Adolescent Girls in crisis: Voices from South Sudan Ihisa, 12, prepares some of the beans the family received from Plan International (©Plan International) Adolescent girls have immense vulnerabilities in many areas of their lives. But it is clear from the findings in this report that they also play a significant role in the everyday survival of their communities. Therefore – in addition to addressing their vulnerabilities – acknowledging and supporting their resilience will provide an important path out of the current crisis in South Sudan. Contents Executive Summary 1 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Five influences on the research 1. Introduction 3 methodology 1.1 The South Sudan Context 4 Figure 2: Sites of data collection 1.2 Research Questions and Goals 4 Table 1: Number of Key Informant 1.3 Research Hypotheses 5 Interviews and Focus Group Discussions by Location 1.4 Methodology 5 Respondents Having Endured 1.5 Data Collection 6 Figure 3: Loss of Close Family Member Due 1.5.1 Quantitative Research 6 to Conflict 1.5.2 Qualitative Research 6 Figure 4: Frequency of Reasons Given for 1.5.3 Sample Questions 7 Non-Enrolment in School: South 1.6 Data Analysis 8 Sudan 1.7 Research Ethics 8 Figure 5: Household Coping Strategies and Frequency Applied in Response to 1.8 Limitations of the Data 8 Food Insecurity 1.9 Literature Review 8 Figure 6: Access to a doctor or hospital by 1.9.1 A Focus upon Adolescent Girls 8 county 1.9.2 The Protracted Crisis Context 10 Figure 7: Parents’ ability to afford healthcare for sick children, by county 2. Research Findings 11 Figure 8: Negative Impact of Conflict on 2.1 Sites of Insecurity 12 State of Mind, by County 2.1.1 Experiences of Violence 12 Figure 9: Psychosocial Distress and Mental 2.1.2 Family Separation 15 Health Issues Experienced by Respondents in Past Two Weeks 2.1.3 Education 16 2.1.4 Economic Insecurity and Acronyms Livelihoods 17 2.1.5 Food Security and Nutrition 18 CEFM Child Early and Forced Marriage 2.1.6 Engagements with the FGD Focus Group Discussion Humanitarian Community 20 GBV Gender-Based Violence 2.1.7 Healthcare 20 KII Key Informant Interview 2.1.8 Security for the Future 23 NGO Non-Government Organisation 2.2 Sites of Resilience 23 MHM Menstrual Hygiene Management SRHR Sexual and Reproductive Health 3. Conclusion and Recommendations 25 Rights 3.1 Concluding Comments 26 3.2 Recommendations 27 3.2.1 Recommendations for All 27 3.2.2 Donors and Policy Makers 27 3.2.3 Practitioners 27 ENDNOTES 28 2 plan-international.org Executive summary Executive Summary Now half a decade long, the conflict in South Sudan has displaced four million people and placed seven million in need of humanitarian assistance.1 While all civilians face multiple forms of insecurity, adolescent girls are affected by this protracted crisis in ways that are different both from adolescent boys and from adult women, and in ways that are often overlooked. This report explores how adolescent girls within two age brackets (aged 10-14 and 15-19) understand the unique impact the crisis has upon them. It seeks to amplify their voices and perceptions of the crisis, and presents their views on how the humanitarian sector might respond. Nyiel writing in her notepad in Baratuku Drawing on data from research conducted with adolescent girls resettlement camp. and their communities in multiple sites in South Sudan and Uganda (©Plan International / Rose+Sjölander) during 2017, this research finds that the following issues are core concerns for adolescent girls: Key findings Physical insecurity Food insecurity Contributions to Healthcare the unpaid and care Adolescent girls report The lack of access economy Alarmingly 26 per cent the threat of physical to sufficient food is of adolescent girls violence as their main also of concern to Adolescent girls report interviewed in South form of insecurity. adolescent girls in making a significant Sudan reported having Most prevalent in their South Sudan with contribution to the considered ending responses is the threat of 77 per cent of those maintenance and their own lives at least gender-based violence interviewed reporting functioning of their once in the last twelve (GBV) with child early that they do not have communities through months and there is and forced marriage enough to eat. Food unpaid economic and little to no evidence (CEFM) being the most insecurity influences care labour. This is that there is any their capacity to commonly reported form primarily done through professional support for lead healthy lives, of GBV. Adolescent girls work in the household, mental health issues. concentrate in school, describe these threats which intensifies Adolescent girls have as a continuum of and often requires during emergencies only sporadic access