This International Women’s Day, I took a moment to consider the many varied points of view that I heard from and about women during our recent Sudan mission. Their stories are applicable to the situation of many women living in crisis situations around the world.

When Valentino Achak Deng, the subject of Dave Egger’s best selling novel What is the What speaks, he allows long pauses between sentences during which you can almost hear his audience holding their breath. On Tuesday night, Refugees International’s Washington Circle featured Valentino as part of a panel discussion on “The Year of Sudan: What Lies Ahead” at the Mexican Cultural Institute.

When my colleague Melanie Teff and I visited Upper Nile and Southern Kordofan states a few weeks ago, we spent a lot of time hearing and talking about water. Sudan had been experiencing a drought, and harvests had yielded far less than normal. People were worried. The international community was worried. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it was increasing its expected number of beneficiaries for food aid in south Sudan this year from 1.1 million to 4.3 million people, a massive increase.

The Financial Times headline sounds the alarm: “Fury at unspent funds for Sudan.” It seems that donor governments are furious at the World Bank for spending only $181 million out of the $524 million in donated funds from the fund it manages to support the recovery and development of local communities in south Sudan.

In January, there were two discussions in the United Nations Security Council that are important to Refugees International’s work.  The discussion on Somalia was particularlydisappointing, but we were pleased that the UN Security Council is finally looking at how to respond to the escalating violence in south Sudan.

Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, announced that the U.S. is … “very concerned that UNMIS take on board and fully implement the portion of its mandate – the critical portion of its mandate – that relates to the protection of civilians.” Ambassador Rice did not, however, elaborate on what the United Nations Mission in Sudan, otherwise known as UNMIS, could do to make protection a reality.

The escalation of violence in south Sudan should serve as a wake-up call at this critical point in time. Five years ago this week, the government in Khartoum and rebel leaders in south Sudan ended a long and bloody civil war with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Today, with one year left to go before a referendum on southern independence in 2011, the outlook is grim. Last month, the Khartoum government cracked down on protesters and detained senior members of opposition parties.

Women’s groups in Khartoum are working together to push for reform of north Sudan’s criminal laws on rape and adultery. Despite all of the difficulties that they face, they are taking positive steps forward and using the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence to launch their campaign.

“What Khalil first heard were helicopter sounds…and then the children started running.”