Young women are the members of South Sudanese society who are most likely to be victims of violence and least likely to be voices of peace. Search for Common Ground is changing this dynamic.
Following a six-year civil war that killed as many as 400,000 people, South Sudan is struggling to heal divisions and establish lasting peace. At Search for Common Ground, we recognize that effective peacebuilding requires not only bridging divides between political enemies but also addressing the roots of injustice that drive violence.
In South Sudan, young women often lack a seat at the table during political decision-making and peace processes. Most South Sudanese women are married by the age of 18 and an even greater majority is illiterate. These circumstances limit their chances for independent political activity.
Traditional norms often prevent young women from attending public meetings, further contributing to their social and political marginalization. These same norms mean that young women are more likely to suffer from domestic, sexual, and violence against women and girls.
This exclusion not only hurts young women by silencing their concerns but also hurts society at large by preventing healthy peace. Evidence across countries indicates that allowing women to participate politically fosters safer societies for everyone.
It is not enough to make sure women’s voices are present; they must also be heard and respected.
With support from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, Search for Common Ground is elevating young women through a program called “Strengthening Young Women’s Participation in Local and National Peace Processes.” Through conflict mediation training, rural outreach, and media campaigns, we are equipping women to speak out against the violence in their communities and lives. And it’s working.
By working in spaces that draw from across society, such as churches, schools, and women’s and youth groups, we have reached young women despite the obstacles that exclude them from local governance. As a result, we have provided hundreds of women with the communication, organizational, and leadership skills to resolve local conflicts, mobilize their communities, and facilitate constructive conversations. We train women from various professional, geographic, and socioeconomic subgroups within South Sudan to reach as many communities as possible.
While preparing young women to be mediators and peacebuilders, we simultaneously recruit existing South Sudanese peace leaders to serve as bridges between our programs and government peace processes. These figures, both men and women, help to integrate young women into peace efforts at the local and national level.
However, it is not enough to make sure women’s voices are present; they must also be heard and respected. Using community-led dialogue, participatory theater, radio programming, and conflict-sensitive journalism, we are countering stereotypes about men and women’s social roles and giving young women a platform for community leadership.
Our media programs have been proven to change cultural attitudes. One such program, Sergeant Esther, is a radio drama starring a courageous policewoman who uses nonviolent communication to solve cases of corruption, harassment, and domestic conflict. Listeners of Sergeant Esther are nearly 20 percent more likely to reject violence. And while Sergeant Esther is fictitious, we have empowered real female heroes as well.
After graduating Search for Common Ground’s training program, Anna Maneno, a 20-year-old South Sudanese poet, actress, and activist, has hosted a radio show, led symposiums at local universities, and founded programs that give young women the space to discuss and embrace their potential for leadership. Joyce Diko Diku, another graduate of the program, has founded an initiative that provides psychosocial support to young girls, amplified women’s personal stories through art, poetry, and testimony, and promoted the goals of the South Sudanese peace deal throughout the country.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Anna and Joyce have been promoting public health as well as peace. Whether they are discussing the virus or violence, these young women have the leadership skills and organizational tools to protect their communities.
Anna and Joyce are powerful examples that Search for Common Ground’s work has a ripple effect: each woman that we empower goes on to empower countless others. Those ripples are not only horizontal. South Sudanese women are multigenerational actors in a unique position to teach non-violence to their children and their male relatives. We built our program around this cultural understanding so that the work we are doing now will promote peace for years to come.
We have not only elevated Anna, Joyce, and other young women to shape society, but we have also strengthened these women and their voices, amplifying them and broadcasting them throughout the entire country. Across South Sudan, there are countless young women with the passion and perseverance needed to establish lasting peace. Search for Common Ground is committed to giving them not only a seat at the table but also a voice in the conversation.
