The floods that occurred in Unity State affected an estimated 220,000 people and has caused massive displacements in different counties to include Rubkona and Leer Counties. In Rubkona, five new sites were created to host the affected populations.
On top of the flooding, Leer County has experienced sporadic incidents of insecurity which further aggravated the situation, many community members fled to various locations to include Leer town and Temporary Protection Area to seek refuge.
GBV is especially problematic in the context of emergencies/crisis because women are often targeted for abuse, and are the most vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and abuse because of their gender, age, and status in society.
“I am one of the GBV survivors supported at the OSC. I was impregnated by a man who then left me and never showed up again” Nyamijen narrates. This forced me to go to Leer and seek his parents intervention but ended up giving birth there. I sought help at the Leer OSC where they tought me bread making skills. I started selling bread, the earning I saved will help me support my further studies. I do appreciate HRSS in partnership with UNFPA for providing such a tremendous capacity support through women and girl empowerment tailored on cash assistance.
In addition, women and girls faced many other challenges both for their practical and strategic gender needs.The recent crisis had a major impact on the livelihood / income generating activities for women and girls creating a tough economic situation, which further increased their vulnerabilities. Loss of property during the tough times increased the demand for food, non-food items and shelter for Internally displaced persons. The congestion in the current IDP areas compromise the hygiene and privacy and could lead to increase rates of GBV. With the flooding, women are forced to go to far areas in search of firewood and forced them to be in flood waters which brings health hazards. Due to lack of family income to pay for school fees, girls are forced to stop their education which exposes them to child marriage Given the situation, scaling up of GBV prevention and response interventions was deemed very crucial to address the issues and concerns of women and girls amidst the different crisis.
With such UNFPA increased its partnership with different NNGO specifically with Hope Restoration South Sudan (HRSS) to implement life-saving GBV Prevention and Response in Rubkona and Leer Counties.. The project was officially launched in Leer and Bentiu in June 2022. The event brought together GBV partners, local authorities, key government officials and community members. One of the key interventions of the project is the establishment and management of Women and Girls Friendly Space (WGFS). It is “a structured place where women’s and adolescent girls’ physical and emotional safety is respected and where they are supported through processes of empowerment to seek, share, and obtain information, access services, express themselves, enhance psychosocial well-being, and more fully know their rights.
