USAID/OTI Sudan Field Report April 2004
Program Description
Since 1983, an estimated two million Sudanese have died as a result of the protracted conflict, drought, and famine. Recently, however, several positive developments within Sudan have occurred, providing new opportunities to finally resolve Africa’s longest war and move the country toward a lasting peace. In addition to several successful local-level, people-to-people peace processes, the Government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) appear to be on the verge of a peace agreement.
OTI’s work links ongoing peace processes to initiatives that promote increased participation of southern Sudanese in their governing structures. The OTI southern Sudan program has three main objectives: the strengthening of key processes, mechanisms, and institutions for responsible governance and civil society development; the increase in access to quality, independent information; and the promotion of processes, mechanisms, and institutions that promote peace and stability.
OTI’s program in southern Sudan supports activities in the following focus areas:
- Foster Demand for Good Governance: OTI’s efforts focus on strengthening the rule of law by increasing the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary and developing governance entities in southern Sudan. OTI has issued a grant to the British NGO Christian Aid to provide targeted assistance to the judiciary and critical civil society actors working to promote good governance. The OTI small grants program administered by U.S.-based NGO Pact also targets assistance to emerging governance and civil society structures.
- Independent Southern Sudan Media: Given the high levels of illiteracy in southern Sudan, radio is the most effective vehicle for relaying information about the peace process, general news, as well updates on humanitarian and development programming. With funding from OTI, Educational Development Center (EDC) has established a four-hour Monday-Friday short wave local-language radio service for southern Sudan.
- Provide Rapid Targeted Support to Governance and Peace-building Efforts: Proposed OTI interventions in this area include the provision of technical assistance/capacity building to civil society groups and key sector governance bodies, and the implementation of community-identified priority projects to secure local peace agreements among citizens. Pact will create a small grants mechanism to implement such activities.
Country Situation
While April has provided us with another month of statements such as “Peace Deal to be signed by Weekend” in early April and “Peace Deal may be signed in a couple of days”, at the same time conflict and signs of potential conflict seem to be on the rise. At the end of April, reports from Naivasha continue to insist that the peace deal is imminent.
While a ceasefire was signed in early April between Darfur rebels and the Sudanese government, reports of the ceasefire being broken are frequent and disturbing. It is now thought that there are over one million IDPs in Darfur region alone and hundreds of thousands continue to pour into Chad. Until the end of the month, the Government of Sudan was taking an inordinate amount of time to issue visas to USAID and other humanitarian staff, and now that some visas have been issued, it remains unclear how the government will facilitate travel to Darfur.
In even more disturbing news, the fighting in Darfur seems to have escalated to new heights as Chadian troops have for the first time engaged with Sudanese troops in late April. Reports of this fighting are still coming in.
In other regions, fighting has increased in the Upper Nile region with insecurity causing increased flow of IDPs to Malakal. Reports from this region give numbers ranging from 10,000 to 120,000 IDPs from Shilluk Kingdom seeking refuge in Malakal, which has no facilities to accommodate these numbers. Experts are warning of a pending humanitarian crisis and church leaders are requesting assistance.
Meanwhile, insecurity has been reported in other southern Sudan regions and has hampered humanitarian and development worker access, although with less consistency and severity.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
Sudan Radio Service, broadcasting since July of 2003, is launching an active marketing campaign. SRS has hired a marketing director and will roll out an intensive marketing plan over the next months. Plans include football tournaments, listening groups and radio giveaways in collaboration with the OTI Pact small grants program. SRS broadcasts, currently at four hours per day, are expected to expand to six hours per day.
April programming included:
- On the scene coverage of the All Nuer Conference
- Current Events Program in Arabic
- Special programs on marriage customs in the Dinka and Shilluk communities
- Two-part series on the importance of education for girls – broadcast in English and Arabic
SRS continues to be sought out for collaboration with other program in Sudan, thereby maximizing the impact of SRS and other donor programs. Currently, SRS implementer Educational Development Center has been working on HIV education programming for the USAID funded CARE consortium program Sudan Basic Education Project.
B. Grant Activity Summary – USAID/OTI Afghanistan
OTI Pact Southern Sudan Transition Initiatives small grants program has reached a total of $1,735,435 in expenditures with March grants totaling $261,606. Small grants were given in each of the three OTI objectives areas including:
- Governance
- Water Management Training for Bor County and Upper Nile
- Twic Mayardit Conference
- Peace
- Bor-Mundri Cattle Crisis Conference
- Abyei Cross-border Dialogue
- Information
- Civic Education National Working Group – development of Civic Education Messages
Pact staff have been taking a leading role in the integration of the Sudan field office activities with SPLM leadership coordination and other donor activities.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
- EDC will procure a VSAT (‘Very Small Aperture Terminal’) for consistency in downloading of broadcasting materials
- Prepare for TDY of OTI W staff in May
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: Bailey Hand, Sudan Program Manager, Tel: (202) 712-0795, bhand@usaid.gov
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