World Bank approves $70 million to support women economic empowerment in South Sudan

JUBA – The World Bank said on Friday it has approved a $70 million grant to help boost South Sudan’s women’s social and economic empowerment.

The four-year project which will target 91,000 women and 5,200 adolescent girls is expected to start in September this year.

The project to be implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare will support female entrepreneurs in formalizing and scaling up their business activities.

Firas Raad, South Sudan’s World Bank Country Manager, said the project will help women grow their businesses and improve their livelihoods through grants, training, and technical assistance.

“It is a four-year project that will be implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and will target around 91,000 women and 5,200 adolescent girls and will indirectly reach more than 673,400 people,” Raad told reporters during a press conference on Friday.

Raad said the project will help survivors of gender-based violence to access vital services that will enable them to recover and rebuild their lives.

“Explicit development of the project is to increase women and girls access to livelihood, entrepreneur gender based-violence services to strengthen the government capacity,” Raad said.

He said the project which aims at improving women and girls’ livelihood through the establishment of women’s Economic Community Centers will target five states.

“These women Economic Community Center will be located in Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Unity State, Western Bahr el Ghazal, and Warrap.”

Clancy Nyambe, World Bank’s Gender Specialist said “This project is something the people of South Sudan really wanted, it is not coming from the blue, it is something the women, men and also government very much insisted especially the importance of this project.”

“Let us not be taken off by concentration of five states, it is about services that are going to be delivered to the people of South Sudan which will reach almost all the ten states and three administrative areas.”