This report summarizes the key findings of this study on the impacts of COVID-19 on school-age girls in Wau, South Sudan. The primary data collected for this research, complimented by SIHA Network’s extensive working knowledge of the situation of women and girls in South Sudan, demonstrates that school-age girls were particularly impacted by the pandemic in the following five key areas: 1) violence in the home, 2) pressure to generate income for the family, 3) sexual harassment, rape, and early pregnancy, 4) early and forced marriage, and finally 5) girls’ decreased prospects for continuing their education. SIHA hopes that this research shall serve to provide civil society, local, regional, and international community, and governmental actors with information about the lived realities of girls in Wau during the pandemic, in hopes that they shall take action in line with upholding girls’ rights and freedoms.
