Girls’ Education in South Sudan: In pursuit of our vision and mission and in the process of transforming the lives of South Sudanese the Bank partnered with various stakeholders (Administration authorities, Ministry of General Education & Instruction, CGA, GESS Secretariat) to implement cash payments to school-going girls in a project duped ‘Girl Education South Sudan (GESS)’.

The Bank evidenced its experience and capability in making massive payments where a total of 127,793 girls were paid. The programme was executed efficiently and recorded time across the country despite various challenges including insecurity in some areas, bad weather, and communication.

Bank of Tanzania visits Co-op Bank to learn how Direct Debit System works

The project has been integral to increasing enrolment to the highest level ever at 1.3 million pupils in 2016. 43% of these pupils were girls. The project benefitted over 200 schools despite the conflict over the last three years.

The Bank was involved in a similar project in 2015 where the Bank successfully implemented the same with a 94% success rate. The Bank aims to partner with other organizations and NGOs in South Sudan to carry out similar projects in future.

This comes barely a year after the bank extended its joint venture with the government of South Sudan by three years, renewing the parties’ co-ownership of the lender’s subsidiary headquartered in Juba.

The subsidiary is also known as the Co-operative Bank of South Sudan. It is a unique joint venture partnership with the Government of South Sudan, in which Co-op Bank holds a 51 per cent stake and the Government of South Sudan a 49 per cent.

In addition, the Co-operative Bank has written off a cost incurred to implement a new software amounting to Sh. 671.56 million. The South Sudan subsidiary commenced operations in September 2013 and runs four branches.