Mentoring Rumbek’s Women to Protect their Communities

The Women Protection Teams (WPTs) that Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) created in Rumbek have developed into community security advocates and have made their communities safer. The last couple of years have seen the number of WPTs increase to more than 80 in Rumbek Centre, especially in areas of Matangai, Malek, Amongping, Mayom and Jiir. With the help of NP’s Rumbek team, those WPTs have become so mature that they are now advocating on their own behalf and are making recommendations regarding the security of their communities. Additionally, according to WPT members, through the training and guidance from NP’s Rumbek team, WPTs have changed conditions on the ground and made their communities safer. 

Through working with NP, the WPT members have developed the ability to identify protection concerns and the causes of conflict and then advocate for actions that will make their communities safer. WPT members noted that as well as being targeted for gender based violence, young women are often excluded from decision-making during community security meetings. Accordingly, they have recommended that NP support the formation of three more WPT groups, consisting of young women in Malek, Amongping, and Mayom. They have also advocated for the creation of spaces for young women in their own Payams or villages that would provide young women with the opportunity to interact freely and safely. Other WPT members have stated that their major concern are armed youth committing crimes and cattle raids, therefore they suggested that NP lobby the government for effective disarmament of the armed youths, as well as the establishment of a youth rehabilitation center. 

In addition to advocating for measures that would increase community security, WPTs also engage in activities that make their communities safer and contribute to a culture of nonviolence. On April 1, WPT members intervened when men/boys were quarreling at a water point and they were able to resolve the conflict peacefully. A chairwoman of one of the WPTs noted that the husbands of the WPT members are actually changing their violent behavior due to the work that the WPTs are doing in the community. The leader of another WPT said that NP and the WPTs are having a profound effect on the community because the community has been sensitized to the different forms violence can take and that without any doubt that the current peace they were enjoying could be attributed to NP’s work over the years.