Meeting Capacity Needs in South Sudan

Donors face monumental challenges in delivering aid and effective cooperation with the world’s newest country South Sudan, which, after two decades of civil conflict, has extreme capacity shortages.



Fragile and post-conflict countries can be the most challenging of environments for donors and nowhere would appear to be more difficult right now than South Sudan where donors are not just helping a post-war recovery, they’re going to be instrumental in building a new country.



About the same size as the  Iberian Peninsula, South Sudan has virtually no roads, only the bare bones of a functioning state and a population of just 8 million, many of whom are illiterate subsistence farmers or nomads ravaged by a brutal conflict that left some 2 million dead.



“After two decades of a ferocious civil war, the very foundations – not just for state but also for nation-building and any kind of societal development – have been eroded,” said Ambassador Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, Head of the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.



“State building is certainly a tremendous task for the leaders of this new-born country if you look at the lack of capacity in administration and the absence of institutions needed to manage complex government systems,” he continued.

“The incredible challenge this country now faces is at least two-fold: Building the foundations for a viable state,” he said, which included roads, water, sanitation, health, education and rule of law amongst others, “but also the important aspect of nation-building, taking into account the level of fragmentation and potential for tribal conflict.”



The European Union, along with the United States, is one of the largest donors cooperating with South Sudan where it has committed to supporting projects in the areas of: justice and rule of law, education, health, water management, and rural economy (see the EuropeAid website for more information).



Until taking up his post in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, Mr Kühn von Burgsdorff worked on  key development policy documents, including the European Commission’s ‘Agenda for Change’, which was presented in 2011 and lays out a more strategic approach to reducing poverty including a more targeted allocation of funding. According to the EU Ambassador to South Sudan, the Agenda for Change is also relevant to his host country.



“If you look at the Agenda for Change, the major breakthrough is that we try to improve in parallel two important strands of development policy, the first being democratic governance, rule of law and human rights, but equally important is the notion of inclusive and sustainable economic growth, which rests on strengthening the foundations of the agricultural sector, which is the livelihood for more than 80% of South Sudan's population, and improving access to energy,” said Mr Kühn von Burgsdorff.



“All of these things are of tremendous importance to South Sudan.  While it is one of the most fragile states in the world it certainly needs both the democratic governance... and the inclusive growth agenda.”



The Agenda for Change, which was recently endorsed by Development Ministers, focuses European Union assistance on two areas: human rights, democracy and other key elements of good governance on one hand and inclusive and sustainable growth for human development on the other.

To do this, target areas have been identified:

•    social protection, health, education and jobs

•    the business environment, regional integration and world markets

•    sustainable agriculture and energy.

Of these priorities, harnessing and promoting the private sector and business is among the toughest. “What is a particular challenge for us is effective and sustainable private sector involvement ....[which] is difficult because we are at an infant stage in the development process, given the lack of physical infrastructure, business support and financial services and a rather volatile macro-economic environment. But now as South Sudan is going to become a member of the Cotonou Agreement  the European Union is in for the run long run. We are just starting our partnership.”

Capacity4dev.eu encourages readers to join and contribute to the newly formed Public Group on South Sudan.

This collaborative peice was drafted with input from Ambassador Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, Andrea Azevedo-Pinho, Oliver Blake and Fulgencio Garrido Ruiz with support from the capacity4dev.eu Coordination Team.