Revival of South Sudan Co-operatives a priority: official

By Julius N. Uma

July 13, 2010 (JUBA) – Southern Sudan’s rural transformation and the need to revive its dilapidated co-operative societies still remains government’s top priority, Dr. Anne Itto, the Co-operatives and Rural Development Minister has revealed.

During the weekly media forum held in Juba, the Minister, who was flanked by her Information and Broadcasting colleague, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, further said the rural transformation process, which is in-line with the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) policy of taking towns to villages, will involve the intervention of all stakeholders,

“Our party [SPLM] has always advocated for taking towns closer to the people in the villages. But this rural transformation process is a collective process that requires the involvement of all stakeholders,” the Cooperatives and Rural Development Minister remarked.

According to Dr. Itto, this rural transformation approach will mainly incorporate processes, involving changing community attitudes, cultures and beliefs as well as creating opportunities through establishing community-based organizations, financial institutions and other rural-based initiatives meant to benefit community members.

The Co-operatives and Rural Development Ministry, she said, seeks to employ policies that are people-driven, with a common and collaborative approach. In this case, specific focus will be made on good governance, accountability and transparency, with emphasis on empowerment of the various rural community sectors.

Asked about what strategies the Ministry intends to employ to achieve all these, the Minister said plans are underway to initiate civic education programmes based on citizens’ roles and obligations.

In addition, she added, technological innovations will be introduced as part of efforts towards changing existing attitudes, beliefs and cultures among community members.

A monitoring and evaluation system will also be designed to oversee these rural transformation processes.

Already, the Southern Sudan government has entered into partnership with Kenya’s Cooperative Bank, in a move that will see the latter inject 70 percent revenue towards the formation of Southern Sudan Cooperative Bank. The remaining 30 percent will come from government coffers.

Dr. Itto, however, appealed to donors, community-based organizations, civil society entities and other stakeholders to collaborate with government in its efforts towards realizing this rural-transformation initiative.

Meanwhile, the Co-operatives and Rural Development Ministry intends to conduct an assessment on the state of all co-operative societies existing in the semi-autonomous region, majority of which are in extremely appalling state.

WORRYING STATISTICAL TRENDS

To-date, Southern Sudan’s health sectors remain extremely weak, characterized by high child and maternal mortality rates. Coupled to these are the high poverty levels, limited access to education, among others.

An estimated 50.6 percent of the rural southern populations reportedly live under extreme poverty, according to statistics from Southern Sudan Center for Census and Statistics Evaluation Commission (SSCCSE).

However, there is a notable rural-urban divide, with nearly 54 per cent of the rural population in Southern Sudan reportedly living on less than $1 per day, compared to just 24 per cent of their urban counterparts.

(ST)