AMNA ABD EL RAHMAN ABD EL RASOUL (Sudan)


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“Supporting girls’ education and the improvement of living conditions for the people in Kedalu are my life-long mission that I am dedicated to.”

Amna Abd El Rahman, (29) is one of very few university graduates in the region of Kedalu and Head of the Women’s Section in the Higher Committee for Kedalu Development (WSHCKD). As an active member of the Peace and Development Center (PDC) and the Kedalu Development Corporation (KDC) she is affiliated with both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Amna’s major achievements are on issues concerning women’s and children’s rights and education as an essential right. She strives to reshape the community’s biased attitudes and concepts regarding women’s participation in society.

The Kedalu area is one of the most underdeveloped areas in the Sudan and suffers from the absence of government’s and NGOs’ basic community services. There is no access to telephones, road network and marketing facilities. In addition the area is insecure due to the outbreak of civil war in the late 1990s. For more than eight years, Amna has been working with both women’s and men’s groups to mobilize her community. She has organized many training programs for environment development, management and community planning. Her main aim was to make education an essential right for girls in the area, which was very difficult due to local social and economic constraints. Nowadays the percentage of girls’ enrolment in basic education has significantly increased. Amna’s exemplum as a university graduate encourages more families to send their children to school. Visitors to the Kedalu area can clearly observe a fundamental shift in local people’s conceptions of women’s role and significant participation in different development activities. Throughout her work in Kedalu, Amna has faced many challenges, most exigent of which was the high rate of illiteracy, particularly among women, ubiquitous poverty due to the low incomes of people in the area and the outbreak of the civil war, which lead to massive displacement of Kedalu citizens. This new situation forced Amna and the women in Kedalu to depend on their own resources and they became a successful example for all women, not only in the Kedalu area, but also for all women’s groups in Blue Nile State.

Women’s Section in the Higher Committee for Kedalu Development (WSHCKD) Peace and Development Center (PDC) Kedalu Development Corporation (KDC)

Africa | Sudan

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