Transcript Slide 1

Country Case Studies
ASPECTS OF SOUTH SUDAN’S WATER SECTOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
“A Visionary Mission on a Long Road towards a Tangible Goal”
Isaac Liabwel and Maryam Said
30th May 2013
INTRODUCTION
• The Republic of South Sudan (RSS) gained
independence on July 9, 2011, following a peaceful
Referendum in January 2011, as a result of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005. This
provided a platform and legitimacy for the people of South
Sudan, to establish and build its administrative and functional
structures.
• Its area is about 640,000 square kilometres, with the whole
area located in the southern plain of the White Nile and its
tributaries.
• The population is estimated at 8.3 million; with 80% residing
in rural areas.
• Its administration is based on a decentralized system of
government, made up of 10 states, below which are a
number of counties, constituting a local government.
INTRODUCTION CONT`D
• It has substantial water resources that are unevenly
distributed across the territory and varies substantially
between seasons and years, with periodic floods and
droughts.
• Average rainfall per annum (ranges from less than 400mm
in the far South East and far North (Renk) Arid Areas, to
more than 1600mm in the South West Belt.
• Its Water resources remain largely underdeveloped.
Core actors of the RSS water sector
• The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI)
leads development of policies, strategies, guidelines,
regulations & standards; in addition to coordination of regional;
international; bilateral; donor; and other national activities,
projects & programmes.
• In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the responsibility for
operating & managing facilities & delivering services lies with
the States & Counties.
• Development partners are engaged in rehabilitation,
upgrading & construction of critical infrastructure; and they are
also very much engaged in creating an enabling environment
for sustainability by providing assistance to planning process
and policy/strategy/capacity development. As of now the active
partners, include: UN Systems (UNICEF, FAO, UNDP, UNEP,
UNESCO, UNOPS & UN-HABITAT); INGOs; DFID; World
Bank; USAID; JICA; The Netherlands; GIZ/KfW; & AfDB.
Enabling Environment Factors
• Building up of the water sector professional workforce and
its institutional arrangements. This culminated in the
establishment of functional directorates/departments/units
at all levels. MWRI is now consolidating establishment of
the information management system and has embarked
on the establishment of the training and research
centre.
• In place is the Water Sector Policy (2007), the Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Strategic
Framework (2011), rural and urban WASH action and
investment plans (2013) and the Draft Water Bill (2013).
Enabling Environment Factors cont’d
• MWRI also
articulated the WASH Sector objectives,
outcomes and targets in the South Sudan Development
Plan (SSDP) , including a national capacity building
strategy; and the envisaged outputs and required actions in
the South Sudan Development Initiative (SSDI). Currently,
in preparation is the Irrigation Development Master Plan
(IDMP); and a number of Feasibility Studies pertaining to
Urban Water Supply and Sanitation, river basins’
development master plans, etc.
• MWRI prepared, produced and disseminated technical
guidelines and manuals for the construction, operation and
maintenance of water supply and sanitation facilities; in
addition to water quality guidelines and service delivery
norms.
Challenges facing the RSS water sector
The revealed capacity gaps have so far not been fully
addressed, due to a number of reasons, among others:
• South Sudan is in an environment with a shortage of
specialized training & research institutions following
either outdated or inappropriate curricula.
• This scenario dictated that MWRI and partners could afford
to take only a few individuals to be trained abroad.
Challenges facing RSS water sector Cont’d
• Additionally, a number of barriers were encountered while
endeavouring to achieve capacity development through
training; these include:
o The heterogeneous background of the workforce of
South Sudan (due to education based on different media
of instruction i.e. Arabic, Amharic, Kiswahili, English, etc.);
o The South Sudan decentralised system of government
made it necessary to create capacity at various levels;
which resulted in very expensive capacity development
efforts.
Thus building necessary capacities within the sector is going to
be cumbersome.
