing women from participation and having equal access to
social, economic and political resources. The political commitment of
the SPLM to increase the participation of women must go beyond giving
quarters in decision-making position but proceed to examining the laws,
policies, and traditional practices for any obstacles that might cause
inequality or injustice.

.

There is a long list of factors identified by the participants as key to
addressing the marginalization of women. The most important include
traditional practices of Sudanese societies, ineffective legal and
judiciary systems of the SPLM, absence of legal and policy frame work to
ensure gender equity, NGO,s operating in emergency mode, weak
institutional capacity of SPLM institutions, absence of a network and
forum for advocating gender issues, general impact of the long civil
war, low levels of education and status of women, preoccupation of the
SPLM leadership with other issues and finally the different ways in
which each stakeholder or actor understands gender and how it applies to
their special condition. For example, so many agencies talk about gender
sensitivity but most do not have funding nor staff to implement women or
gender specific programs.

Given the complexity of factors contributing to gender inequity it will
take the involvement of all actors and stakeholders to achieve any
change. Sudanese organizations (BYDA, SSLS, NSWF) and institutions like
DATT and SRRA will have to make efforts to lobby, advocate and develop
alliances with donors, international agencies and communities. The
donors and international agencies should provide technical and financial
support, while the indigenous institutions and organization take lead in
addressing the social, economic, legal and political factors, as this
require a long-term strategy and commitment.

Finally, the workshop proposed a way forward or action plan, which
include

a)  Dissemination the workshop report with stakeholders

b)  DATT to continue dialogue with stakeholders particularly on key
    issues identified and seek commitment by the key actor to address
    the issue.

c)  To organize a network and forum which will begin work on policy
    frame as well as gender impact assessment tool; and

d)  to conduct a baseline study on the status of women in the New Sudan

It is expected that the dialogue with stakeholders on the concept of
gender equity and women empowerment, and how to increase the
participation and access of women in social-economic and political
decision-making will continue as well as receive increased technical and
financial support.

**The list of materials prepared and distributed during the workshop**

1.  Exploring the Potentials of indigenous Wild Food Plants in Southern
    Sudan. Proceeding of a Workshop Held in Lokichoggio, Kenya, June
    3-5^th^ 1998

2.  Gender and empowerment Impact Assessment Manual: Specially adapted
    for Non Governmental and Community Based Organizations. By Else
    Skjonsberg

3.  Women, War and Peace in Southern Sudan. By Mirjan Pol

4.  Equal Opportunity Life: Five Year Women's Empowerment Plan: April
    2000-2005. Prepare by the Secretariat of women, Gender and Child
    Welfare, New Sudan.

5.  Policy Document: Prepared by the SPLM Secretariat for Women, Gender
    and Child Welfare to enhance effective participation of women in
    Policy formulation and decision making processes

6.  Report on the Secretariat for Women, Gender and Child Welfare,
    Yambio workshop.

7.  Consultative Workshop on Girls Education, Rumbek, Southern
    Sudan-Report.

8.  The UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination
    against women. U.N.T.S. No. 203, volume 1249 (1981)

9.  Promoting Gender Sensitive Operations, United Nations World Food
    Progrmme, Operation Lifeline Sudan, Southern Sector. By Diana
    Cammack, Consultant to WFP.

10. Thesis submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
    Award of a Bachelor of arts Degree in social Sciences: Impact of
    Teenage pregnancy on Girls: A case Study of Yambio County in South.

11. A strategy for women. Gender Equity and development: Strategy for
    NPA's

International Work 1998-2002.

ATTENDANCE :

  ----- ------------- -------------- ---------------- -------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------
  S/N   Name          Organization   Position         Phone          E-mail

  1     Oba Cecilia   NSWA           Chair lady                      

  2     Mary Puru     SWAN           Teacher          0733706999     Mmpur@yahoo.com

  3     Abuk Payiti   SPLM           Administrator    575610         

  4     Kezia Layinwa SPLM           Commissioner     575610         

  5     MAC Maika                    Facilitator      072709349      

  6     Athiaan majak BYDA           Program officer  440096         <Byda@swistkenya.com>

  7     Andrina A .   BYDA           Administrative   ""             ""
                                     officer                         

  8     Mohamed       NRRDO          Information      448540         
        Kambal                                                       

  9     Oloya N. M.   SKILLS         INTERN           57619          <Skill@windle.org>

  10    Adele         IRC            Deputy Director  0733632366     <Sadele@irckenya.org>
        Sowinski                                                     

  11    Kristin m.    SFS            Board member                    <Kristi22at@hotmail.com>
        Thoesen                                                      

  12    Godleva Njiru NCA            Program officer  608283/4       <Gnjiru@ncakenya.org>

  13    Mary Hippe    NPA            Health                          
                                     Coordinator                     

  14    Birgitta      CRS/Sudan      Grant Manager    748022/3       <Bgrosskinsky@crssudan.org>
        Grosskinsky                                                  

  15    Grace Datiro                                  072730319      

  16    Agnes Nyoka   SPLM Kenya     Secretary for    072889811      [Swan@swiftkenya.coafricaonllnem](mailto:Swan@swiftkenya.com)
                      chap           women                           

  17    Phoebe Nanzu                                  0733729626     <Phoebemanzu@yahoo.com>

  18    Gloria                       Journalist                      <Mrenzi@excite.com>
        magdelene                                                    
        Renzi                                                        

  19    Mary Nyaulang SWIDAP         Coordinator      861382         Mary<nyaulang@yahoo.com>

  20    Hannah        Christian AID  CB officer       351185         <Hannahw@africaonline.co.ke>
        Williams                                                     

  21    Dr. Margaret                                  072868221      
        Itto                                                         

  22    Gladys        NSCC           Adm. Secretary   448141/2       
        Mananyu                                                      

  23    Victor Lugala NSCC           Communication    ""             

  24    Luka Biong    SRRA           Monitoring & Eva 603228         <L.B.DENG@WANAINCHI.com>

  25    Regina        Loki           N.S.             Coordinator    <Rlokius@yahoo.com>

  26    Mario Mour    BYDA           Chair Person     44009/444186   <Byda@swiftkenya.com>
        Muor                                                         

  27    Paul Savage   Christian Aid  Project manager  351165         <Psavage@africaonline.co.ke>

  28    Kosti manibe  SPLM           Commissioner     0728300        <Kmanibe@yahoo.com>

  29    Lona Lowila   OXFAM-UK       Peace Building   715003         

  30    Marrit Hernes SFS            Board member                    <Marit-h@online.no>

  31    Anne Itto     SPLM/DATT                       072731143      <Aitto@africaonline.co.ke>

  32    Liliace Araba                                                

  33    Diress        NPA            Agric.           075-755817     <Dmengistu@yahoo.com>
        mengisto                     Coordinator                     
  ----- ------------- -------------- ---------------- -------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------