South Kordofan Rural Development Programme

The programme covers the entire rural domain of the state of South Kordofan, focusing on the poorest people in the region. The area has been the scene of civil unrest in past decades and its rural communities have been considerably disrupted. Civil strife has severely affected agricultural productivity and the infrastructure that sustains it. Women are particularly vulnerable to the effects of civil strife on services.

The overall goal of the programme is to improve the incomes of the poorest people in the state — smallholder and herder families, particularly those headed by women — and to provide them with access to social services. The programme supports the peace process through post-crisis rehabilitation and development.

Specific objectives of the programme are to:

• enhance incomes and productivity by providing community-based services and technical support
• encourage equitable management of communal rangelands and farmland
• establish community-run safe drinking water supplies and basic health-care facilities
• create sustainable rural credit services
• improve the rural road network
• establish local and state institutions that can help rural communities improve their livelihoods
• enable people in local communities to plan, implement and manage their own development activities and resolve group conflicts

The project is making a major contribution to the re-establishment of peace in the region by providing social and economic support to rural poor people who have been affected by civil strife. Agricultural starter packs have been distributed to nearly 20,000 of the poorest farmers in the programme area.

Source: IFAD