Transfer of knowledge, Institutional
development and Empowerment
Institutionalization of Training &
Research
Conferences/Workshop
Exposure visits
Gender mainstreaming
Short- Medium Term & Tailor
made Training
Equipment, Buildings &
Supply Chain
Gender Mainstreaming
Technical Assistance &
Projects
Institutional
Memory
Sector Planning & Coordination
• To overcome the severe limitations in institutions, service
delivery and development as a result of the long civil war,
MWRI pursued an overarching institutionalized process,
culminating in the setting up of the South Sudan Water
Sector Steering Committee (SSWSSC). SSWSSC enabled
MWRI to lead formulation of critical documents, including the
policy and the strategic framework, to align, guide and
enhance sector-wide coordination.
• Therefore, MWRI leads and coordinates the sector, to
harmonised roles of stakeholders and leverage support
from partners.
Sector Planning & Coordination Cont’d
• Nevertheless, sector donors have established their own
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Donor Group
(WASHDOG), where all donors share their plans and
interventions. It is chaired by the World Bank and co-chaired
by USAID.
• There also exists a UN and NGO WASH cluster where
implementation, emergency and humanitarian issues are
shared.
• Finally, there is established budget sector working groups
and inter-ministerial appraisal committee (IMAC), led by the
Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning (MoFEP), whereby
the overall reporting is managed through aid information
management system (AIMS).
Lessons learned
1. Capacity building of the Water/WASH sector in South Sudan
has not yet achieved the critical mass & knowledge base for
effective service delivery & development. This is due to the fact
that a number of challenges still exist, a scenario that requires
considerable targeted efforts over the next few years.
2. The number of trainees was not distributed evenly (genderwise and at different levels of the Government), e.g. many
participants came from the national level and MWRI-HQs,
and mostly males.
3. Institutional capacity, in terms of provision of equipment and
other supplies, and on-the-job training as well as graduation of
additionally needed cadres needs to continue.
4. Apart from Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), support of
development partners on medium-long term training was
lacking.
Lessons learned Cont’ d)
5 Capacity development is a long term goal; and it is doable
irrespective of some challenges; and it became evident that
the national, regional & international workshops; training
courses; learning exchanges at conferences; and exposure
visits have relatively raised the capacity of sector
technicians, practitioners, managers & professionals. This
positive spinoff is evident in some states, where the staff
of the directorates of water & sanitation are effectively
discharging their duties. Individuals that enrolled in English
classes are expressing themselves more confidently and
have picked much interest in learning.
6. Opportunities do exist, as responses of partners were
prompt on proposals pertaining to capacity development.
As a way forward: The most driving question
in relation to knowledge and capacity development &
who is or should be taking the lead is continuity
1. Provide TA to weak
units, e.g. to State and
County Directorates and
Departments of water and
sanitation respectively
4. Pool resources from the
Sustaining
and continue
developing
knowledge
and Capacity
Government & all the Partners
towards supporting training,
knowledge generating/sharing
and operations
3. Continue collaborating with
2. Establish a Training
and Research Centre
national, regional and international
skills and knowledge centres/fora
Propositions
Continuity, from ad-hoc to sustainably functioning
institutionalised knowledge and capacity development:
1. there is a need for a National Training and Research
Centre, which is well connected internationally, regionally
and nationally with similar institutions
2. The Government and development partners should see
water sector capacity development as an investment and
service for the country and people, which is not
necessarily dependent on retention of the civil
servants/employees”
3. Capacity development and provision of other resources by
Bilateral and Multilateral Support Agencies should be
pooled to contribute to the implementation and
sustainability of a national strategy and programme
pertaining to capacity development (rather than keeping it
project based).
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
+211 955 022297
Isaac Liabwel C. Yol
Undersecretary, MWRI, RSS
Plot No. 11, Block A12, P. O. Box: 476
Juba, South Sudan
[email protected]
+211 955 225526
Maryam Said
Program Support Consultant
Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation (MWRI)
The Republic of South Sudan (RSS)
[email protected]