According to a recent Inter Press Service (IPS) article, SOUTH SUDAN: Complicating the Vote for Women, by Ruth Omukhango writes:

Before Sudan went to war in 1983, women were not allowed to vie for political office or to vote. Next April, they will be asked to cast their ballots in a contest in which 25 per cent of seats have been reserved for women.

The article sites literacy issues, where most women can neither read nor write; the need for intensive civic eduction to allow women to properly participate in elections, and; the confusion about the conditions of nomination and representation and the cost of submitting a candidate as major obstacles.

The first issue of South Sudan Women’s Agenda, published in August 2009, focuses on the elections challenges facing women in South Sudan. One entry in the  magazine, produces by African Woman and Child Features Service (AWC) in partnership with United Nations Development Fund for Women in Sudan UNIFEM Sudan is the following manifesto.

Additional readings include:

- South Sudan Women Threaten to not Vote for Male Contenders (Sudan Tribune; 10 January 2009);

- Good Governance and Equity in Political Participation in Southern Sudan (UNDP, Sudan);

- Women in Southern Sudan declare readiness in upcoming national elections (The New Sudan Vision)

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THE JUBA DECLARATION BY SOUTHERN SUDAN WOMEN IN POLITICAL PARTIES

On The Women’s Common Agenda For The 2010 Elections

We, the women from the political parties in Southern Sudan, participating in the Conference for Southern Sudan Women in Political Parties to Develop a Women’s Common Agenda for the Elections, which took place in Juba from July 17 to 19,
2009, comprising representatives of the Government, Political Parties and Parliamentarians:
Strongly believe in women working together across party lines;
Affirm that unity of purpose is the foundation of equity and equality;
Also affirm that the women of Southern Sudan are renowned for their active participation in the pursuit of peace and good governance;
Further affirm that gender issues cannot be divorced from the political, social,
cultural, developmental, economic and security considerations in Southern Sudan.
Note that women in Southern Sudan have limited access to political party
leadership and decision-making, the media, education, economic empowerment, law, security, health, which has compromised women’s effective participation in national leadership,
Concerned about the rights and dignity of women, insecurity and the rule of law
in Southern Sudan and the environment in which the General Election will be held
State that it is in this context that women now seek greater representation and
participation in party politics and national leadership,
Affirm our support for all the outcomes of this conference with a view to
strengthening democracy through women’s greater participation at all levels of leadership as stated in the 25 percent principle,
Appreciate the role played by the Government of Southern Sudan and the
international community in supporting efforts to boost the role of women in politics and transformational leadership and drawing attention to the need to involve women in all stages of the election process and in the implementation of the National Elections Act 2008,

NOW WISH to call upon the National Electoral Commission, Political Parties Affairs Council, Political Parties in Southern Sudan and the media to address the following recommendations:

1. EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN POLITICAL PARTIES

1. Raise women’s image and visibility within their parties by:
1.1 Increasing the number of women in political parties through intensive
women recruitment campaigns;
1.2 Developing their political knowledge and leadership skills;
1.3 Provision of financial support to women’s leagues and groups

2. Build the capacity of all party membership to understand and appreciate
gender issues;
3. Prepare and conduct democratic and transparent candidate selection
processes through:
3.1 include women in the selection teams and allow the women leagues to
monitor the candidate selection processes;
3.2 widely disseminate candidate selection rules;
3.3 instituting a mechanism whereby at least 10% of the candidates on the
party list are women and nomination of candidates for geographical
constituency seats;
3.4 commit and promote fair competition during internal elections;
3.5 establish an independent monitoring system for internal elections;
4. Party should support to women candidates through:
4.1 Provision of material and financial support;
1.2 Visibly support women candidates
1.3 Set up a women election basket

