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was previously unheard of in a community where house-
hold work is considered the sole responsibility of women
and girls. While this early and anecdotal information does
not amount to evidence of sustained change in gender-
and violence-related social norms or behaviours, these are
promising signs, pointed in the right direction.
Strengthening health and social service systems
One of the most innovative elements of the CC programme is
its work with community health workers (CHWs) on build-
ing their capacity to fill the gaps in health facilities’ work with
GBV survivors. Based on the initial mapping and consultation
with the Ministry of Health, the CC programme’s CHW train-
ing focused on providing referrals and awareness-raising on
sexual violence and related HIV risks.
Facility-based health workers such as doctors, midwives
and nurses were also trained on health and psychosocial
support for survivors of sexual violence, including the clini-
cal management of rape.
In line with the CC programme’s approach to sustained
changed, UNICEF and partners will continue to follow up with
both facility and non-facility-based trainees to assess the quality
of services and identify opportunities for further capacity devel-
opment and mentorship to improve survivor care.
Communities Care also worked with psychosocial service
providers. In one community, prior to training, most of the
local service providers believed that survivors should be
blamed for rape. By the end of the training, 100 per cent of
participants no longer believed this. The participants cred-
ited the use of the CC toolkit with helping them shift their
beliefs. In another community, participants discussed chal-
lenges to providing services to survivors, including lack of
capacity and poor coordination among service providers. As
a solution, the participants established a community-based
network to strengthen coordination and peer support. The
group now meets monthly and has helped develop reference
guides based on the training, such as “do’s and don’ts” of
working with survivors. These reference guides are an early
sign of sustainability – they will help transmit the lessons
learned beyond the duration of the programme, which can
contribute to lasting change.
Educating the educators
The CC programme recognizes the critical role of education
in preventing GBV and responding to the needs of survi-
vors, especially children. In South Sudan, incidents of rape
of girls by teachers and/or on the way to or from school
have been reported, and parents are hesitant to send girls
to school. In consultation with the Ministry of Education in
each state, several schools were selected for training from
the CC toolkit. Participants included teachers, principals,
school administration, parents and representatives from the
state Ministry of Education.
Before the training, 90 per cent of participants were unaware
of the code of conduct to prevent sexual exploitation and
abuse by teachers. They were also unaware of how to report
incidents of sexual violence and refer survivors to services.
After the training, the participants drafted a plan to prevent
and respond to sexual violence in their schools.
Recommendations made by the participants included:
• Raise awareness about GBV during lessons, school
assemblies, parent-teacher association meetings and
extracurricular activities.
• Establish mechanisms to report incidents of sexual
violence (for example, suggestion boxes in strategic areas
in the school where students can report confidentially).
• Identify and train senior women teachers to support
students and serve as counsellors and focal points for
referrals; dedicate safe spaces in the schools where
students can meet with them.
Arop Kuol pumps water from a borehole: “My commitment is to work together with my wife”
Images: UNICEF/Adriane Ohanesian 2015
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