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www.refugeesonline.org.uk/sswc 1. Organisation
Background South Sudan Women Concern (SSWC) was formed in the UK in 1993 by a group of Sudanese women with the aim of alleviating poverty and advancing education and training among refugees in Britain and Africa. Initially it focused on the needs of refugees in the UK, where it provides education support and welfare advice, but since 1997 it has been working with displaced women and their families in South Sudan, where there has been a civil war for many years. SSWC is registered with SRRC (Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission) and obtained permission to operate in the New Sudan as an indigenous Organisation. SSWC has a governing body of 7, a team of 6 volunteers, 4 staff including session workers in the UK and 39 staff and workers in South Sudan. 2. SSWC Programmes 2.1 UK programme The UK programme has an education component as its main objective. It is focused on the provision of education support to Sudanese refugee children. This targets the teaching of the core school subjects i.e. Maths, English as a foreign language, and Science. In addition to these subjects, Mother Tongue is taught and a cultural programme executed. The aim of this combined educational programme is to build the children’s self-esteem and self-confidence so that they can integrate smoothly into mainstream schools in the UK. The project has been on for the last 10 years. It has received funding from the BBC Children in Need Appeal and The City Parochial Foundation. Progress has been very good. For example, the students who attended the Saturday school achieved very good GCSE and A level results. By 2002 15 students supported by the project had graduated from universities in the UK and obtained employment as Accounts, Engineers and Scientists. The project continues to attract in more refugee children and their parents encouraged by the progress of previous students. 2.2 The Africa programme This programme forms an important part of SSWC’s work. It is the focal point where Southern Sudanese women concerned with the situation in Sudan come to share ideas and participate in joint action. For example, collaboration includes writing papers together, making presentations in workshops, conferences, and writing of projects. Its activities bring together South Sudanese women leaders and grass roots in exile and in the displaced camps. SSWC is seen as part and parcel of the South Sudanese Women Movement in Sudan and outside. Women in Sudan refer to SSWC as ‘our Organisation “. Its membership consists of women in Sudan and in exile. Its projects include Training support, Capacity building of women’s Groups, Food security and Health promotion with particular focus on reproductive health. |