National Transformational and Leadership Institute at the University of Juba, assesses the status of women’s representation and participation in public administration at the State and Administrative Area levels to accelerate progress towards gender equality. The research finds that while the Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GRSS) has a comprehensive legal and policy framework, including a 35 percent gender quota in decision-making roles, implementation lags significantly, with systematic under-representation of women in nearly all high-level executive, civil service, and judiciary positions, though they make up 32.3 percent of the overall public workforce. Key challenges undermining GEPA efforts include deep-seated cultural and socio-economic obstacles, limited financial resources allocated to the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, the absence of an independent accountability mechanism to enforce quotas, and poor implementation of human resource policies concerning recruitment, promotion, and workplace harassment. The report concludes that gaps persist between policy and practice, and it provides strategic recommendations focused on strengthening institutional frameworks, enforcing quotas, and allocating more resources to gender mainstreaming initiatives.

Download the Report: State-Level-Mapping-GE-epdf