2.0 DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER-SENSITIVE MANIFESTOS

Political parties should ensure that the following gender specific issues are
addressed in their manifestos:
1. Zero-tolerance for corruption
2. Universal primary health care with emphasis on reproductive health
3. Continuous HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns coupled with accessible VCT
(Voluntary Counseling and Testing) Centers for the youth and married couples throughout Southern Sudan
4. Mass adult literacy campaign up to the community level
5. Free education for girls and construct at least one girls’ only secondary
boarding school in each state in Southern Sudan;
6. Clean and safe water at community level;
7. Micro enterprises and a micro enterprise fund for economic empowerment of
women at the grassroots / community level;
8. A policy to address gender based violence by:
8.1 Institutionalize special protection units at the police stations;
8.2 Support and medical care to survivors;
8.3 Rehabilitation and/or stiff penalty to perpetrators
9. Establish equal opportunities body to monitor:
9.1 Implementation of the Bill of rights in the Interim Constitution of
Southern Sudan;
9.2 Ratification of the international conventions that protect the rights of
women;
9.3 Implementation of gender and related policies
9.4 Implementation of the land policy
10. Establish schools for children with disabilities at county level
11. Establish mental health centers for treatment and rehabilitation
12. Inclusive and transparent government

3.0 GENDER SENSITIVE MEDIA

1. Work with women leagues and candidates to promote their visibility
through:
1.1 Provision of media space in electronic and print media;
1.2 Organizing media listening groups
1.3 Include gender sensitive training skills in the media training curricula
2. Support dissemination of gender sensitive messages and materials through:
2.1 Create awareness and appreciation among voters on the importance
and benefits of women candidates;

3. Give media space to women candidates during election campaigns to gain
visibility among voters;
4. Institute a monitoring mechanism to ensure that all candidates and political
parties have equal access to media;
5. Media should be neutral not biased towards any party or any candidate.

4.0 PREVENTION OF ELECTION VIOLENCE

1. Political party leaders should commit to any code of conduct that is
developed to prevent election related violence
2. Political Parties Affairs Council (PPAC) should be in position to withdraw
registration of any party that involves in election violence
3. Political parties should include discussion on prevention of campaign and
election related violence in their South – South dialogues
4. All political parties should issue statements on how they are to conduct
transparent campaigns
5. Media should refrain from fueling violence through:
5.1 not disseminating hate speech and inflammatory remarks
5.2 not engage in sensational reporting of contentious issues
6. All political party leaders should encourage party members not to engage in
violent activities
7. Women candidates should be united and present themselves to have
peaceful elections and should come out with a statement on violence-free
elections
8. Women should commit themselves to respecting and abiding by election
guidelines and the electoral law
9. Women commit themselves to influencing their respective parties to commit
themselves to a violence-free election
10. Media should sensitize the public on free and fair elections and how to
prevent and report election violence
11. Media should be also play a monitoring role to bring to attention of
concerned authorities about potential for violence and malpractices
12. NEC should raise awareness of the public to prevent corruption, illegal
practices and election offences
13. NEC should create awareness among all political party leaders on their
obligations under the electoral law and the penalty for non adherence
14. NEC should conduct its affairs in an impartial, transparent and neutral
manner
15. Government must take the responsibility of providing security during
elections, especially for women candidates, and a special police unit should
be trained to deal with election violence.

5.0 GENDER-SENSITIVE ELECTIONS GUIDELINES

1. NEC should provide an easy mechanism for identifying voters in rural areas
for registration by involving Chiefs or the village chairpersons.
2. Voter registration centers should be within easy reach and easily
identifiable areas.
3. NEC should make it clear that although women have 25% seats, they are also
eligible to be nominated for other positions such as President, Governor,
party list, and the constituency seats.
4. NEC should set-up a gender responsive voter education and disseminate
information concerning elections.
5. NEC should issue strong guidelines against violence in all election processes
6. NEC should invite foreign and local observers during the registration,
campaign, voting and counting of votes and announcing of results processes
7. In case government funding, NEC should ensure equal financial support for
both male and female at all the levels.
8. PPAC should reject any party list or constituency candidate lists which do not
include women
9. NEC should commit to provide financial support for women candidates
competing for constituency seats

