January 29, 2008 (JUBA) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) staged a training course for the personal working in water resources managements as part of strengthening water, hygiene and sanitation institutions..

UNICEF and GOSS are conducting a three weeks intensive capacity-building of 32 senior and intermediate GOSS personnel in the management of water resources to ensure effective delivery of water to millions of people in Southern Sudan, mostly women and children who currently do not have access to safe drinking water as a result of two decades of war that ended in 2005.

The training is considered crucial for saving the lives of children exposed to the dangers of water borne diseases and a step forward for a sustainable development of water programmes, UNICEF director in Southern Sudan said.

The training programme, costing $230,000, will equip the participants with management knowledge to plan, coordinate and monitor water and sanitation programmes and emergency preparedness and response as well as easy to use and high impact participatory methods and tools used for the promotion of community based water supply, hygiene and sanitation.

In Southern Sudan, only 60 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water and just 7 per cent practice good hygiene and sanitation, putting millions of lives – e specially women – and children in danger of water borne diseases

A Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) undertaken in 2005 emphasized the extreme weakness of capacity in the water sector to deliver services. It is against this background that UNICEF recognizes the urgent need to support capacity building of the GOSS water managers to reverse the effects of Sudan’s 21 years of war.

(ST)