Project area. The project will be implemented in three of the most deprived states of Southern Sudan, namely Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Jonglei, with a focus on one county in each of these states, Terakeka, Bor and Magwi respectively.

Target group. The project will address the needs of rural people at county level. According to a livelihood and gender assessment carried out prior to project formulation, the rural poor constitute the majority of the rural population in Southern Sudan; they depend on subsistence agriculture; and they have coping options that have proved efficient during the war and in times of insecurity or climatic adversity. The less resilient populations are the ones that rely on limited sources of food, have limited coping options because of a low-potential environment and have to be highly mobile to maintain their livelihood patterns.

Project objectives. The overall goal of the proposed project is to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor and enable the empowerment of their community organizations. More specifically, the project will (i) increase food security and agricultural productivity and marketing; (ii) promote community development with the equal participation of women, men and vulnerable people; and (iii) provide responsive social and productivity-related services.

Project description. The project will have three components, to be fine-tuned during project design:

• Community development. Activities to be supported include: (i) administration and community sensitization at the county level and development of committee action at lower administrative levels (payam and boma); (ii) county, payam and boma participatory planning, formation of interest groups and identification of social, productive and marketing investments; (iii) carrying out of a baseline survey for livelihood system monitoring; (iv) community and interest groups capacity-building, including training and trauma counselling for vulnerable groups (women and returnees), technical training, fund administration and business management training, value chain development, sustainable resources management and intracommunity conflict resolution platforms; and (v) matching grants for income and production system enhancement, based on value chain analysis.
• Enabling services. Under this component, the programme will focus on: (i) support and assistance to county sector-related administration offices; (ii) value chain and marketing services at target county level; (iii) basic social infrastructure (e.g. water supply); (iv) technical and advisory support by state and central government line ministries; and (v) conflict resolution dialogue platforms for intra- and interstate resource competition issues.
• Project management. The component will cover national and county-level project coordination. The project management structure will be mainstreamed into  the government set-up. The focus will be on building the capacity of local government staff, improving their working conditions and enhancing their mobility so that they can better serve the rural population.

Important features. This is the last project in the pipeline of the IFAD country strategic opportunities paper on the Sudan approved by the Executive Board in 2002. It is aligned with the Government of Southern Sudan’s aid strategy and the objectives of its sector strategy for  natural resource management. Direct project collaboration is envisaged with the Multi-Donor Trust Fund and with European Union-financed projects in the agricultural sector.

Potential cofinanciers. Interested cofinanciers are invited to contact IFAD.

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Photo caption 1: Photo by Mr Turi Fileccia - A woman in Southern Sudan cooking fish over a fire.

Facts and figures Region: Near East and North Africa Project ID number: 1453 Nature of project: Rural development Project cost (provisional): To be determined Estimated IFAD grant (provisional): To be determined Cofinancing gap: See section on potential cofinanciers Domestic contribution (provisional): To be determined Stage of project cycle: Under formulation Next step in project development: Appraisal scheduled for April 2008. Meeting to validate formulation report planned with the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan in February/March 2008 Tentative date for consideration by the Executive Board: September 2008 Project duration: Four years Tentative project start-up date: First quarter of 2009 Implementing agency: Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of the Government of Southern Sudan Borrower: Republic of the Sudan Hot links Rural poverty in Sudan IFAD operations in Sudan Planned project activities disclaimer Contact information Ms M. Bishay Director, Near East and North Africa Division Ms R. Omar Country Programme Manager e_mail: r.omar@ifad.org International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Via Paolo di Dono, 44, 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: + 39 0654591 e-mail: ifad@ifad.org