Crown The Woman
Crown The Woman has been in operation as an initiative since 2014 but finally registered as an independent organization in 2016. Their vision is to foster a future with zero tolerance for inequality, inequity, injustice and any other community vice that affect women and children. Their mission is to recognize, develop potentials and promote the strength of women within communities socially, economically and politically for a sustainable and equitable development.
The group considers its Mentorship Program as its biggest achievement. The group has carrying out mentorship in 10 schools in Juba to inspire girls to stay focused in school with the aim of promoting girl child education as the gap between the male and the female in education is alarming (only 26% of the South Sudanese population is educated, with only 16% women who are able to finish primary school). “We aim at filling the younger woman with the urge to do things creatively through re-energizing her to push on despite the challenges that she faces like the economic downturn; increasing poverty, preventable challenges like limited sanitary towels, cultural oppressions among others,” they say. Despite a war-torn history and other unsettling challenges, South Sudanese women have managed to rise becoming successful in professions like medicine, law and entrepreneurship. The group, thus, creates a linkage between older South Sudanese women (mentor) and younger women (mentee) still struggling and forging a way to beat their challenges for guidanceg. Since October 2016, Crown the Woman has reached out to more than two thousand girls “whose lives have never remained the same.”
Another of their success stories emerges from their March 8 celebrations, when they invited a Ugandan film maker Mr.Busulwa, an advocate working towards ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), teenage pregnancies and girl child education. His 18-minute movie “AKELLO” was screened to encourage girls to remain focused in school despite challenges like poverty and also to persuade parents and teachers to give the girl child a second chance.
