The Mercy Corps Blog

Blog Post Posted July 13, 2009, 8:03 am by Jameson Gadzirai

Sustainable civil society in Sudan

The success of Mercy Corps' initiatives in Sudan will be realized through the creation of self-sustaining local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that provide hope and support to women, children and marginalized members of Sudanese communities. I believe that, ultimately, CSOs must implement aspects of commercial business models if they are to survive — but this also leads to a degree of marginalization within the community.

The dialogue between citizens and local civic organizations contributes to the progress of both. Photo: Rodrigo Ordonez//Mercy Corps

The mere survival of these often-small local organizations is no easy feat, as I experienced first-hand the other day when I went over to meet a CSO that has established a community resource center in the center of Yei town, Central Equatoria. This center was started in 1998 by a group of students from Belgium who saw the need to have a training center, a computer training hall and a functional library. However, over the years, the center has seen funding partners come and go. The presence — or absence — of funding has reflected on the success or otherwise of the center, which is popular to community members in the sprawling town.

In essence, the center is still looking for resources in order for it to become sustainable. The present discussion between the CSO and Mercy Corps is focused on the provision of Internet access and the purchase of computers and other information technology so that the organization can have local community members coming to access computer training and internet for a small fee.

Prices for the installation and maintenance of a VSAT — a small two-way satellite communication system — at the community resource center are prohibitive. In addition, setting up computers that run on Microsoft Windows will bring further problems of software upgrades, day-to-day maintenance and renovation.

Over the course of my work here in southern Sudan, I've come to the realization that —inevitably — cheaper communication mechanisms are needed to allow local institutions like this community resource center to be sustainable. There is hope now in the way, as regional cellular phone operators like Zain and Sudani are offering cheaper mobile phone-based internet access through the introduction of higher-bandwidth technology across Sudan.

I also see hope in organizations like Mercy Corps revitalizing local organizations' capacity to think beyond their current scope of support . Organizations need to prioritize the involvement of a greater number of local people in the communication process, as well as the introduction of more localized support mechanisms.

I believe this can be done through any of three notions:

1. Prioritizing community driven service marketing and publicity. If the local organization does not communicate with its public, then it will collapse because people do not realize the need to have such an institution in the first place. Partners need to have a sustained outreach campaign to communities, aimed at engaging every member of the community and allowing them to realize their worth and cultivate a sense of ownership in the program.
2. Promoting internal capacity building. CSO partners have had their own fair share of community leaders coming and going from the institution as it expands. In some cases, the departure of a project manager has left the organization in ruin. In others, the presence of a new project manager has spelt doom for an otherwise thriving project. It is important that local organizations think continuity in their planning, and establish mechanisms for encouraging all members of the community to take part in the development of the organization.
3. Project planning and follow-up. An inevitable flaw in emerging organizations is dwindling faith in a particular vision. This can come about as a result of a challenging political environment, the inability to adapt to changing circumstances and/or general lack of proper management practice. Organizations will only begin to be sustainable if they recognize the need to make accurate plans and follow up on their work functions.

With some work, and a change in strategy from local organizations, the civil society movement in Sudan is poised for greater growth.

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Blog Post Posted July 7, 2009, 3:55 am by Jameson Gadzirai

Renewing Sudan's farmlands

Untold acres of farmland are unusable because of land mines, remnants from the long Sudanese civil war. Some organizations are working to clear these fields — and protect citizens and their livestock from harm — and Mercy Corps works with farming families to reclaim their livelihoods. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

“It’s the demining guys,” I say to Hakim as we both look ahead to find the road barricaded by a rope with signs that read “Stay on the tracks.”

“It’s those of NPA,” Hakim responds, referring to an organization called Norwegian People’s Aid. NPA has been making lands arable again in southern Sudan's Central Equatoria state through their efforts to remove land mines from fields where crops once grew. The mines are remnants of decades of civil war here — no one is quite sure how many there are.

We both know that it might be a while before the road opens again to allow vehicles to pass. “The last time we waited for three hours in Lainya,” I tell Hakim as we both undo our safety belts, open our doors and step out into the sun.

I am greeted by the sight of men and women working farm fields on either side of the road. The fields are studded by white-topped sticks that jut about one meter from the ground.

“These areas are now safe for farming,” Hakim observes as I continue looking at one woman clearing the land.

More land will be cleared after NPA is done today. I look up and down the line of cars in search of the radio operator who gives the signal that the mine is cleared, after which time we can continue with our journey.

A part of me does not want to be near him when NPA operatives make the countdown to detonation.

I wipe the sweat from my palms on my jean trousers and try not to think about balloons. I have hated balloons ever since I can remember. My friends and brothers used to tease me by filling them up with air and popping them right before my eyes.

I will not pop a champagne cork unless I absolutely have to. So, naturally, I hate counting down to detonation each time I am near a demining exercise.

But my discomfort is temporary. Hundreds of people have suffered a much worse fate in Sudan as a result of the war: stepping on a mine has resulted in mutilation and death, for people and animals.

“Many people have lost goats to landmines in this area,” Hakim says.

For every landmine cleared by organizations like NPA, there is an piece of land now available for agriculture. When that happens, our agriculture and other programs can come and help people take those next few steps toward a better life.

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Blog Post Posted July 4, 2009, 1:30 am by Jameson Gadzirai

Making words count for everybody

Oral communication is the basis of learning and tradition in many rural Sudanese communities. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

When we're doing training around information sharing and technical skills, It is difficult to reach communities that depend heavily on oral communication. Most of the content we produce is invariably text based, and support for other forms of Information and Communication Technology is still very much in its infancy.

