Where animals mean life

Animals do signify life …

…because in South Sudan, small holder agricultural

production is the base for a sustainable development.

VSF G works in South Sudan since 1998; since 2005 South Sudan is organised in „Bundesstaaten“ = States, sub-dividd in Counties.

VSF Germany supports pastoralists and

agropastoralists in the East of Africa…

… implementing projects in Kenya,

Ethiopia, Somalia, South-Sudan and

North-Sudan.

But taking care of the animals is not enough to

ensure food security and development of rural

communities, for example in

Gogrial East CountyWarrap State / South Sudan

Recovery and Rehabilitation Project 09

Gogrial East (RRP), May 2006 – May 2010

an integral rural development project implemented by VSF Germany

RRP Gogrial East

A gate to

self-determined development …

4 lessons learned after 4 years of project implementation

RRP after the civil war– rehabilitation and firststeps towards the integrated development of a rural county

Global aim: Contribution to poverty reduction and improvement of food security of the rural

population

through:

improvement of animal health and livestock production; increase, improvement and

diversification of agricultural production;

improvement of Basic and Reproductive Health Services with focus on women and children;

improvement of access to safe water;

improvement of access to education and training;

based on close collaboration with the Local Government in supporting them to take up hteir

responsibilities

Partners collaborating in RRP therefore are:

- Local Government Authorities and Administration of Gogrial East - Citizens of Gogrial East

- VSF Germany as Lead Agent

- International NGOs:

CESVI, IoH, WVI, VSF Germany

- South Sudanese NGOs:

INFRAID and SEDA,

RRP = Recovery and Rehabilitation Project

Lesson No 1: Close collaboration with LGA and communities as a base

With RRP, citizens of Gogrial East met to discuss issues concerning the improvement of their lives,

like here in the Participatory Review and Planning Workshop in September 2008

Women are involved and take their stand: not only at community meetings, but also when traders of the market towns came together to form their association.…

…as well as the youth of both sexes

… as here in a meeting for youth groups in

the county capital Lietnhom

RRP moved ahead in supporting the setting up of county structures:Equipping of operational base in Luonyaker and finalising the Local Government Authorities office in Lietnhom, thecounty headquarters.

Citizens come with their requests and are

attended; meetings and workshops are

hold here.

When in Luonyaker, the County

Officers used to hold meetings

in this tukul.

Now they use the rooms of the new

operational base whenever they

come from Lietnhom to Luonyaker.

Giir Thiik Giir, the paramount chief, arriving

to discuss with the Executive Director

The Participatory Review and Planning Workshop, opened by His Excellency, the Commissioner of Gogrial East, could be held at the office premises in Luonyaker and turned out to be a big success.

For three days, more then 120 people participated daily.

To introduce the staff to the modern

communication technology, RRP 09

organized a 2 months comprehensive

computer training course for 40 LGA

staff; representatives of local NGO

were also invited.

Capacity Building of LGA staff

The IT-trainer explained

basic computer operations to

the trainees, and they practised

for the first time in their live.

proud trainees and a happy trainer after a successful training

First steps into a new technology and …

The County Planning Unit could put

into practice new skills learned in

computer training when working on

the county development plan and the

2008/2009 budget.

County Development Plan:

Helping to come up with a 3 years’ integrated county development plan including a budget was one of the major efforts RRP took to support the Local Government during the third year.

The consultant who came in to help the

development of the draft plan, used the

chance also to do capacity building for

Local Government Administrators in

The field of monitoring and evaluation.

The consultant discussed with representatives of all county departments and also gathered all the information the planning unit could get during their payam consultations, before he compiled a draft of the County Strategic Plan.

This draft then was presented

and thoroughly discussed in a

3 days’ meeting for LGA

representatives held in the

county headquarters.

The meeting was held at the premises of the newly established Village Bank in the county headquarter Lietnhom

The County Authorities support the office construction in Lietnhom, the county headquarters, and help to motivate community contributions for the construction of health centres and schools. They organised the community in laying and burning bricks and also helped to provide timber, sand and gravel …

Lesson No 2:

LGA and community

contribution

Constructionin the Health Sector moved on successfully:

The Primary Health Care Unit in Luonyaker has been inaugurated, as well as the Primary Health Care Centre in Matiel. 5 further PHCCs will be finished soon.

The former Primary Health

Centre in Yikador as an

example for how health

facilities looked like all over

the county: an old Tukul,

nearly falling apart ….

… and the newly constructed

Primary Health Centre in

Matiel awaiting the opening

ceremony – thanks to the work

done by many hands.

Community members were the ones to provide bricks for all health facilities constructed by RRP

It is mostly women involved in brick laying.

The women involved in brick laying danced and rejoiced together with the Traditional Birth Attendants trained by the RRP Health Sector during the opening ceremony of the Matiel Health Centre.

The young people of Matiel – the youths, and

students down to Primary one came to join the

Celebrations and were welcomed by

their mothers.

The traditional chiefs - here Chief Morris Ngor Ater and Sub-Chief Ngor Mawien - thanked RRP for the support received in constructing the Matiel Health Centre…

…as well as the representative

of the County Health

Department Theresa Akul

Arol and the women involved

in brick laying.

