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Agricultural Market and Enterprise Development in Sudan - n/a Enterprise & Agriculture Sudan 2005 - 2008 USAID |
Rebuilding Southern Sudan
RATIONALETwenty years of civil war has resulted in enormous consequences for the people of Southern Sudan. Two million people have died and another 4 million have been displaced. Southern Sudan is one of the poorest areas in the world, with an estimated 90% of the population earning less than $1 per day. The war destroyed infrastructure, institutions, and physical capital. Economic growth was hampered and basic livelihoods were ruined. Economic infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged and commercial activity severely disrupted. The challenges are colossal as people of the region seek to simultaneously establish a new government, care for internally displaces persons (IDPs) and refugees, and build the economic infrastructure essential for prosperity and stability. During the transition from war to peace, it is important that people are able to rebuild livelihoods and return to communities where there is the economic infrastructure to facilitate recovery. Creating an enabling environment for agricultural development, business development services and private sector enterprises can support peace and promote economic prosperity in Southern Sudan.
Winrock, working with partner organizations through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA), is implementing the Agricultural Market and Enterprise Development (AMED) Program. The AMED program focuses strengthening private enterprise, cooperatives, and market linkages that generate employment, income and sustainable livelihoods with special emphasis on the needs of returning IDPs, refugees, ex-combatants and youth, reintegrating them into communities and a private sector-based economy with the capacity to expand and create employment and increased income. Activities are oriented toward the urban centers of Juba, Yei and Wau and the surrounding rural communities.
OBJECTIVES
The AMED program supports USAID Strategic Objective No. 10: Promote Stability, Recovery and Democratic Reform. The program's goal is to enhance Southern Sudan's Peace Dividend by creating opportunities for improved livelihoods, employment and recovery. AMED has two primary objectives: 1) to strengthen market and enterprise development in selected urban areas as a means of increasing private sector employment; and 2) to build the capacity of local community, county, and state level government and civil society organizations to provide effective support to livelihood development and employment generation initiatives with a focus on the reintegration of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The goal is to create economic opportunities that provide increased household income and employment, thereby contributing to improved food security, local nutrition and environmental conditions in selected areas of Southern Sudan. This is achieved by focusing on individual enterprises, business sectors and industry clusters from the point of production to the point of sale for selected products. The comprehensive and integrated approach that AMED employs will lead to structural changes in the local political-economic situation. These structural changes will be positive in and of themselves and together will underpin the self-sustaining economic growth that is fundamental to the long-term well-being of the people of Southern Sudan.
ACTIVITIES
AMED focuses on micro-enterprise development in selected urban areas and on agricultural marketing and processing activities. Technical assistance from volunteers and advisors support the work of state governments, NGOs, business and industry associations, training centers (particularly vocational training centers), and other local partners. Micro-enterprise development and agricultural markets will enable urban areas to serve as market centers for areas absorbing IDPs and returnees coming back after the peace agreement. Development of competitive private enterprises will provide a basis for developing policy and regulatory systems conducive to future business operations and investment. AMED activities include business development services, microfinance support, small grants, and policy, legal and regulatory framework assistance. Finally, the AMED program will continue to inculcate and mainstream a number of important cross-cutting initiatives which are an integral and vital part of the USAID strategy in Southern Sudan. These include gender, IDP/youth reintegration, HIV/AIDS, utilization of Diaspora expertise.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Accomplishments to date:
• Provided technical assistance to more than 3,000 individuals including structured training to more than 1,600.
• Assisted 119 small and micro enterprises and strengthened 37 local institutions.
• Strengthened seven cooperatives and two business associations. Approximately 100 cooperative members and 60 association members received direct training in improving their operations.
• Assisted Ministry of Commerce in drafting 6 acts to help expand trade and develop the private sector (through linkages with Ministries of Legal Affairs and Finance). Assistance also targeted the development of new trading licenses at reasonable rates, resulting in 100 new import licenses worth $150,000 between July 2006 and February 2007.
• Indirectly created jobs for approximately 768 Sudanese who were employed by importers as a result of new, reasonably priced trading licenses issued through the Ministry of Commerce.
• Assisted in the formation of a Chamber of Commerce in Western Bahr el Ghazal State. The process, which attracted approximately 200 small business owners, emphasized chamber functions, member benefits, and the responsibilities of Chamber officers and members.
• Assisted with the development of Transition Plans for the Fisheries Training Center in Padak and the Crops Training Center in Yei. The plans will effectively move the centers from reliance on donor funding to government sponsorship and self-sufficiency.
• Worked with Southern Sudan Center of Statistics Census and Evaluation Commission for 14 months on long-term capacity building. The Center is a key commission tasked with carrying out the upcoming census in the South and preparing for the upcoming referendum in 2011. AMED's assistance strengthened the Finance Department and helped it improve financial policies and procurement procedures. Further assistance in human resources development led to recruitment of some of the senior staff at the commission, including the Director of Finance.
• Augmented the capacity of the Fisheries Directorate to develop an appropriate fisheries strategy. The Directorate will conduct a trial survey of fisheries in Juba County, a first for Southern Sudan.