So —ultimately, because they are so dependent on oral communication — women, children and marginalized members of the community cannot easily access the information that helps them make important decisions that affect them.

We need to do a better job of helping them access and use this information. I believe that institutions working on strengthening civil society in developing countries should consider promoting oral communication as opposed to written forms of training, reporting and tracking community development.

Radio listening groups in Sudan, for example, have provided communities with instant access to information and helped create discussions on crucial issues such as the country's Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Electoral Process, health, water and sanitation.

Across the region, organizations like Fahamu have gone on to develop a series of learning materials on human rights and democracy through their Crossroads drama series. Theatre and story telling, at their best, provide strong insights into day-to-day lives and generate more interest than point-by-point manuals handed out to community members.

Similarly, Mercy Corps Sudan Resource Centers have attracted huge turnouts for video documentaries and radio listening group sessions, because community members felt messages were reaching them.

Song and well-choreographed dance also allow community members to see themselves in the message being illustrated, as well as assist in shaping crucial decisions over health, welfare and civic issues.

Various forms of oral communication have shown great success in community outreach. Where possible, staff working closely with local partner organizations should encourage the use of the spoken word in delivering messages to target groups and promoting active and engaged feedback. Training manuals can be turned into scripts to be acted out, using the art forms and oral communications that are familiar to those we serve.

Just as we strive to achieve information literacy in communities that have a strong and vibrant reading culture, so too should we strive for an informed selection of skills and practices in semi-literate communities.

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Blog Post Posted June 30, 2009, 11:47 pm by Jameson Gadzirai

A ride with Erkana

Photo: Malish John Peter/Mercy Corps

His dream is to wake up one day and be able to read something; a newspaper in English or a textbook, anything written.

When he last stepped foot in a classroom, it was in primary school. Even then, there was no literature at the school. He answers to the name of Erkana. He is 25 years old.

Each morning he drives a vehicle for Mercy Corps Sudan so that he can raise money to go to school in Arua, a town in northwestern Uganda.

"I need to learn how to read and write English," he says to me as he negotiates routes in
Juba on our way to a meeting.

"Can't you continue with your education in Mundri?" I ask him, referring to a place here in Sudan's Equatoria region. The prospects of getting an education outside of Sudan appear to me more daunting than continuing with the local education system.

"There are no books at the schools, and the teachers have not been paid. Schools are
sometimes closed for months," he replies.

This is enough to keep me silent and let him finish. He continues to reflect on the consistency he has heard about Ugandan schools.

"I want to raise 2,000 Sudanese pounds (about US $1,000) so that I learn English in Arua, and then I come back home and do computer training. I have a friend who can help me with computers," Erkana explains.

You can read the determination in Erkana in a lot of ways. As he speaks, I notice his mind
focus on a not-so-distant future where he still has to negotiate the gaping potholes, steep
inclines and jagged road edges of a system still in the first stages of development.

He shares with many young Sudanese the hope for a more formal education system.

"How did you learn to speak English so fluently?" I ask him.

"We had priests and other people come to our area when I was growing up," he tells me,
still looking straight ahead and negotiating the roads. "I started to speak English small small and I would like to improve it."

In many parts of Africa, literacy in English, Arabic, French and Portuguese has often meant
automatic literacy in mother tongues that share similar alphabets.

Community members have learnt, oftentimes through indigenous institutions, how to codify language systems and create meaning, in written form, of the areas surrounding them.

I ride with Erkana down the streets of Juba to a meeting on capacity building, and can't
help but think of the ways our programs can help the many Erkanas out there.

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Blog Post Posted June 27, 2009, 4:27 am by Jameson Gadzirai

Connecting Sudan's displaced

Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

Imagine yourself in a dry and dusty environment, where temperatures soar to a staggering 107 degrees Fahrenheit and your only hope is a petrol-powered air conditioning system.

Imagine yourself waking up each day to a constant chime of diesel powered generators, all synchronized in a constant whir of progress seeping across southern Sudan. Imagine yourself cut off from basic land line telephone communications, covering vast tracts of land with satellite phones that charge anywhere between $1 and $2 a minute, depending on the time you make a call.

Imagine, amidst all this, the burning desire of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to get in touch with loved ones in order to tell them that all is well. Imagine, amidst all this, how wireless phones could be a miraculous solution to reaching those loved ones — and communicating with the outside world that must seem so far away.

Communities riveted by war and internal conflict are finding a voice in the most unlikely of places, thanks to Mercy Corps' introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across southern Sudan.

In this region, oral communication is as ancient as the most established communities. Strangers are welcomed to a land that is as robust as the gentle, smiling hearts of the people. What better place to promote free and efficient information and communication technology? Unsecured wireless access has meant instant access to friends far away, as well as long-hoped-for communication with those lost boys and girls of Sudan, now based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other places.

An old Pentium III computer can do more here than it ever would in any other environment. For example, commercial Internet cafes in Central Equatoria — one of Sudan's southernmost states — are teeming with community members eager to access computers in order to learn more about subject areas they pursued in school, and also create their own voice in what has become an increasingly globalized environment.

I felt a touch of hope the other day when I turned on my computer in the center of Juba, Central Equatoria's largest city, and was instantly logged on to an unsecured wireless feed from one of the many institutions fostering development in the community. I thought of how lost boys and girls have sent Toshiba computers to beloved siblings, and how they have maintained contact through email and Skype, straddling great distances and defying space and time.

I feel that Mercy Corps Sudan Resource Centers are rightly placed. Located in some of the most remote areas of southern Sudan, they have become so important that family members separated from their loved ones can brave three to four hours of walking through rugged terrain just to gain access to communication facilities freely offered at the resource centers.

Their potential has only been half explored.

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