Close to 100,000 women to benefit from $70m World Bank grant
Close to 100,000 businesswomen from five out of 10 states are expected to benefit from the $70 million grant by the World Bank.
Beneficiaries will be picked from Central Equatoria State (Juba), Eastern Equatoria State (Torit), Unity State (Bentiu), Warrap State (Kajouk) and Western Bahr el Ghazal States (Wau) with a total of 91,000 women and 5,200 adolescent girls directly benefiting.
The money will be advanced to women inform a loan and is expected to help South Sudanese women gain social and economic empowerment.
The beneficiary list was picked from the areas where South Sudan Women and Social and Economic Empowerment Project (SSWSEEP) has its roots.
SSWSEEP key functions are to assist female entrepreneurs in formalizing and scaling up their businesses. They also work with survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in gaining access to essential services that will help them recover and rebuild their lives.
The distribution of the fund will be supervised by the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare to identify the group that will benefit from the grant. To sit and decide eligibility criteria.
According to the World Bank (South Sudan) Manager, Firas Raad, the project adopted a holistic approach, intending to increase the public sector’s capacity to engage more actively in the field of women’s empowerment to provide long-term benefits for South Sudanese women and girls.
“Survivors of gender-based violence need a lot of help to heal from the physical and psychological trauma they’ve been through.
“This initiative will improve their access to critical health services and psychosocial assistance while also focusing on GBV prevention. It will also provide grants, training, and technical assistance to help women build their enterprises and better their livelihoods “Raad continued.
He added that the project will build on the World Bank’s program in South Sudan and will complement women’s empowerment efforts carried out by other development partners in the country.
“Particularly those carried out by UN Women’s Economic Community Centers (WECCs), which were established with donor funding and in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare (MGCSW).”
