HIV, Microfinance and Peace

This week I travelled with an MRDA delegation to the capital of Western Equatoria State, Yambio, for a series of meetings with key members of the executive and legislative assemblies there, including Ministers of Health, Social Development and Religious Affairs and Youth and Sports, the MP for Mundri West (the county I am living in) and the Director General of the State Ministry of Education as well as the head of the HIV/AIDS comission. The primary purpose of the trip was to follow up on the distribution and use of an HIV/AIDS educational resource for primary school teachers and children so the lead was my colleague Mai, guided by the MRDA Director Light Wilson. This initative was originally undertaken with the Education ministry so a secondary objective was to inform and include other state actors in maximising the impact of the resource within Western Equatoria*. Also in the team was Gobinder Chaudhury, the Manager of the WOYE (Women and Youth Empowerment) Microfinance project. Whilst this might seem an eclectic mix our long (and suprisingly fruitful) discussions with polity makers and administrators alike served to remind me personally of the interconnectedness of development challenges (one issue acknowledged in the much maligned Millenium Declaration document and addressed by the Millenium Development Goals)and the need for interdisciplinary approaches that truly support communities to self-sufficiency.

For example lets take the issue of HIV/AIDs in Western Equatoria. At 7% the state apparently has the highest prevalance of infection in the whole country. We can infer that, due to the border of W.E with Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that population movement from the so-called 'Green Belt' of high risk countries in Central Africa is a contributing factor. Furthermore migration back and forth across the borders have been intensified by conflict, as communities in all three countries shift back and forth fleeing violence.

For those unable or unwilling to travel conflict brought other risks. The use of rape as a weapon of war has been documented in DRC and by Soldier of the Northern Sudanese army in South Sudan. This practice surely infected many more women and girls, not to mention its other horrific effects. Furthermore the hardline Islamist leadership of the Khartoum government have failed to acknowledge HIV/AIDs as a genuine social concern, preferring instead to marginalise it as affecting an immoral, irreligious minority, and have refused to introduce Sexual and Reproductive Health education into schools, something the Government of Southern Sudan has only recently aquired the power to choose to do for itself. Conflict ensured that many young people in W.E aquired little to no education at all for over 20 years (and arguably reinforced existing cultural inequalities relating to the role of women in society), thus increasing the vulnerability of underqualified youth to participation in risky economic practices, including sex work. Which brings us to the third strand of challenges, those around economic empowerment, which I will touch upon below. Finally just as education infrastructure was affectd, so too were health services, so HIV/AIDs advice, tests and treatment that could, for example, have reduced the chance of mothers transmitting infection to unborn children, were also disrupted. So we can see that the prevalance of conflict affects sexual health and that no self-respecting peace worker can live ignorant of the relationship between these issues.

For those affected by HIV/AIDs, one of the biggest challenges springs not from the disease virus or syndrome themselves, but from the stigma of the community at large. Employment discrimination against the infected population in South Sudan is commonplace, meaning that they are denied the opportunity to lend their skills and expertise in industry or government. There is now a growing movement of groups and even residential communities being formed in W.E to provide peer support and basic welfare, with encouragement and support from the HIV/AIDs commission. Relief alone can breed dependency however, which is where the provision of microfinance loans could truly help. By providing small chunks of capital to those denied loans or accounts elsewhere, at very low interest with long grace periods, Microfinance institutions seek to promote grass roots economic self sufficiency. In South Sudan, where only government provide salaried positions accessible to most locals, and where there are very few banks ( one branc of Kenya Commercial Bank in the whole of Western Equatoria state, Microfinance as provided by organisations like BRAC, or MRDA, can really make a difference for small traders. This is important when Militia leaders can tempt young people to participate in violence with offers of easy food and money, exploitation that destablises the state and threatens its future. Likewise where no opportunities for legal income generation exist, crime can thrive. Western Equatoria, with its abundant fertility and arable land, should not suffer from such a slide into destructive behaviours and conflict for want of start up loans.

As WOYE seeks to expand beyond its current provision in the two counties of Mundri West and Mvolo, it will work with government to offer loans to entrepeneurs living with HIV/AIDs so that they can provide services, generate income and build livelihoods for themselves and potentially others, thus reducing dependency and tackling dominant negative stereotypes of their caapctiy to contribute to the development of the community. Meanwhile MRDA will also continue to find effective ways to educate the populace, especially the majority youth population, on the impact of HIV/AIDs and the prevention of infection, to ensure that a healthier, more educated generation will take up the baton of economic, social and cultural development. Underpinning both of these strands of work is that of Peace Work, neccesitating strong analysis of the root causes of local conflict and violence, and work with both state and non state elites and grass roots commmunities to identify and resolve issues non violently before they destroy the postive work being down in other fields. The gains to be made economically from conflict tend to be neither equitably shared nor sustainable and the above analysis has already demonstrated the correlation between armed conflict and HIV/AIDs in the region.

So whilst it might seem bold or arrogant to target not only the reduction of HIV/AIDs, not only the elimination of armed conflict, and not only the economic empowerment of the most marginalised people, conversations like the ones this one week show that without all three goals, achieving any single one becomes much more difficult. That's why I feel priveleged to work with an indigenous NGO that is working not only in these fields but in many others, including education, agriculture and gender, and with positive forces within the Government, to truly tackle the complex, compelling and vital challenges faced by Southern Sudanese people as independence approaches.