RRP work is appreciated by the traditional authorities:

For the inauguration

ceremony of the Luonyaker

Health Care Unit and the

Health Centre in Matiel,

the chiefs of the area

provided the bulls

slaughtered by the spear

masters

The communities and the county of Gogrial East contributed local materials including bricks and timber for the construction of public buildings like the Health Centres and Primary Schools

Yikador Health Centre

… and for all schools and

offices under construction

The County Authorities organised to get licences for cutting timbers in the county forests for the roofing of the office and other buildings like health centres and schools constructed under the RRP-programme

The Executive Chief selected the

trees and the youth of the nearby

villages helped the timber cutters

when necessary…

At the inauguration of the Matiel Health Centre, the Consortium Programme Coordinator used the chance to thank LGA and the community of Gogrial East for their contributions towards the construction of public buildings.

LGA and Community Contribution

RRP construction – materials & labour budgeted:

1,89.000 SDG = 584,000 Euro

LGA and community contribution till the end of year three:

Timber 100,500 SDG = 34,000 Euro

Bricks, sand, gravel 884,000 SDG = 272,000 Euro

Total 994,500 SDG = 306,500 Euro

= Contribution of 1/3

“With one hand alone you cannot clap”

Lesson No 3:

Combined Mobile

Clinic for

Human and

Animal Health

advisable

To improve the health services

offered to the citizens of Gogrial

East, the RRP Health Sector started

the Mobile Clinic Services: Once a

week a team went out to visit those

parts of the county far away from

health centres and difficult to access.

The mobile clinic team offered primary health care services in general and also attends to pregnant women and children

When arrival of the team is announced at

the village centre or at the cattle camp

… mothers come immediately to seek help for their sick

children – as farmers come to ask support for their sick

animals.

VSF G supported efforts in Gogrial East that aimed

at ending the numerous clashes between the Dinka-

clans of the Apuk, Aguok and Kuac.

But after the civil war, violent conflicts among the local

communities are endangering the peaceful development of

the rural areas in South Sudan.

Therefore: Lesson No 4:Peace and reconciliation

measures are needed as a pre-

condition for all activities

realised by NGOs.

As a result, VSF Germany introduced a peace and conflict resolution component as a cross-cutting theme into the RRP-project

- As asked by the Commissioner of Gogrial East, VSF G organised a small conferenceat county to level in preparation for the big peace conference at state level to be heldin Tonj.

- A VSF G team supported the delegation made up of county-representatives, traditional rulers, traditional healers, women‘s and youths‘ representatives at thefirst Peace Conference of Warrap Stae 2008; VSF G also helped to disseminate theconditions laid down in the peace agreement signed there all over the county.

- VSF G supported women‘s representatives and women‘s organisation from thehostile clans in forming the umbrella „Akac akac“ (=„Enouhg is enough“), whowanted to bring an end to the violent clashes among the youth.

- In December 2010, during the 2nd State peace meeting, VSF G supported the localgovernment and CoTAL in organising a peace meeting between Apuc, Aguok and Kuac, where youth from the different cattle camps for the first time could meet eachother and exchange their views.

- VSF G opted for traditional conflict resolution and accepted the sentnece of thetraditional court when directly involved: When one of the RRP-drivers was involvedin an accident.

Chiefs, other traditional leaders,

women and youth representatives

discussed about their grievances,

but also about those of the other

side, and tried to find root causes

for the conflict and proposals for

a way forward.

As were the traditional spear masters, VSF G was also there

to see to delegation off to attend the Peace Meeting in Tonj.

Chiefs spoke about their worries and …

... women expressed their grievances.

In preparation for the big

peace conference:

Chief Giir Thiik Giir was the first to sign…

… and both the commissioners of Gogrial West and East sealed the

peace agreement by jumping hands together over the bull, which had

been sacrificed for the big event.

Signing of the Peace

Agreement between

the clans of Apuk,

Aguok and Kuac in

Tonj:

Mama Ayen Parek, widow of William

Deng Nhial, gave her blessings as she did

in Tonj in the presence of the president …

…and the chiefs of Gogrial

West and East joint hands in

celebration.

Presentation of the

Kal Kuel peace

covenant all over the

county

The Governor led a delegation of the Warrap State Traditional Authority Leaders visiting different places in the Greater Gogrial to disseminate the message of the Kal Kuel peace covenant, and held also a meeting in Luonyaker. VSF G helped to organise the events in Gogrial East.

The women handed over white ribbons to all the

chiefs and authorities present– since white is the

colour of peace.

They also presented a rope to the governor - as a

symbol for the bull , which would be scacrificed

later to seal the peace treaty.

Young men and women from the

different cattle camps greeted the

the honorable guests with a white

flag, and offered, as a gesture of

peace, calabashes of sour milk to

them.

At the end of the ceremony everybody joined in

a dance of joy:

Chiefs, elders, celebrities, handicapped,

female members of the parliament,

children…

VSF Germany accepted the verdictof the traditional council …

… and paid the traditional fine of cattle.

One bull was sacrificed for the ceremony

of reconciliation:

Representatives of both parties licked the

bile of the animal and spit: From then on

all bitterness should be forgotten.