13 July, Juba - Over
the last decade, the international
community has become increasingly
focused on projects that are community
planned and community driven. Experience
has shown that, by engaging people
at the community level, development
projects tend to be much more responsive,
better designed and likely to succeed
in the long term.
While UNDP’s
programme in Southern Sudan places
a heavy emphasis on building the
capacity of key government institutions,
it also recognizes the need to work
with a diverse set of other actors
– particularly at the grassroots-level
– to promote sustainable development.
Capacity development is, at its
core, an initiative to help people
help themselves. This is why many
of UNDP’s projects involve
work with community group, women’s
organizations, the media and traditional
authorities.
One such project is
the Community Security and Arms
Control (CSAC) initiative which
has, since November last year, opened
a unique consultation process in
communities across some of Southern
Sudan’s most violent areas.
Working in partnership with the
Southern Sudan Peace Commission
and the CSAC Bureau, the goal of
the project is to try to reduce
insecurity by encouraging those
affected by it to come up with their
own solutions to tackle it. Due
to their high frequency of ethnic
clashes, four specific states were
targeted – Jonglei, Lakes,
Eastern Equatoria and Upper Nile.
Within these states, a total of
37 counties participated, including
payam-level representatives. Only
Lafon County failed to complete
the exercise because communities
were unable to come together.
“This is the
first time such an extensive consultation
process has taken place and it is
an example of how community needs
can be heard. UNDP is happy to be
supporting this unique activity
because it brings together all levels
of government. The process also
makes the state more visible by
‘linking the government to
the people’ and engaging communities
in decision making,” explains
David Saunders, Team Leader, UNDP
Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit.
Over 2,000 men (including
traditional leaders), women and
youth were consulted by teams who
helped record the key drivers of
conflict and facilitated the prioritization
of possible interventions to counter
it. A ‘Rapid Rural Appraisal’
method was used, which utilizes
a variety of tools including focus
groups, sampling, interviewing and
mapping exercises. Communities put
forth a number of possible ideas
such as the construction of police
posts to provide a security presence,
and the establishment of boreholes
to ease resource-based violence.
Since many states are experiencing
growing issues around disenfranchised
youth, targeted vocational training
was also high on the list.
UNDP’s support to local and
state-level government enabled this
consultation process to be led by
government partners. Data from communities
was compiled into reports and presented
to State Security Committees for
validation. The next step, which
is currently underway, is for specific
projects to be developed and costed
using this information.
