 Ms. Awut Deng Acuil The Minister for Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare | Ms. Awut Deng Acuil is the Minister for Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare since August 2013, she is also a member of the South Sudan Legislative Assembly representing Tonj East Constituency. She served as Presidential Advisor on Gender and Human Rights from 2005 to 2008 and as Minister for Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development from 2008 to 2011. She also serves as a member of the Political Bureau of the National Liberation Council of the SPLM and is the Chairperson and a prominent member of Sudan Women Association Network (SWAN). |
Ms. Awut is someone who has beaten personal odds that are difficult to imagine. Like many South Sudanese women, she was married in her teens, lived in refuge in foreign countries with her children and, hand-in-hand with her spouse, fought in the liberation war in 1980s and 1990s. She educated herself through sheer determination and wit, and above all, most tragically, was widowed at a young age due to the Liberation struggle.
Working as an agent for peace, specially her focus has been on people-to-people peace initiatives in Bahr El Ghazal and Upper Nile, which led to the ending of Nuer-Dinka conflicts, some of South Sudan’s most gruesome episodes of ethnic violence in the 1990s. For her demonstrated leadership she was awarded a Peace Award.
In her current portfolio, she aspires to see all children living in a child friendly environment, as such she introduced the Child Mobilization initiative, to ensure that children living and working on the streets are removed from the streets, reunified with their families and put back in schools. She also strives to ensure the rights of people with special needs through the Disability and Inclusivity Policy.