women-politicians-in-south-sudan

"Women are particularly vulnerable during the war, especially regarding issues like rape. As a Ministry, we’ve created policies and are actively telling men to stop violating women’s rights, especially in times of conflict.”"

"If there are people out there trying to sponsor a child. Let them do so. Also, if you have two children and have the ability to sponsor another one, please do that, even in government schools since they are cheap. If you can sponsor a child through senior four, you will have done a wonderful thing."

"A hungry nation is an angry nation. A hungry house is an angry house."

"Cattle raiding in Eastern Equatoria, particularly among the cattle-keeping communities, has been practiced for ages. But now it has shifted dimensions; in the past, people would raid a few cattle and just go back to their wells so that they can add to their dowry. They didn’t have weapons, so people would go at night, open the corral, and walk away with some cattle."

"Food is not only necessary for an individual’s survival, but also a nation’s"

"It has become lethal, because when they go raiding, they kill. And then the community they’ve raided retaliates—they come back to raid and kill."

"Don’t come home because you have stolen, you are unclean.” The girls should say, “We don’t want you to marry us with these cattle which you have stolen, because it is not legal, so I don’t become an illegal wife.”"

"The main aim, according to the young boys who go and raid, is that they want to increase the number of cattle they have so that they can marry the most beautiful girl they love, and competition is always very high."

"It was about women, but now it is about you youth as well; because you are also a large part of the community that has been left out, you are told you are still too young, but you need to begin to make decisions now about yourselves, about the community, about the future of the country."

"You need to get involved, so let us now work together with the government and see that we protect the communities who live here."

"With connecting youth with women, peace and security, it is even better."

"In general, life in South Sudan is difficult for everybody at the moment, because the conflict has ended and not ended: the agreement is signed, but not yet implemented."

"Radio is an important tool in the lives of human beings because it depends on the knowledge of human beings. It gives us a chance to listen to songs, stories. It gives us a chance to share opinions and a space to talk about life around us."

"we need to respect their opinion. This will depend on the journalist. The radio is only a transmitter that takes us from one place to another. So if a journalist doesn’t present the information in a good way, the information will not be received well by our listeners."

"A true journalist does present the information and keeps in his mind that the listeners also have their opinion. They should be considered when you want to present any piece of information on the radio. A journalist that doesn’t succeed is the one who always assumes that he is right."

"if you don’t have a planned program, you will just play a program at any time, left and right. And this is the reason why some listeners hate certain journalists."

"A good journalist should put more effort into bringing new faces, voices, and new issues. During our training, we were told that when you play a lot of music that means you don’t have something new to offer."

"a good journalist needs to put in the effort. It is not easy to get information. But as a journalist, one should be selective in his materials."

"Conflict has brought poverty, and in our communities, girls are seen as a source of wealth. We are working with chiefs and community leaders to end child marriage because it remains one of our biggest problems. We’ve made progress, but much more needs to be done to ensure equal rights for men and women in South Sudan"

"As a country, we need to confront this issue and find ways to address it. Women need to be active participants in political spaces, but in our culture, politics is often seen as a ‘dirty game,’ and many prefer to avoid it to maintain their integrity."

"We have developed policies to protect women’s rights at the national level. Women bear the brunt of suffering during conflict, but we are not just victims—we are also active players who should be involved in preventing conflict."

"This perception is a cultural barrier that prevents women from engaging in politics. We encourage women at the grassroots and in urban centers to change their attitude toward politics.”"

"A number of inhibiting factors affect school enrolment, retention and completion rates in South Sudan: lack of school infrastructure – including availability of WASH facilities, sex-segregated toilets, menstrual management and sanitation systems, etc. – conflict and insecurity, traditional norms and the high turnover of qualified teachers – particularly female teachers – which results in a lack of qualified teachers"

"These factors fall into three barrier categories: household and community level barriers; school-based barriers; and, policy/system-level barriers. They can occur simultaneously to limit children’s learning."

