South Sudan’s police force joins campaign on child protection and against gender-based violence

“I thought my work has no connection with the work of humanitarian agencies. But now I learned the importance of child protection from World Vision. We have direct contact with many situations that can be influenced or impacted by my work”, says Sgt. David Deng, a veteran police officer with over 30 years of experience.

Sgt. Deng adds, “I realized now that as police officers, our work is complementary as we serve the most vulnerable people, especially women and children who can be abused by those who are powerful. I thank World Vision and may God bless you to continue supporting the needy in South Sudan.”

Speaking on behalf of the participants coming from South Sudan’s National Police Unit in Melut County, Sgt. Deng further appreciated World Vision for bringing them together from different places in Melut for training on gender-based violence (GBV) and related protection policies.

Sgt. Deng highlighted that the training is very relevant and direct links to their day-to-day work as most of the domestic violence cases are brought to the police station where he worked. ‘’I was very surprised when I got the invitation from World Vision through my police commander in Melut town”, he says.

I realized now that as police officers, our work is complementary as we serve the most vulnerable people, especially women and children who can be abused by those who are powerful.

“I have been serving my people for years whole-heartedly with no salary or training opportunity like what we are having today. I am glad to learn new things from World Vision and most importantly having time to refresh my mind from daily worries at the workplace”, he further adds.

World Vision, funded by Irish Aid, provides capacity building to frontline GBV service providers including South Sudan National Police Unit. The recent 2-day-training was attended by 16 police officers, six of them women, who represented seven payams (an administrative area) in Melut County, a part of Upper Nile State. The previous one was attended by 42 police officers.

The training equips participants such as the police force with knowledge and skills on how to handle rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, and all other GBV-related cases. It emphasizes the crucial role of the police force in supporting survivors to access medical, legal, and psychosocial support.

Story by Anthony Akech Athian, National Protection Coordinator