USAID/OTI Sudan Field Report
February 2005
Program Description
OTI's programming in Sudan works to link ongoing peace processes, at the local and national level, to initiatives that promote increased participation of southern Sudanese in their governing structures. The four main objectives of the OTI southern Sudan program are to: support the emergence of responsive, effective and inclusive civil authorities; restore the conditions of peace within and among communities through support of opportunities for peaceful dialogue; assist in the emergence of an empowered and active civil society; and, increase access to quality, independent information.
OTI's implementing partners are PACT and Educational Development Center (EDC). PACT manages the Southern Sudan Transition Initiative (SSTI), which is a two-year small grants program that focuses on promoting and supporting good governance, local-level peace initiatives, the development of civil society and an informative and balanced media. EDC has established the Sudan Radio Service which is a short-wave radio station that transmits six hours of programming daily on current events, civic education, health and culture in nine languages.
Country Situation
SPLM Opens Offices in Khartoum/Juba – The SPLM has formally opened its offices in Sudan's capital city Khartoum. The new offices (housed in the three-story building formerly used by U.S. financial services - Citibank) will be used to organize SPLM as a political party - including recruitment of new members as well as preparations for the arrival of national leaders including John Garang. Additional offices were opened in a Khartoum neighborhood with a large population of southern Sudanese IDPs and in the garrison town of Juba.
Garang and Taha Visit UN Security Council – Sudan's First Vice-President Ali Osman Taha and SPLM Chairman John Garang traveled to New York to argue before the U.N. Security Council for an increase in reconstruction assistance. Mr. Taha called on the international community to lift economic sanctions and forgive all foreign debts. Garang noted the many challenges ahead, including the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees and millions of internally displaced persons to their home areas in the south.
ICRC to Facilitate Detainee Returns – After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the Sudanese government and SPLM requested the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to facilitate the release and return of detainees. The Sudanese government and the SPLM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in February for the release and transfer of prisoners related to the armed conflict in southern Sudan. Under the MoU, the ICRC would use its planes and other means of transport to bring the prisoners from the south to the north.
Increase in Southern Sudanese Refugees in Kakuma – According to a report from Reuters news agency, lack of food is driving some southern Sudanese to take refuge in Kenya one month after the signing of the final peace agreement. Almost 900 southern Sudanese have arrived at Kakuma refugee camp in the past few weeks.
GOS and SPLM Militia Clash in Akobo –
According to the Sudan Radio Service, forces backed by the Government of Sudan (GoS) wrested the Upper Nile town of Akobo out of SPLM hands in mid-February. By the end of the month, SPLM forces claimed to have recaptured the town. The clashes illustrate the fragility of the cease-fire agreement.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
One of the critical tests of the peace agreement's durability will be the success or failure of its implementation in the transition areas of Southern Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains. As a result of the Naivasha Protocols, both areas will be ruled jointly by the GoS and the SPLM in a complex power-sharing arrangement. Communities that had been previously divided across the north/south line will now live side by side under one state structure.
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| OTI-funded parliamentary training in the Nuba Mountains. |
Since the inception of the South Sudan Transition Initiatives small grants program, OTI has carried out 33 of projects in the Transition Areas targeting the regions' complex needs. In response to the necessity to build social cohesion across divided communities, OTI has supported 12 cross-line peace and reconciliation processes. Additional interventions include capacity building grants for local authorities, dissemination of the Naivasha protocols, and technical assistance on critical issues related to constitution development and resource management.
OTI awarded several grants in February to continue valuable cross-line and civil society dialogues in the Transition Areas. In the Nuba Mountains, the Nuba and Baggara peoples will gather to reconcile differences, revive traditional methods of conflict resolution, and cooperate on issues related to engagement with both local and national government. OTI is also supporting the All Nuba conference that is focused on linking civil authorities and civil society on a broad variety of issues related to CPA implementation, the development of a democratic and responsive civil administration, and establishing a joint SPLM/GOS integration strategy and action plan.
