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USAID/OTI Sudan Fact Sheet
FY 07 Budget: $34 million
FY 08 Budget Estimate: $9 million
November 2008
OTI's Sudan program is an integral part of the U.S. Government's effort to strengthen Sudanese confidence and capacity to address the causes and consequences of political conflict, violence, and instability. The OTI program is being implemented within the framework of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and, more recently, within the context of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA). OTI currently has five implementing partners in Sudan: PADCO/AECOM, Academy for Educational Development (AED), Agency for Co-operation and Research in Development (ACORD), PACT, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). From 2003 to 2007, OTI programmed approximately $99 million, including the development and implementation of a small grants program. The current program has the following objectives:
- Promote the emergence of responsive, effective, and inclusive civil authorities. In the Three Areas (Abyei, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile states), OTI supports state and local-level government officials through training in democratic methods to assess the needs of marginalized communities and engage in participatory development planning and budgeting. In addition, the program supports repair and rehabilitation of small-scale community infrastructure. These efforts, implemented by PADCO/AECOM, increase the capacity of state government to provide essential services and address major issues that threaten the success of the CPA. The program also addresses a key source of Sudan's past conflicts by supporting inclusive and reconciliatory integration of various state administrative systems. In Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, OTI is supporting the establishment of the Presidential Assessment and Evaluation Commission, which is instrumental in carrying out popular consultations to test the peace agreement's alignment with the will of the population of these two states and propose amendments for a sustainable peace.
- Promote the emergence of an empowered and active civil society in support of peace processes and dialogue with civil authorities. In Khartoum, the Three Areas, and eastern and southern Sudan, OTI focuses on supporting the implementation of the CPA by preparing communities to monitor its progress, advocate for change, and eventually participate in free and fair elections. OTI also facilitates the creation of institutions and lobbying mechanisms that allow consensus-building and mitigate potentially catalytic conflicts. Through its implementing partner PADCO/AECOM, OTI supports the dissemination of the content of the CPA and prepares communities for elections through basic civic education. OTI has also catalyzed the reform of key laws in Khartoum and the Three Areas to ensure consistency between Sudanese law and the CPA. In Darfur, through its implementing partner AED, OTI supports local-level efforts to identify community recovery needs, build the capacities of local groups and organizations to address those needs with a peacebuilding-sensitive approach, and engage with local and national authorities to advocate for community priorities. Through its implementing partner in the East, ACORD, OTI is fostering the dissemination and implementation of the CPA and ESPA by conducting activities to build conflict management skills, foster advocacy and lobbying around the two peace agreements, and encourage inter-cultural dialogue among various ethnic groups in eastern Sudan. In three volatile areas of Greater Upper Nile, PACT is establishing early warning monitoring posts to enable communities to work with local authorities when banditry and tribal conflict occur and create local mechanisms for dialogue to mitigate violent conflict associated with seasonal migrations of people and their livestock.
- Increase the availability of high-quality and independent information on transition issues. OTI has supported newspapers and radio stations through small grants, strengthening the ability of Sudan's independent media to provide balanced information on key transition issues and to create a forum for genuine public debate. In 2008, OTI aims to increase access to high-quality and independent information on peace processes and transition issues in Darfur, Khartoum and the Three Areas through support for alternative media and information sources, including think tanks, research centers, and community-based organizations.
- Protect vulnerable populations in Darfur. Since the onset of the conflict, OTI has promoted efforts to ensure the safety and basic rights of vulnerable civilians, particularly women, in Darfur. Through a grant to OHCHR, OTI supports the promotion and protection of human rights by strengthening the capacity of international and local monitors to prevent and respond to human rights violations, particularly violence against women. As the process of bringing a negotiated peace process to Darfur evolves, OTI will seek to support civil society advocates working to ensure that the issue of violence against women as a weapon of war is included in the peacebuilding agenda.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: Laura Chinn, OTI Africa Program Manager, 202-712-1591, lchinn@usaid.gov
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