Southern Sudan Livelihoods Development Project

Southern Sudan Livelihoods Development Project (SSLDP)

As a result of IFAD's engagement with the Government of Southern Sudan after the end of Sudan's civil war, the Executive Board approved financing for SSLDP in 2008. Cofinanced by the Government of the Netherlands, it is scheduled for completion in 2015.

The project is uniquely positioned to develop sustainable, community-based approaches to reducing rural poverty in South Sudan. From a global development perspective, it also holds promise as an example of scaling up such approaches – that is, replicating, adapting and expanding successful programmes and policies to reach more beneficiaries.

SSLDP aims to increase food security and incomes through improved agricultural productivity and marketing in six counties located in three South Sudanese states. Its target groups comprise households that depend upon farming, herding and fishing for their livelihoods. Project activities focus on the poorest and most vulnerable rural populations, including households headed by women and households that were displaced by conflict and have returned to their home counties.

Working at the level of the boma, or cluster of villages, SSLDP engages development committees in a participatory process to identify common needs and productive activities to help poor and vulnerable people improve their living standards. Qualified national and international NGOs provide technical assistance to the committees, enabling them to plan and carry out agricultural microprojects and other development efforts.

The project uses this community-driven approach to ensure that:

• Rural communities are organized and empowered, with equal participation of women and vulnerable groups
• Community-based microprojects increase farm and off-farm production and sales, benefiting poor and vulnerable households
• Communities have improved access to markets through improved roads, as well as access to water and basic services
• County offices build their capacity to plan, budget, supervise and regulate rural development initiatives.

IFAD is directly supervising its investment in SSLDP and working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Cooperatives and Rural Development – which serves as lead ministry for the project – along with non-governmental partners. The project draws upon successful NGO experiences in community-driven development elsewhere in the region, adapting them to the challenging circumstances in South Sudan.

By building capacity at the community and local government levels, SSLDP has the potential to be a flagship project that lays the groundwork for IFAD's future investments in the newly independent nation.

Source: IFAD