Women in southern Sudan continue to rate at the bottom of most human development indices related to health, education and income. OTI awarded eleven grants to Sudanese local NGOs to support women's income-generation and capacity-building activities. The projects included provision of grinding mill equipment and the development of resource centers where women would have access to skills training. Additional grants awarded in February went to provide continued support for the safe passage for Bor Dinka IDPs returning to Upper Nile, to train community members in Aweils East in water management and sanitation, and to provide critically needed education materials in Southern Blue Nile.
A report has been completed on the outcome of dissemination of the six Protocols by the National Working Group on Civic Education (NWGCE) consortium of 21 Sudanese NGOs. The OTI-funded activity involved the translation and dissemination of the six protocols throughout southern Sudan. Overall results show the NWGCE team reached an estimated 85 percent of the counties in southern Sudan as well as in the Transition Areas in just two months.
In addition to the regular variety of civic education, news, health, agriculture and education issues programming, the OTI-funded Sudan Radio Service (SRS) aired a series of public service announcements in February regarding the upcoming polio vaccination campaign across southern Sudan to be carried out by the World Health Organization. The radio pieces are designed to increase awareness and educate listeners about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
A Nairobi-based consultancy firm conducted a listener survey for SRS in nine towns across southern Sudan, interviewing over 1,500 respondents. The final report by MINDS research firm was completed and the findings are currently under review by OTI.
OTI has recently awarded a SWIFT contract to Development Associates Inc. (DAI), of Bethesda, Maryland. DAI has extensive experience working with OTI in other country programs and will set up offices in Sudan and Kenya within the coming weeks. OTI Sudan, DAI, and the Sudan Field Office will meet in a strategy session to discuss future programming options in southern Sudan and Darfur.
B. Grants Activity Summary
| Promote emergence of responsive, effective and inclusive civil authorities. |
1 |
$ 30,612 |
28 |
$1,219,163 |
| Provide opportunities for peaceful dialogue within and among communities. |
14 |
$132,032 |
63 |
$2,348,619 |
| Promote the emergence of an empowered and an active civil society. |
1 |
$ 29,250 |
49 |
$1,430,023 |
| Increase availability of quality, independent information. |
|
|
33 |
$4,696,334 |
| Total |
16 |
$191,894 |
173 |
$9,694,139 |
C. Indicators of Success
As a result of the Naivasha Protocols, the National Congress Party (NCP)1 and the SPLM will jointly rule the Southern Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in a complex power-sharing arrangement. The NCP will be allocated 55 percent and the SPLM 45 percent of the states' executive and legislature seats with a rotational governorship between the two parties.
In response to the critical need to support and strengthen the legislative bodies, OTI provided parliamentary training to 100 local officials who will represent citizens in the regional parliaments of Nuba and Southern Blue Nile. The officials were trained in the roles and procedures of the legislature, parliament members, debate sessions, critical parliamentary debate techniques, popular consultation and mobilization. Equipped with key skills and concepts, the officials will ensure informed and participatory decision-making on issues such as CPA implementation and accountability of local governance structures. Below is a snapshot of feedback from a variety of training participants:
"The number of trainees is more than double what we expected. Though this has caused us financial pressure, it is an indication of the enthusiasm of the Funj people to participate in capacity building activities relevant for post peace reconstruction and good governance."
Hastin Yokwe, Director ROOF
"The training was good; it gave us an idea of what we should be doing as members of parliament. It needs to be continuously conducted in phases for more benefit of the participants regarding their role and the challenges to be faced in the future and how to deal with it."
Zienab Alsanosi, participant
"The training was useful, and the contents were relevant with good facilitation from the consultant. It gave us the overview of the job description of the parliament especially with in the integrated government."Omer Hussein Kafi, participant
1The National Congress Party is the current party in power in the North.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
- TDY of Jerry Jordan to assist in SSTI phase out;
- Rapid deployment of DAI staff to Nairobi;
- Program strategy session for future OTI programming in southern Sudan.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: Nhelly Saleh, Sudan Program Manager, Tel: (202) 712-0795, nsaleh@usaid.gov
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