In 2005, Sudan emerged from a two-decade civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian south, only to see fighting break out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003. The north-south civil war is said to have cost the lives of 1.5 million people. In Darfur, the UN says more than two million people have fled their homes and over than 200,000 and up to 400,000 have been killed due to direct and indirect consequences of the war.

In January 2005, after two years of bargaining, the southern rebels signed a comprehensive peace deal with the government to end the civil war. Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Nairobi, the south was granted limited autonomy and a referendum on full independence by 2011. The accord provides for a high degree of autonomy for the south. The region will also share oil revenue equally with the north.

DRC’s work in Sudan
DRC has been working with the southern Sudanese refugees residing in Uganda since 1999. Upon the 2005 peace agreement and effective cessation of hostilities, there was potential for significant refugee and IDP return. As a result, DRC began working in southern Sudan in late 2005 with the overall objective of providing physical and organisational support to facilitate return and durable solutions for refugees and IDPs. We now operate in four counties in Central Equatoria State: Kajo Keji, Yei, Lainya and Morobo.

DRC uses the participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach within the communities. The community develops a community development plan (CDP) comprising its needs in order of priority and DRC selects the most important needs in line with its budget. The community contributes local materials to develop their priorities.

Working Areas

Livelihood developments
In South Sudan, DRC follows a grass-root approach through the farmer field schools (FFS) where groups of 20-30 farmers are provided with seeds, tools and training in cultivation and management practices. The objective is to enable community members to learn from the methods applied in the demonstration fields, thus contributing to increased income and food security. 64 farmer field schools have been established during the last three years and 28 farmer field schools have been established in 2009 only.

Small scale infrastructure rehabilitation or construction

• In rural areas DRC Schools are constructed in partnership with the communities that contribute local materials. Up until today, DRC has constructed 12 schools and 5 more are being (re-) constructed in 2009 in central Equatoria.
• We also providing water to the communities through water harvesting, drilling bore holes and protecting shallow wells.
• In order to ensure that the rule of law prevails and give the public access to information, DRC has also constructed public buildings like police stations and resource centres

Capacity development
DRC has been developing the capacity of civil society organizations (CBOs), local government authorities and the public. The means to this are:

• Providing education on rule of law through the rule of law forums and computer trainings for the public, teaching people to access information on the internet.
• Protection, advocacy and information. This is done through newsletters with stories from the public and staff, radio broadcasts, rule of law forums, one to one dialogue with authorities to promote rule of law and transparency.

Emergency Distribution of non-food items
DRC has assisted persons displaced by the LRA rebels in Sudan with mosquito nets, blankets, saucepans, hoes and Jerry cans, as they are normally looted of their household items by the rebels.