Background

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 marked a critical juncture for Sudan. It represented an opportunity for the people of Southern Sudan, in particular, as the area most affected by Africa’s longest civil war, to finally experience peace and development. Since 1983 there have been an estimated 2 million deaths attributable to 21 years of conflict, 4 million internally displaced people, and more recently 2 million IDPs caused by the situation in Darfur, and almost 1 million refugees in neighboring countries.

In this context, the expectations of the new Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) seem in excess of what can actually be delivered. The responsibility of the President to make wise decisions, to manage competing interests, to negotiate differences, and to both establish and deliver key priorities, is enormous. The task will be impossible without strong support being given to the President to carry out these many functions and to ensure he has good and timely information, sound analysis, and efficient organization in his office. Therefore, the GoSS President requested UNDP to provide technical assistance to his office. With financial support from the Norwegian Government, as a follow up to its commitment to the peace process, UNDP launched the Support to the Office of the President project to assist the office of the GoSS President in developing its functional capacity.

Objectives
The project’s objective is to strengthen the Office of the President to adequately carry out its role of supporting the President, by providing direction for key strategic priorities in Southern Sudan and in the task of running his Cabinet, and through this, support the functioning of the Government of Southern Sudan, contributing to democratic development and sustainable peace.

Outputs
• The capacity of the Office of the President will be enhanced to implement and monitor the Policy Framework.
• The human and institutional capacity of the Office of the President will be improved to support the President in achieving his mandate.

Snapshots of the project's major achievements
Implementation of Policy Framework:
• Under this activity result, a number of workshops intended to lead to development of key strategies, were held.
• The project supported two workshops, held to create awareness about the Policy Framework, 2009 Annual Work Plan and Strategic Plan among staff of the Office of the President.
• The project supported two workshops, held to create awareness about security issues among the staff of the Office of the President.
• The project supported two meetings, held by a legal firm, international Law Policy Group (ILPG), to consult with representatives of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and Unity State on border issues concerning the former and Southern Darfur State, and the latter with Southern Kordofan State.
• The project supported one workshop, involving stakeholders from key GoSS ministries, UN agencies and NGOs to consult on creating a Task Force to develop a strategy for implementing programmes, and framework to monitor progress, in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Southern Sudan. The work to develop a strategy and monitoring framework awaits formation of technical and high committees to start.
• The project supported one workshop, held to consult with stakeholders on developing Emergency Preparedness and Response Strategy (Disaster Risk Management).
• The project has recruited a policy Advisor for the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
• The project has developed Terms of Reference for recruitment of Elections and Referendum Analyst for the Office of the President.

Implementation of Communications and Public Relations Strategy
• The project supported a symposium held with media representatives to consult on eff3wctive media coverage for the Office of the President. This symposium resulted in smoothing co-operation and understanding the requirements and obligations of the Directorate of Communication and Public Relations, Directorate of Protection and security on one hand, and media representatives on the other.
• The project supported two members of Communications and Public Relations Directorate to travel to Hague, Netherlands, and cover the final arguments and submissions on Abyei to the International Court of Arbitration by the representatives of Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) and National Congress Party (NCP). This was meant to inform the Southern Sudanese public on the proceedings.
• The project has submitted to UNDP Procurement Unit a requisition of communications equipment for the Directorate of Communications and Public Relations. The requisition of the equipment is at advertisement stage.
• The project has supported development of a training plan for the staff of Communications and Public Relations Directorate. The project has submitted the Terms of Reference to UNDP Procurement Unit for advertisement. The training plan will be implemented in March 2010.

Equipment and Resources for the Office of the President
• The project has increased the Internet bandwidth for the Office of the President. The offices of the President, Vice President, Minister and the whole ministry of Presidential Affairs are now connected to the Internet, enabling them to send and receive e-mail messages to and from the Office of the President.