‘At the table’ and beyond: lessons on advocacy from the South Sudan women’s coalition for peace

This article examines the strategies, dilemmas, and hybrid forms of feminist advocacy advanced by the South Sudan Women's Coalition for Peace (SSWCP) during and after the 2017–2018 high-level revitalised forum peace process. It traces how the coalition mobilised across borders and strategically inserted itself into liberal, elite-dominated negotiation spaces, while simultaneously engaging grassroots actors through informal peace processes. Methodologically, the study builds on qualitative research conducted in 2020, combining a review of policy texts and advocacy materials with 10 virtual interviews, alongside critical engagement with recently published literature and reports. Drawing on the leadership-as-process analytical framework, the article interrogates the gap between symbolic inclusion, substantive influence, and the lived security realities of South Sudanese women. The findings reveal that while the SSWCP succeeded in securing gendered provisions and senior political positions within the revitalised peace agreement, the realisation of these gains remains constrained by executive discretion, militarised governance, and reduced donor funding for feminist interventions. The article argues that meaningful transformation requires a structural shift towards socially grounded, process-based forms of leadership. This further calls for sustained engagement with women and other marginalised constituencies beyond the negotiation table.