GoSS on positive start of new government

By Zechariah Manyok Biar

June 28, 2010 — Two months ago when I was still in the United States, President Kiir of South Sudan wrote to me, saying that his government would be development-oriented government. I did not have any reason to doubt him even though I did not know what that development-oriented government would look like. But since I came back to Sudan, I am impressed by the progress that our government is making in the South. The formation of the current government of South Sudan was done carefully and seems to have given ministers ministries of their talents. Many Southerners believe that most of the ministers appointed this time will perform better than they did over the last five years in different ministries.

One of the ministers who seem to do what people expect of their new ministers is Dr. Samson Kwaje. The Sudan Tribune reported Dr. Kwaje as saying that “The regional government of southern Sudan has pledged to support organized farmers in the region as one of the critical focus in agriculture sector.” This is a very encouraging idea. Farmers in the U.S. do well because their farming business is subsidized by their government. The idea of government support may encourage our farmers to invest in agriculture and reduce our dependency on foreign food products.

Another important issue in Dr. Kwaje’s remarks is his urging of farmers to form farmers’ association or union. Dr. Kwaje puts it this way: “If you form association with aims linking smallholder farmers to national, regional and international institutions, you will assemble a lot of supports than being individuals.”

The functioning market in the world of today is the one that is big enough to compete. Dr. Kwaje hinted to this when he said, “With more compact and coherent farmer organizations, the dialogue with governments and regional economic communities is most likely to yield conducive policies for sustainable agricultural sector growth.”

Africa is lagging behind in international business because its market is scattered and unable to compete with other organized international markets. A small market is the one that often receives imported goods but exports nothing. If South Sudan is on the way to form a larger market for farmers, then agriculture will be a big business in South Sudan in the near future.

The idea of farmers’ association is not only good for big market; it is a standard model of today’s community development. Community development has three approaches in planning: Rationale Planning, Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), and Community Organizing. The last two models are more effective in community development because they focus on the internal strengths of communities. ABCD focuses on mobilizing local resources to improve the community, implementing development activities locally.

Although Community Organizing takes a different approach from that of ABCD model, it still relates to ABCD model because its process is controlled within the community, but emphasized the bringing of external resources to bear on community problems. The bringing in of external resources to bear on community problems is where the government comes in to help the community.

The problem that often leads to failure of many community development projects is that governments tend to rely on Rational Planning, which assumes that external resources will be used to improve the community and control over the process and programs is outside the community. This model often results in competing interests between a community and policy-makers or planners who control the process.

What seems effective in Dr. Kwaje’s request for the formation of farmers’ association is that the government of South Sudan seems to favor ABCD and Community Organizing models. If this is the case, then success in agriculture is at the door because people take care of what they believe to be their idea. Empowered communities are the ones that become creative and overcome obstacles.

Zechariah Manyok Biar, MACM, MSSW. He can be reached at [email protected]