Project profile — Women's Voice and Leadership - South Sudan

• South Sudan (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)

This project is part of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership Program, which supports local and regional women’s organizations and networks that are working to promote women’s rights, and advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in developing countries. This is done by supporting their activities, building institutional capacity, and promoting network and alliance-building, as women’s rights and feminist organizations are critical agents of change. The Program also responds to the significant, globally recognized gap in funding and support to women’s rights organizations and movements around the world. The project is implemented by CARE Canada, who is supporting an estimated 15 women’s rights organizations in South Sudan to pursue their agendas and priorities. The organizations are working across the former states of Jonglei, Central Equatoria, and Eastern Equatoria.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved management and sustainability of local women’s rights organizations in South Sudan, particularly those representing vulnerable and marginalized women and girls; (2) enhanced performance of women’s rights organizations’ programming and advocacy to advance gender equality and empower women and girls; and (3) increased effectiveness of national and sub-national women’s rights platforms, networks, and alliances to affect gender-sensitive policy change and policy implementation in South Sudan.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2023) include: (1) 48 rapid response and multi-year grants were provided to over 30 women-led organizations (WLOs) and 3 networks ranging from 30,000 to 160,000 Canadian dollars. These funds allowed WLOs to reach over 100,000 people with gender-targeted programming at the community and state level, of which 70% were women; (2) WLOs and networks were able to influence 15 out of 17 policies or mechanisms, demonstrating a success rate of 88% – much higher than the target of 40%. Moreover, all multi-year grantees reported a high ability to engage in networks and to work with others to achieve a common goal. One of the most impactful contributions made by WLOs, networks and communities was advocacy that contributed to the ratification of the Maputo Protocol by the government of South Sudan; (3) 87% of WLOs diversified their sources of funding compared to a target of 75%. Six WLOs who had not received funding prior to the project have now diversified their funding, including 4 WLOs located in more rural areas. These results indicate that the project had a direct impact on increasing the sustainability of WLOs; and (4) Over 30 WLOs including 360 staff/volunteers participated in three networks supported by the project across the three regions. These networks allowed WLOs to foster partnerships, collaborative advocacy, influence policy, and advocate in the safety of numbers.

• Proactive disclosure