"While access to education rates are very low for all children in South Sudan, they are even lower for certain groups of children such as girls, children with disabilities, children affected by conflict, and pastoralist children."

"Many parents prefer to prioritize boys’ education over girls’ – so, if a family cannot afford to send all of their children to school, the interests of boys‘ education are often favored. This leads to girls either being removed from school for early and forced marriage as they are seen as a source of income or expected to take care of siblings at home."

"On a higher, more systemic level, the Government is attempting to prioritize education by creating strategic plans and bolstering the infrastructure required for an effective education sector."

"On a deeper level, reforms have been made to the curriculum and teaching materials, attempting to improve the quality of education and promote peace in South Sudan."

"How South Sudan moves forward in respecting its citizens’ ethnic diversity, acknowledging its history of conflict and teaching learners to actively engage and think critically will be a key feature of the education system."

"We are encouraging farming in the states that have relative security and peace,""

"We are pushing and working hard to make sure that we have a successful farming and agriculture season despite the fact that we were hit hard by the tragedy that happened on December 15."

"we made an assessment on the food security. What we found was that production in most households in rural areas was high, for consumption and even surpluses, but these were affected by the floods,""

"Because of the floods, this year's production may not be high and to make it worse, this crisis will also affect production.""

"They will be given to farmers on a hire basis at low cost and we are asking the farmers to organize into cooperatives in order to maximize their production.""

"We have to exert more efforts knowing that the three states are not reliable and if we focus on the seven states, the three states will be supported."

"For this agriculture season together with the Agriculture Bank, every state will get ten tractors."

"What we can confirm is that there is displacement and the people have been affected and many need humanitarian assistance and intervention as soon as possible,"

"The security situation was volatile and scary because security forces were deployed around the parliament with the intention to intimidate the members of parliament to not vote against the extension of the term of the governor because it is not in the interest of the public."

"The reasons for rejections are many but the four main reasons are due to grave violation of the constitution which everyone is obliged to protect. One major violation of the constitution is that the members of parliament were forced to stand up and be counted, which is contrary to parliamentary rules and regulations."

"Nobody was forced to stand up and forced to vote. There are two ways of voting mechanism in the house. There is show of hands and secret voting. The majority opted for show of hands and so the house accepted because we are a democratic country. When it came to voting, majority got up again and they were counted,”"

"All of us are new faces in the committee. The current chairperson of the committee was heading different committee in the last two years. He was the chairperson for security and public order."

"We in Warrap recognize strengths of the women in the society. This was why we elected first woman governor.”"

"Women are heavily engaged in community peace efforts, however, given peace is concentrated on political elites, we at John Garang Women Peace Institute do our best to research on women’s peace efforts at grassroots."

"the political party is rapidly growing in different parts of South Sudanese, among the displaced and refugees as well the Diaspora where many had lost hope in peace."

"STEPS is a national political party that addresses issues pertaining to peace and democracy in South Sudan."

"it is our prime concern to address injustices and empowerment issues regarding the youth and women such as education and economic empowerment. Women, historically and traditionally due to several conflicts, continue to bear the brunt of wars the most and areas such severally affected and marginalized."

"it is our concern to ensure women’s holistic empowerment ranging from their inclusion in peace-and decision-making processes, politics and the economy."

"Driven by our people’s suffering, motivated by our people’s yearning for a just dignified life and lasting peace, urged by the gap in the required leadership, I have decided to answer the call. South Sudan must arise peacefully against violence, political exploitation, and manipulation."

"Furthermore, rallying our people to fully embrace the peace agreement is key to moving towards the actualization of peace, living it and protecting it. This shall further help our people prioritize and see clearly the need for an elected responsible, competent government that shall serve and be answerable to them."

"We shall further advocate for basic freedoms as expression and assembly, multi-partism and the ability to move freely safely in South Sudan. Furthermore, we shall work with like-minded political parties, individuals and civil society to consistently call for free fair elections."