The lack of protection for women and girls in South Sudan contributes to continued instability and conflict. These common and re-enforcing drivers of conflict and VAWG have the potential to link public and private violence and their associated prevention and response strategies in South Sudan. Hudson et al have laid out an argument that the security of women is a key factor in predicting the peacefulness of the state, and that addressing (or failing to address) VAWG has important repercussions on wider state security (Hudson et al., 2008). This is clearly applicable in the case of South Sudan, where the intersections of public and private violence are considerable and the gendered component of inter-communal conflicts and the 2013 crisis should not be ignored if lasting peace and stability is to be achieved.

Overall, state-building has been a failure in South Sudan and efforts to reduce VAWG and provide services for survivors have been marginalized. Given the lack of effective state-building and continued violence at state level, it is not surprising that services surrounding VAWG are inadequate. However, as noted above, VAWG is a key component of much of the ongoing civil conflict, and even women and girls who have not experienced direct militarised sexual violence have felt the effect of these conflicts in other ways, such as increased severity and frequency of IPV. As such, this is not the time for the state and international community to abdicate responsibility in addressing these issues. VAWG prevention and response programmes, including programmes that address forms of violence that have not traditionally been associated with conflict, should be a priority for the South Sudan government, UN and nongovernmental interventions. Women and girls, and particularly those from outside the urban elite, need to be engaged to ensure gender-responsive peace-building initiatives are developed and effective services are available to survivors of VAWG.

Women and girls have too often been ignored in the peace-building processes of South Sudan, and particularly at the inter-communal level. This must change. They need to be engaged at a community level to help build lasting, grassroots change, which will help to start the process of changing gender norms and creating gender-responsive peace strategies. Women’s organisations and community based organisations (CBOs) need to be supported to do more advocacy around national peace-building and policy development in suppor t of women and girls. While some women’s civil society organisations exist and do important work as part of peace-building and state-building initiatives, the women’s movement in South Sudan is not well developed in comparison to surrounding East African countries and other conflict-affected countries around the globe. More attention, funding and support is needed to build and empower these organisations so they have a lasting impact on the lives of women and girls in South Sudan. Policy and programmatic efforts to support women and girls and reduce VAWG need to be better coordinated and linked.

Policymakers, including those involved in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan, have little interaction with NGOs and government social workers that implement many VAWG prevention and response programmes. Improved coordination is needed to fully understand the efforts that are taking place to support women and girls, and to ensure that limited available resources have the most impact. In addition, women need to be involved in the work of the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) to create new policies and adapt existing legislation so it’s in line with ARCSS, as this will help to create gender-responsive policies and legislation.