Background
Child marriage is one of the harmful practices in many cultures that hinder a girl child from accessing her rights to realize her full potential and be a productive member of her community. Every year, 15 million girls marry before the age of 18 which translates into 41,000 girls per day; 28 girls every minute; and 1 girl every 2 seconds. If this trend continues, 142 million girls will be married by their 18th birthday in this decade alone. In South Sudan, 40 per cent of girls are married before 18 and only 6.2 per cent of girls complete primary school, with 1 out of 5 dropping out of secondary school due to pregnancies, which is exceptionally high at 30 per cent. The situation is exacerbated by the crisis, which has left many people in extreme poverty and with limited alternatives to life such as marrying off a girl child to a much older man as a source of income.
Objectives:
- To increase multisectoral capacity to prevent and respond to gender-based violence
- To strengthen state and community level response to GBV and harmful practices including child marriages and teenage pregnancies
Achievements
SAADO is currently the consortium lead of 8 organizations for a project funded by UNFPA to establish and support One Stop Centers in all the states to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in South Sudan, including training social workers and health staff to sensitively and professionally meet the needs of violence survivors.
SAADO has also managed to establish and support the functioning of Malakal state multi-sectoral coordination mechanism ending child marriage/GBV and in the first quarter of 2020 hosted state level community policy and advocacy session attended by 12 participants (8 males, 4 females) in Malakal town. On 25 Feb 2020, SAADO also established a community Action Groups Against GBV and early child marriage which is comprised of 25 people (15 females, and 10 males) who have been functioning as influencers to sensitize the community of the dangers of harmful practices.
SAADO is also in the process of training duty bearers and service providers on guidelines, policies, laws and training manuals for services providers as well as establishing updated referral pathways. In the first quarter, SAADO has conducted 3 radio talk shows in Malakal which covered GBV types, causes and its effects and the roles of different stakeholders in ending child marriage in the state namely the traditional leaders, the civil society networks and religious leaders
