Gender

This rapid review focuses on identifying evidence on the secondary impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It aims to enable a greater understanding of the unique circumstances of women and girls in the region, which could assist with the provision of effective support throughout the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath. Guided by available evidence, the review explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls in SSA across various issues. These include some of the following – girls’ education, social protection, unintended pregnancies, access to health services, poverty, livelihood, land rights, women’s and girls’ informal employment, food security and nutrition, female health workforce, and access to WASH. The review touches upon, but does not thoroughly investigates the following topics as they are considered in other reviews - Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), girls’ and women’s rights, child marriage, harmful social norms, and women’s political participation, leadership and empowerment. Despite the limited data, the review found that based on emerging evidence and lessons from past health crises, there is strong evidence to suggest that women and girls in SSA will suffer from extreme and multifaceted negative secondary impact as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Some of which may include higher poverty rates, increase in unplanned pregnancies, a surge in school dropout rates and child labour of adolescent girls, loss of income and reduced financial empowerment, increased household work, reduced access to healthcare and WASH alongside increased maternal deaths, and greater food insecurity and malnutrition.

This rapid review focuses on identifying evidence on the secondary impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It aims to enable a greater understanding of the unique circumstances of women and girls in the region, which could assist with the provision of effective support throughout the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath. Guided by available evidence, the review explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls in SSA across various issues. These include some of the following – girls’ education, social protection, unintended pregnancies, access to health services, poverty, livelihood, land rights, women’s and girls’ informal employment, food security and nutrition, female health workforce, and access to WASH. The review touches upon, but does not thoroughly investigates the following topics as they are considered in other reviews - Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), girls’ and women’s rights, child marriage, harmful social norms, and women’s political participation, leadership and empowerment. Despite the limited data, the review found that based on emerging evidence and lessons from past health crises, there is strong evidence to suggest that women and girls in SSA will suffer from extreme and multifaceted negative secondary impact as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Some of which may include higher poverty rates, increase in unplanned pregnancies, a surge in school dropout rates and child labour of adolescent girls, loss of income and reduced financial empowerment, increased household work, reduced access to healthcare and WASH alongside increased maternal deaths, and greater food insecurity and malnutrition.

The mapping examines the enabling environment for South Sudan’s social protection system. Despite ongoing peace processes, the country remains volatile and
its population highly vulnerable. The basic needs of the population remain largely unmet. In early 2019, the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare commissioned
mapping of the social protection system, based on the Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessments Core Diagnostic Instrument (CODI).

This study of Conflict and Gender in South Sudan was undertaken in support of the ‘Addressing Root Causes
Fund Programme’ (ARC). Being implemented over a five-year period between September 2016 – August
2021, the Programme is to be undertaken by a consortium of three organisations including: the Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD), Dan Church Aid (DCA), and the Centre for Conflict
Resolution (CCR) (here-after referred to as the Consortium). Funding is provided by the Addressing Root
Causes (ARC) Fund of the Government of the Netherlands. This study, conducted between February 20 to
March 27, 2017, was meant to contribute to the baseline upon which the Programme is being constructed.

This report examines women’s leadership in locally led humanitarian action with case studies from Bangladesh and South Sudan. It seeks to understand whether and how local humanitarian leadership (LHL)—with its transfer of resources and power to local and national humanitarian actors (LNHAs)—can promote or constrain women’s leadership.