Sudan: $4.5m boost for humanitarian assistance

By Julius N. Uma

May 23, 2010 (JUBA) Sudan will, for the next two years, benefit from a 35.5 million SEK (approx $4.5m) grant, courtesy of a humanitarian intervention agreement signed between International Aid Services (IAS) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Started in 1989 as a non-political and non-profitable humanitarian relief and development organization, IAS’s vision is to transform society with a mission to save lives, promote self-reliance and human dignity through human transformation going beyond relief and development.

The implementation of the two-year project, ‘Integrated Water Resource Management and Capacity Building as Transformational Tools in Post-War Sudan’ reportedly started on April 1, 2010 and will continue till March 31, 2012.

This humanitarian intervention, Sudan Tribune has learnt, is designed to strengthen the effective implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) from the grassroots level, through enhanced delivery of safe sustainable water solutions and comprehensive capacity building packages.

Signed in January 2005, the CPA ended over two-decades of a bloody civil war fought between north and south Sudan.

“These objectives will be reached through application of an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) concept building on IAS experience in the sector,” a statement from IAS website partly reads.

The two-year project will strategically be directed towards water and sanitation activities, focusing on development of water resources for primary schools, health institutions and other public meeting places thus bridging the gap between water, education and health.

However, much as the interventions will also target areas of concentrated (refugee) return, equipping resident communities to facilitate a smooth reintegration process, water source development will be prioritized for various agricultural inputs necessary for sustained food security and livelihood.

Meanwhile, the two partners will design as strong community development component that will strengthen grassroots capacity for project management and to raise awareness on vital cross cutting issues.

Thus by addressing issues like HIV/AIDS, gender and environment, the two-year project has been earmarked to provide a foundation for increased sustainability and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Sudan.

(ST)