*The project is notable for being MRDA's first truly national project, with 44,000 textbooks distribtued across all 10 states of South Sudan as well as 170 teachers trained in using the resource effectively.

The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality*

*This short piece is a slightly amended version of my notes for a speech delivered at the Mundri International Women's Day rally on behalf of the MRDA Centre for Peace and Democracy studies. Apologies if it thus seems heavy on rhetoric and light on statistics or academic objectivity. Feedback, as ever, is welcome

Peace is more than the absence of conflict. Peace is about justice, equality and the choice to forgo violence, the choice to break a cycle which could trap us all forever. Violence is by no means limited to the physical damage inflicted by man on man and all too often by man against woman, violence is also in the deep corruption that deprives human beings of equal respect, fair treatment and access to water, to food, to education, to work. It is relatively easy to confront violent behavior (whilst potentially dangerous) but how do we tackle the unseen culture of structural violence^?

Change starts within; when we take responsibility for deciding who we want to be and what consequences we want to produce in the world. If we accept the limitations we are confronted with, if we choose to believe that men can only dominate rather than assuming partnership on an equal footing with women, that women should only stay in the home, as machines for reproduction and service, then the violence that results will continue to poison our societies. True development depends on the full and active participation of all, the shared responsibility. The late President of South Sudan, Dr John Garang*, in his speech upon the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, called Girls in South Sudan and in the world ‘the marginalized of the marginalized’; those most excluded from participating, from contributing, to achieving their full potential.

Women are half or more of the population of the world. Without the sacrifices of women we as men would not be here, the sacrifice of our Mothers, sisters, wives, cousins, friends. The people who fetch water for, cook meals for and raise men, and yet their time in education is cut short by bias towards boys, early pregnancy and the time constraints of domestic servitude. In addition women suffer physical abuse, sexual harassment and rape, the trauma of which can ruin lives and prevent them claiming their deserved roles at the heart of development. Fear can stop them from trying for me. Fear of humiliation. Fear of ignorance. Fear of violence. And yet there are women in Mundri and beyond who defy these circumstances to better themselves and make substantial contributions to society; as students, as educators, as businesswomen, as politicians. They choose to strive for the best regardless of the status quo. Dr. Margaret Itu of the Government of South Sudan chose the occasion of International Women’s Day to urge young Southern Sudanese women to educate themselves for medical careersl to not drop out of school, to persevere in order to make a contribution to their society by learning how to save lives. This woman is a role model; a humanitarian, a leader, and she is far from alone.

Men too can make choices. Violence is a choice that some men make, not a fact of nature, not the will of god, a choice that some men make, and there is no excuse for it. Unfortunately privilege over women is something all men are born with and not enough chose to challenge or change. When we choose to disrespect the work women do in the home and fail to ascribe it its true value, when we choose not to help share the load of that work as if we are superior. When we ignore and mock women’s educational aspirations or legal rights+ or see women as only there to serve our sexual needs, rather than as full and equal humans and full and equal citizens, we are perpetuating a cycle of deeper violence against women, against our society, against our own future.

I believe this cycle of violence, both direct and cultural, is motivated by fear; fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of powerlessness. We are all afraid, but together we are infinitely more powerful than when we, as individuals, use violence to preserve our own personal status or fight for what we believe is ours, and then to defend it against those we are afraid will undermine us. As long as violence is the language in our hearts, we will always be afraid.

Privilege is no more a fact of nature than violence, nor the will of god. It is the product and evidence of a deeper culture of violence towards women that we, women but especially men, share a responsibility for changing. The beautiful thing is that we can all start that change within us, this day, this very moment. Just as Peace is far more than the absence of physical violence, Equality and Justice for women are not to be found in the presence of laws and policies alone. We can choose to see women for the equal human beings they are, change our attitudes, change our behaviors, and then challenge others whom we hear and see casually dismissing women, to support our brothers to see the error of their ways and help our sisters create a clear pathway to fulfillment, the opportunity to demonstrate the worth we already know they have, so we can rise together for the world can watch.


^My usage of the terms direct, structural and cultural violence are drawn from the work of Professor Johan Galtung, pioneer of Peace Studies and founder of the Transcend Network, find out more at http://transcend.org/ (I will try soon to blog more extensively on peace work)

* John Garang was a member of the Ananya 1 rebel movement of the first Sudanese civil war who again Mutined from the Sudanese armed forces to found the SPLA in 1983 and was the figurehead of the military and political movement through the second war and peace process until his untimely demise in a helicopter crash only 21 days after being sworn in as Vice-President of the Government of National Unity in Khartoum and president elect of the Government of South Sudan

+Couldn't resist adding one statistic here, according to UNFPA South Sudan 90% of civil and criminal law cases in the country, including some to do with rape and child abuse (including sex with and impregnation of underage girls) are still dealt with by customary law courts presided over by Chiefs. Those courts are acknowledged as being weak in accountability, respect for INternational Human Rights norms and in effectively protecting, promoting and fulfilling the rights of Women.