to insecurity that stretches them to take on extra or parental absence a doctor or hospital for from their experiences at household labour. and can have a physical health needs home, in the community negative impact on and many find the and in the emergency their education and life costs of medicine or context. journeys. treatment prohibitive. plan-international.org 1 Executive summary The research has identified more positive factors also Key recommendations and South Sudanese adolescent girls believe that Recommendations for All their capacity to navigate the • Invest in and deliver specific programmes targeting the unique crisis is enhanced through: needs of adolescent girls. • Fund and deliver age sensitive longer-term programming that Family Cohesion addresses harmful practices and seeks to positively shape gender equality in humanitarian settings. Adolescent girls report that • Support initiatives that build family and community support for the presence of a mother autonomous decision-making for adolescent girls. and father enhances their likelihood of security. This • Promote attitudinal and behavioural change that recognises, and was reported in terms does not devalue, the rights of adolescent girls. of providing protection • Build leadership skills to support adolescent girls’ enhanced from violence committed participation in decision-making. by extended family and community members, Donors and Policy Makers having greater household • Prioritise funding for specialised protection programmes for resources when the family adolescent girls that include access to age-appropriate safe spaces. unit is intact, and in terms of emotional well-being. • Prioritise funding for initiatives that address the multiple and overlapping drivers of CEFM. These should address the immediate drivers of CEFM and put in place longer term prevention and Access to Education mitigation measures. Adolescent girls repeatedly • Prioritise funding for programmes that address the barriers to identify access to education including high school fees, the lack of school resources education as a major (books, pens, etc), teacher recruitment and training, and the protective mechanism in protection of school buildings and infrastructure. their lives. They report • Prioritise funding for the provision of adolescent girl-friendly that education improves information and services, particularly around sexual and future opportunities reproductive health rights. and possibilities for an • Set targets for humanitarian and development funding in regards to the independent livelihood (and inclusion of adolescent girls in all humanitarian activity. as such is a barrier against • Incorporate mechanisms across all investments to assess and forced marriage). They understand the impact on adolescent girls. further note it offers a safe space to develop networks outside of the family. Practitioners • Allow adolescent girls to shape programme design and Resilience implementation process, including ensuring accountability mechanisms are accessible to adolescent girls. While adolescent girls • Ensure humanitarian interventions set clear targets and include experience extreme specific indicators in programme monitoring and evaluation insecurities, they frameworks that assess the outcome of the programme for demonstrate the agency adolescent girls. to positively shape their worlds. By building • Ensure that adolescent mothers and married adolescents are protective relationships included in adolescent-targeted initiatives and general programming. with family, mentors and • Conduct gender analysis for all areas of programming that peer networks, adolescent incorporates differentials for adolescent girls and listens to their girls share and deploy voices and perspectives. the resources, skills, and • Ensure education interventions incorporate and address the barriers knowledge that they have for girls’ participation. These include systemic barriers such as quality acquired to provide for their of education and the burden of household labour as well as practical own and others’ well-being. barriers such as a lack of appropriate sanitation facilities and the financial cost of school fees and materials. 2 plan-international.org Executive summary 1. Introduction Girl outside the abandoned headteacher’s office at their former primary school, Pibor, Jonglei. Understanding the ways (©Plan International) in which adolescent girls experience and navigate the crisis in South Sudan provides a foundation for the humanitarian sector to partner with them in addressing their concerns and increasing their capacities. The following report seeks to promote this understanding, focusing not just on the areas of insecurity for adolescent girls, but also on the positive ways in which they respond