The Executive Director of Women Foundation for Humanity, Dorothy Ambrose Drabuga, has challenged local authorities in Juba County’s Gondokoro to take firm action against rape, domestic violence and child marriage, saying silence and inaction continue to fuel gender-based violence in communities.
She made the remarks over the weekend during a training attended by more than 20 chiefs, teachers, local government officials and women leaders under the RESPECT (Response, Prevent and Educate) project, which is supported by GIZ and co-funded by the European Union.
The training focused on strengthening the role of community leaders, teachers and women’s representatives in preventing sexual and gender-based violence and improving protection for women and children.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Drabuga said ending gender-based violence requires the commitment of every section of society.
“I want to tell all of us that it is a collective responsibility to prevent this sexual gender-based violence against our girls, women, and everybody in the community,” she said. “In some schools, there are teachers who make love relationships with the students. That is something very wrong. We should really discourage that, because let us look at these young girls as our daughters, our sisters, but not to make them our wives. This is wrong according to the ethics of teaching.”
She said teachers have a duty to ensure schools remain safe for both girls and boys, warning against sexual exploitation of students by educators. She further appealed to women leaders and parents to protect girls from harmful practices such as child marriage.
“Don’t send your daughters to early marriage,” she urged. “And to the local authority again, please, don’t encourage this early marriage.”
Addressing chiefs and other local government officials, Drabuga called on them to respond promptly whenever cases of abuse are reported.
“When cases are reported to you, don’t sit on it. Take the case up. Because I know in the context of South Sudan, we believe so much in the cultural norms, of which most of them are negative towards women,” she said.
The Women Foundation for Humanity is implementing the six-month RESPECT project in partnership with GIZ. According to Drabuga, the initiative seeks to strengthen prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence through community awareness, school engagement and improved referral systems.
She said the organization has already trained communities on sexual and gender-based violence, women’s rights and adolescent girls’ empowerment.
Under the project, the organization also plans to organize school debates, radio programmes and establish community engagement groups and referral pathways to improve access to support services for survivors.
Drabuga further raised concern over drug abuse among young people in Gondokoro, saying it contributes to violence in the community.
“I have seen within this community, especially the youth, the boys, they are so much into drugs, smoking bangi (marijuana). As the local authority, please do something about it,” she said. “As fathers, let us talk to our sons. As mothers, let us talk to our sons. You know, this smoking of bangi can destroy their lives, their health, which is something very bad.”
She welcomed the participation of teachers, chiefs and women leaders in the workshop, saying they are key actors in creating safer communities.
“This training has come at a good time, and you are the right target,” Drabuga concluded. “I am very happy to see that you people are here, mixed up, teachers, local authority, women.”
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