With the dedicated support of key donors with the effortless and continued commitment work of UNFPA South Sudan, the future looks brighter for the women, girls, and young people of this resilient nation.

In its ongoing quest to strengthen its strategic partnerships, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund in South Sudan recently held a joint programme meeting with its key donors: Canada, Sweden, and Norway. The event served as an opportunity for the organization and its partners to review their 2022 achievements, particularly in the realm of sexual and reproductive health and rights for the women and girls of South Sudan.

As a country that has faced numerous challenges due to prolonged conflict and natural shocks related to climate, South Sudan's population has long needed aid and assistance. Thankfully, the joint efforts of UNFPA and its donors have made a remarkable impact in 2022, providing vital support to women and girls in both development and humanitarian settings.

During the meeting, UNFPA took the time to highlight some of the significant achievements from the past year. These include increased access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, as well as enhanced community engagement to tackle cultural barriers that have historically impeded women's reproductive health and rights. UNFPA was also able to support the National Bureau of Statistics to conduct a population estimation survey and work with implementing partners to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in South Sudan.

“We are grateful to our donors for the continuous financial and technical support in ensuring the services we provide are to improve the well-being of women, girls, the young people to access reproductive health services. The journey is still long to get to the Zeros, but our march continues to ensure a healthy population of this country. Our commitment of support to the government of South Sudan has been set in the new country program which we ready to take forward with our donors” Sarah Masale, UNFPA Deputy Representative who chaired the meeting.

 

Additionally, the meeting served as an opportunity for UNFPA to share its plans for the upcoming rollout of its fourth country programme of assistance to the Government of South Sudan, set to begin in 2023. This will further the organization's commitment to supporting the nation in achieving better health outcomes for its population, particularly for vulnerable women and girls.

“Canada is pleased with the work being done by UNFPA especially on capacity building and the training of health professionals through the health sciences institutes to ensure improvement in health service delivery” said Jesse Ann, from the Embassy of Canada

 

The representatives of Canada, Sweden, and Norway expressed their continued commitment to support the efforts of UNFPA in South Sudan. The donors expressed appreciation for the quarterly meetings and commended UNFPA on the achievements in 2022 to ensure that women, girls, and young people in the country are empowered to realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights. The donors also requested more discussion on some of the challenges faced in implementing the programme in future meetings.

“UNFPA is doing excellent work in the field, but it will be important to also look at some of the output specific challenges affecting women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services and how UNFPA was able to mitigate these challenges” stated Markus Larsson from the Embassy of Sweden.

 

Christianne Nyakato from the Embassy of Norway, in highlighting that gender equality and women’s empowerment were critical areas for Norway. “We are pleased to hear about the progress and achievements in the area of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls since this is essential to the health and social development of families, communities and the country as a whole.”

As the fourth country programme unfolds, it will be inspiring to see the continued progress that this powerful partnership can achieve, transforming the lives of countless individuals and helping to build a healthier, more equitable society in South Sudan. It is also expected that with the operationalization of the new country programme, more focus will be on interlinkages between humanitarian, development, and peace sectors and how this nexus will effectively meet the needs, mitigate risks and vulnerabilities of the people of South Sudan so that there is sustainable peace.