Delegation visit of the Bana Group: from left to right Huda Ali (Finance Manager), Mai Ali (Founder and Board Member), Asma Hasaballah (Darfur Office), Ekram Hamza (Head of Kampala Office), and our project manager Sarah Reinke. March 2025, Göttingen. Photo: Stefanie Grolig/GfbV

Strengthening women's voices in Sudan's transition process

Our project with the Bana Group for Peace and Development (Sudan) and KURVE Wustrow (Germany) aims to protect and empower women in Sudan. Their voices should be heard in Sudan itself and at all levels of international politics, because only together with them can a peaceful democratic society be built in Sudan.

April 2023: The country is at war
 

Since the start of the new war in Sudan on April 15, 2023, more than eleven million people are said to have been displaced, with three million having fled outside the country. Up to 150 thousand have died or been injured. There is famine in some parts of the country and the threat of famine in other areas. According to UNHCR figures, more than 70 percent of refugees arriving in Chad, for example, report that they have been victims of serious human rights violations. The violence is particularly directed against certain ethnic groups such as the Masalit or the Zaghawa in Darfur. Rape and enslavement of women and children, hunger and displacement are used as weapons in this war against the civilian population.

The warring parties are deliberately inciting different population groups against each other, arming them and thus sowing hatred and violence. This destroys social cohesion. Find out more about the war here.

The Bana Group: Women sowing hope in the midst of war
 

In the midst of this war, the Bana Group is setting an example of hope. The network of women human rights defenders from all over Sudan is campaigning for women's rights, peace and reconciliation across ethnic boundaries. The Bana Group organizes workshops for women in refugee camps inside and outside Sudan. Psycho-social support, overcoming trauma and women's health are just some of the areas in which members of the Bana Group offer support and assistance to refugee women and girls. The overarching goals are reconciliation between hostile parts of Sudanese society and, in particular, empowering the women in this society. Saida told us about the work on site, you can read more about it here.

The Bana Group focuses its work on women who play a central role in Sudanese society and are now living in refugee camps as a result of flight or displacement. Many of them look after orphaned children while at the same time having to cope with their own war traumas. At the same time, the women of the Bana Group are putting themselves at great risk, as the army and militias are deliberately threatening and attacking female activists. Both the army and the militia are afraid of having their crimes documented, see any civil society involvement as an attack on themselves and their war aims and generally disregard help and solidarity

Sudan: one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the world
 

The humanitarian situation is dramatic: more than 25 million people, or more than half of the Sudanese population, are suffering from hunger and a lack of medical care. International organizations often have no access to the refugee camps, which makes the work of local networks such as the Bana Group extremely valuable and even indispensable.

The documentary “Forgotten Voices” provides an impressive testimony to the conflict, making the voices of the forgotten audible and showing how their mere survival becomes a silent resistance.

The Bana Group remains a symbol of hope for the local people and the Sudanese diaspora. But to continue its work, it urgently needs more international attention and support.

Our cooperation

The three project partners take on different tasks in order to help the people of Sudan, especially the women who are marginalized in many ways. While in Sudan itself and in the neighboring countries, where many refugees from Sudan live, psycho-social aid in the form of workshops and further training, reconciliation and humanitarian aid are provided, the work in Germany by Kurve Wustrow and our association is mainly about drawing the attention of the media, politics and civil society to the situation in Sudan and encouraging them to get involved.

• We have already published a report and regularly write press releases and statements to the Federal Foreign Office and various UN bodies.
   
• In 2025, a delegation of women from Sudan will come to Germany. They will have talks with political actors and politicians at German, European and international level.
   
• Another focus this year is the documentation of serious human rights violations. A lot of preparatory work is needed here to protect the survivors and document the statements in such a way that they would also stand up in an international court.
   
• In spring, our Sudan campaign will focus on the situation of women. As part of the campaign, we are publishing digital and print publications that provide information about the situation of women from Sudan. We will also be presenting the topic at the Protestant Church Congress in Hanover.

Authors: Sarah Reinke and Ida Holighaus
Editors: Stefanie Grolig and Betül Matur

This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence.

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Last updated March 2025.