6.0 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR FEMALE CANDIDATES

Capacity building for women candidates is imperative to their participation and
success. The following areas have been identified as critical action areas for
women, donors, government and civil society organizations:
1. Training areas:
1.1 Elections Act provisions and electoral procedures
1.2 confidence building
1.3 public speaking
1.4 communication skills and public relations
1.5 Local administration structure and native administration.
1.6 proposal writing
1.7 fund raising for women candidates
1.8 campaign and message development skills
1.9 political skills
1.10 networking skills
2. Institute a fund to train women candidates
3. Women should work at increasing their visibility within their political parties
and among voters
4. Women should sensitize other women and encourage women at the lower
levels to join political parties
5. Women should develop networking skills so as to appreciate the benefits of
networking with women groups and civil society organizations within the
community
6. Formation of a “Women in Political Parties forum” as a learning platform for
political, voter and civic education.
7. Develop a relationship with the media by understanding how it works and
being pro-active by taking advantage of media houses
8. Establish networks and regular dialogue with association of media women in
Sudan
9. Learn the workings and take advantage of media outlets and utilize
alternative media such as email; SMS, radio listening groups for women, etc
10. Develop a communication strategy to address election related issues using
the media

I got off the bus at Ottawa University and walked to my first meeting with Rachel Vincent and Erin Simpson at the Nobel Women’s Initiative‘s modest offices on Slater street. Their space belies the clout of the organization that represents 50% of all women Nobel laureates in the prize’s 107-year history. The Nobel Women’s Initiative was established in 2006 by sister Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams (1997), Shirin Ebadi (2003), Wangari Maathai (2004), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1992), Betty Williams (1976) and Mairead Corrigan Maguire (1976).

source: Nobel Women's Initiative

They recently lead a delegation to Thailand (including the Thai-Burma border) Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Chad from July 21 to August 6, 2008. The delegation was led by Jody Williams, Wangari Maathai and Mia Farrow and included Dr. Sima Samar (UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan),  Qing Zhang (Chinese Labour Activist) and Reverend Gloria White-Hammond (co-founder of My Sister’s Keeper, a humanitarian women’s group that partners with women in Sudan).

Rachel and Erin were very generous in providing me with contacts they made while in South Sudan, like women from the US-based Sudanese diaspora organization Sisterhood for Peace, or Sudanese Women’s Empowerment for Peace (SuWEP) which played an important role in the development of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. The also gave me a dozen maps of South Sudan that show many development data, including, locations of wells and schools, road construction, tribal distribution, etc. Anyone who knows me realizes how much I love receiving such a gift of maps considering I used to make maps myself.

Afterward, I sat in a café for a good 3 hours with Hamid Ayoub, a 41-year-old Sudanese man from El Obeid, North Kordofan who has been living in Ottawa since 2001. Hamid has a Bachelor of Arts degree in From the College of Fine and Applied Arts from Sudan University of Science and Technology. Not willing to do military service to fight in a civil-war he actively denounced, he was forced to flee his country, leaving his wife and kids behind.

Hamid began a one-year to refuge himself from Sudan after in 2000 by heading westward from Khartoum to the border with Chad. He crossed into Chad to continue his journey which brought him to Canada. The need to distance himself from his homeland, Hamid passed through Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger before arriving in Canada where he sought and received refugee status.

He now teaches young immigrants in the Ottawa region to express their relationship with their new city through painting at the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO). Hamid has ‘landed immigrant’ status and has since been joined by his wife and children. He has exhibited his work in The National Art Gallery of Canada, The Museum of Civilization in Hull, and is now preparing for a January 2009 solo exhibit at Ottawa’s Heartwood Gallery, 153 Chaple Street.

None of these meetings would have been possible without the help of JP Melville who is consultant at the The Coalition of New Canadians for Arts and Culture (CNCAC), an organization that supports the diverse interests of immigrant and refugee individuals and community groups who want to be actively engaged in arts and culture in Canada. It was JP who led me to the others I met in Ottawa. On a side note, JP and the above-mentioned Rachel are getting married in two weeks. I swear, I had nothing to do with it!

Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to meet with Tony Lovink, who is now writing his PhD dissertation about the religious and ethnic adaptations of the thousands of South Sudanese refugee families in Canada, and their diasporic linkages. I will call him from Montréal for a lengthy telephone conversation in the hope of being able to meet the next time I’m in Ottawa.