Women Mediators of Wau, South Sudan
Profiles for Peacebuilding Practice
Researchers: Latifah Namutebi, Jackline Janaro, Juliet Luka, Akuch Deng, Rose Stephen Abdallah, Julia Mahmud, Elizabeth Zacharia and Juleta Alberto Lino
The Abstract
South Sudan’s national peace process remains fragile, with the Revitalized Agreement (R-ARCSS) stalling amid renewed violence, displacement, and food insecurity. In Wau Municipality, a convergence zone of Dinka, Luo, Ndogo, Balanda, Kresh, and Bongo communities, histories of conflict and migration have left disputes over land, resources, and identity unresolved. Formal state justice is weak, and it is women mediators who hold together everyday peace through invisible networks in markets, churches, VSLA groups and kinship ties.
This publication documents the contributions of six women mediators in Wau, showing how indigenous, identity-informed practices such as Ndogo kinship, Dinka maternal authority, Balanda hospitality, Kresh artistic resilience, and Bongo “beer talks” underpin their conflict resolution work. These mediators prevent retaliatory killings, manage inter-ethnic negotiations, and stabilize relationships the state cannot reach. Their approaches reveal peace as daily coexistence, justice and restored dignity.
Based on ethnographic profiles and collaborative knowledge production, the study argues for the institutional recognition of grassroots women mediators, direct funding to their networks and monitoring frameworks that capture their real impact.
Read Publication here: Women Mediators of Wau Profiles for Peacebuilding Practice (1)
