By Awan Achiek
The World Bank said on Friday it has approved 70 million U.S dollar grant to help empower South Sudanese women.
The four-year project that kicks off in September aims to support 91,000 women and 5,200 adolescent girls.
Firas Raad, World Bank Country Manager, said the project will help women to 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 indirectly reach more than 673,400 people,” Raad told journalists in Juba.
He particularly said that 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, and gender based-violence services to strengthen the government capacity,” Raad added.
He noted that they will establish women economic community centers in five states under this project.
“These women economic community centers will be located in Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Unity State, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Warrap,” said Raad.
Clancy Nyambe, Gender Specialist with the World Bank, said the project was requested by women, men and also government.
“Let us not be taken off by our concentration in 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,” Nyambe said.
