Empowerment projects should be long-term, beyond handouts

Several donor countries have been so generous to South Sudan by supporting the government and its citizens. Some of them jumped the train and joined the list of humanitarian work by supporting the citizens of this country during the time of Sudan’s civil war. Those countries and individual donors have remained committed to supporting vulnerable people in the country till now.

For a country that is needy and trying to build from the ruins of civil war: what more can we ask for more than a charitable friend to support the course of our development?

But unfortunately, those donations have not made much impact on the lives of ordinary people simply because many of the NGOs are doing the same work and they end up just duplicating the duties of others. It is over 16 years since most NGOs began their activities in South Sudan. But it is also regrettable that only a few of them have made some impacts on the lives of the communities from the donations they get from the government’s partners. The majority of them just provide petty projects to the communities that do not improve the lives of the citizens.

This happens because some of those donors deal directly with the implementers without involving the government’s line ministries and makes it harder for the authorities to assess their performance.

Secondly, most of that funding dwell on petty projects that do not have a long-term impact on the lives of the beneficiaries, and instead, it makes them more vulnerable and ever dependent on the handouts.

It is time for the NGOs and UN agencies to focus on something that makes the citizens skillful instead of offering cheap projects to the population that makes them more vulnerable.

 It is just a waste of time for an institution to keep doing one project every year yet the impact is not seen on the livelihoods of ordinary people.

Thanks to the government of the Kingdom of Netherlands that have been doing major projects to change the lives of the citizens since the collapse of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund in South Sudan.

The Dutch have been helping the government in improving the livelihoods of rural people through redefined access to services such as school, justice, and health through funding the construction of feeder roads.

The Dutch government has been funding the construction of a road across the states particularly in Eastern Equatoria, Western, and the Lakes States. The development of these feeder road networks has improved the agricultural activities in those areas. These are the services that the good partners should focus on if they want to support the people of South Sudan but not quick-fix projects that make citizens more vulnerable to continue depending on free aids. 

On the flip side, one may argue that quick-fix initiatives are more crucial especially when the situation demands. For example, as we speak, there is a surge in the number of citizens demanding assistance after being displaced by the floods. Yes. The situation necessitates the provision of food aids. But it is also prudent to think beyond the floods. The long-term objective should be to arm these people with resources and skills to fend for themselves thereafter.