The Samani Hall of
the prestigious Juba University
in South Sudan reverberated with
song and dance. More than 700 women
filled the hall that has a seating
capacity of only 200 people. With
the air conditioning not functioning
and an extremely humid weather making
things worse for the audience, they
should have been complaining. But
they were singing, clapping and
dancing, and clearly in jubilation.
They were the delegates
to the historic conference on Women
in Politics the first of its kind
in this part of the world, held
in Juba from 7 -12th May 2007. It
brought together women leaders from
both North and South Sudan. The
conference was jointly organized
by the Ministry of Parliamentary
Affairs, the Government of Southern
Sudan, and UNDP Southern Sudan Office.
Opening the conference,
the First Vice-President of Sudan
and President of Southern Sudan,
H.E. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, reiterated
his stand on the need to fully empower
women. He pledged support for efforts
towards building the capacity of
women to enable them to make a more
meaningful contribution to national
development.
Amid thunderous applause,
the President warned the male legislators
“who are occupying posts meant
for women” to vacate such
offices if they cannot live up to
the challenge.
Responding to the President’s
remark that the women of Sudan have
already created a momentum for themselves,
Mr. Patrick Sweeting, Head of UNDP,
Southern Sudan Office, said UNDP
highly valued the recommendations
of the conference and would take
guidance from them for future Programmematic
considerations.
Mr. Sweeting commented
the immense commitment and unity
of purpose among the women noting
that this was the beginning of a
dynamic political process and an
essential part of politics.
Key speakers at the
conference included Hon. James Wani
Igga for Southern Sudan Legislative
Assembly, H.E. Rebecca Nyandeng
Minister for Transport and Road,
H. E. Mary Kiden, Minister for Gender,
Social Welfare and religious Affairs,
H.E, Awut Deng, Presidential advisor,
H.E. Minister for Public Service
and H.E. the Governor for Central
Equatoria. In addition were also
Hon. Dr. Wal Duany, Southern Sudan
Legislative Assembly Rajaa Hassan
Khalifa, Secretary-General for Sudanese
Women General Union, Dr Amna Mohamed
Bedri, Dr. B. F. Bankie, from the
Academy for Leadership and Life
Skills, Juba, and Madam Awatif Mohamed
Kamil, from the Ministry of Public
Service and Development of Human
Resources.
The conference was
convened to create awareness about
women’s political participation
and to establish a better understanding
of their development needs as well
as addressing the causes of women’s
marginalization and developing a
common strategy for their political
participation. It also sought to
develop a common strategy and action
plan for women’s capacity
building for improved political
participation.
The five-day conference
resolved that the status of women
in Sudan requires special attention
as they suffered immensely throughout
the war to safeguard their fundamental
rights and continue to do so as
gender issues are still hampered
by traditions and the persistent
social and economic neglect.
Recalling the
long and heroic campaign for justice,
freedom, equality and dignity, the
conference called upon the people,
political parties and government
of both National Unity and GOSS
to initiate a healing process. It
is only through this that the people
can herald an era of peace and progress
and to attain the Millennium Development
Goals, it has agreed.
Acknowledging the provisions
of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) on women’s participation,
the delegates representing political
parties, NGOs, business endeavors
and civil society organizations
called for dissemination and full
implementation as a priority task,
not only of the government, but
also of the women.
The conference emphasized
the need to build the capacity of
women while taking into consideration
the various challenges that hinder
their effective participation. These
include traditional, religious and
customary practices and, the resultant
effect of the war such as closure
of educational institutions, brain
drain and lack of economic development.
It was noted that women’s
participation be founded on a strong
pedestal of competence. It is therefore
imperative to provide appropriate
training for women in order to fully
equip them with technical skills
for political office.
It was agreed that
there is urgent need to address
the current status of women in Sudan
which has been neglected over the
years. The conference called for
the full implementation of constitutional
provisions, especially those promoting
the participation of women at all
levels of government. It further
called on the government to enact
rules and regulations to implement
the 25 per cent requirement and
ensure that such regulations are
incorporated into individual political
party constitutions, so as to enable
women to enjoy all rights, especially
political and democratic rights.
Currently, despite
the policy guideline which dictates
that 25 per cent of all positions
be held by women, there are only
two female ministers and two advisers
in the Government of Southern Sudan.
With the notable exception of a
handful of female county commissioners,
there is probably a pervasive perception
that women lack the qualities and
experience to hold high office.
This is despite the fact that only
a few Sudanese men gained experience
in governance during the many years
of fighting.
The challenges confronting
political parties, in general, and
women, in particular, include the
years of instability that have left
an indelible impression on the principles,
policies, activities, plans and
ideas about future of political
parties. Lack of funding for political
parties, lack of offices, furniture
or facilities to print and publish
party documents has been a major
constrains for all.
The conference called for increased
and more frequent interactions with
international organizations to facilitate
and accelerate the capacity building
process of women. It also called
on women to network with political
parties and the international which
are working in the area of good
governance and capacity building
of democratic institutions.
In a communiqué
the women demanded greater participation
at all levels of government calling
on the government to ensure proper
implementation of the 25% constitutional
provision. They demanded that all
the relevant documents such as CPA,
Interim constitution of Southern
Sudan, constitution of GoNU, the
state constitutions be unpacked
to enable women to make an informed
decision during the two events
For more information
please contact:
Lona Elia,
Project Manager, Good Governance
and Equity in Political Participation,
UNDP, Southern Sudan Office: lona.elia@undp.org
Antonette Miday,
Communications Officer, UNDP, Southern
Sudan Office: antonette.miday@undp.org
