By AMECEA Online News Correspondent
The Regional Director of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Mr. David Orth-More has shared with AMECEA Online News a number of Success stories through their interventions that are having positive impacts on the lives of many poor people in Jonglei State, South Sudan.
Working in collaboration with Jonglei Food Program, an initiative supported by the USAID, the project has engaged in several interventions including Water projects, women empowerment through small remnant voucher scheme, subsistence farming and market linkage among others.
Below are some, of those success stories:
Water at last for Likuangole families in Jonglei State.
People living in Likuangole payam in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) have had very little access to water services for as long as most of them can remember. The area is remote, even within Greater Pibor, which was itself under-developed within South Sudan for decades because of access constraints. The area's remoteness had made it difficult for Government or NGOs to provide services.
Isolation was compounded by the insurgency and conflict in the area starting in 2011 which destroyed the limited infrastructure and caused community displacement and humanitarian distress. Since the peace agreement of 2014 which set up the GPAA, the displaced population has been returning to rebuild homes and re-establish lives. The population, estimated in 2008 as being 72,000, is scattered across a very large land area, close to the border with Ethiopia. The locality is semi-arid and for much of the year provides few natural water sources for livestock and people.
Women and girls carry most of the burden of finding and fetching water for household and livestock. Nyacho Kuir Lokozil, a grandmother, explains that the first borehole in Likuangole was not installed until 2006 and then broke down a year later. The only naturally occurring water source for the community was several kilometers away, a seasonal stream, also used by livestock, which dries up for part of each year. "We faced difficulties during dry season when everybody now goes to the same river.”
We treated the water by mixing it with ash in a pot and decanting it after some hours for drinking and cooking. This water was not safe, it was still dirty, but we had no other choice. This is the life we endured all these years", explained Nyacho in her village of Manyagolo, west of Likuangole town. Nyacho said she had lost count of the number of children in her village who had died of diarrhea.
Things changed when the USAID funded Jonglei food Security Program (JFSP) responded to the water scarcity challenges faced by the community. In April 2015 the program visited the payam and identified and repaired 12 boreholes which were broken down and disused for many years. The local chief mobilized youths to provide labor for carrying pipes and other necessary items needed for repair. JFSP also facilitated the formation of water point user committees (WPUC) and provided them with a starter kit for borehole repair, including some essential tools, and commonly used spare parts. JFSP also provided management training for the WPUC members on gathering fees from users to fund maintenance and sustain the water point.
The WPUCs were facilitated by JFSP to develop constitutions and funding strategy for borehole maintenance. The 12 rehabilitated boreholes provide safe drinking water to 3,657 individuals in Likuangole. "Today, we are very much comfortable. Everyone uses clean water all the time. Our life has improved, the incidence of diarrhea in our children has reduced, and no one is suffering from stomach worms. Our thanks to USA ID for this support", says Nyacho. "I had grown so used to drinking dirty water most of I my life that this clean water tasted sweet when I first drank it".
As of mid-2015, JFSP has rehabilitated 49 boreholes and set up and provided training for 159 WPUCs in 9 counties, thereby improving access to clean water for 28,497 beneficiaries. In addition to providing the labor required for borehole repair, the communities are playing their part in the maintenance of the boreholes by contributing an agreed monthly fee for borehole use to the WPUC which is accumulated to fund borehole maintenance and repair.
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Women empowerment through the small ruminant voucher scheme
Nyanyai Monybeer Ding, aged 53, is a widowed mother taking care of six children. Her husband died in the early 80's and she has been fending for her children alone ever since. She was a farmer and small ruminant producer before the December 2013 crisis but lost access to her farm and goats during the conflict in Poktap Ageer Payam, Duk County.
"I left Poktap when all my goats and other belongings were looted during the crisis in December 2013. Since then my life with my children has been difficult", says Nyanyai.
Funded by USAID since 2011, the Jonglei Food Security Program (JFSP) assists vulnerable female headed households re-build critical livelihood assets. JFSP implements a restocking project, through which locally sourced small ruminants (goats and sheep) and poultry are distributed to vulnerable female headed households. The distribution is on a rotational and recovery basis, whereby, the recipients are given three females goats of reproductive age. After a year, the recipients are expected to pay back the three female goats, which are then passed on to another vulnerable female recipient. More than 100 vulnerable female headed households have benefited from this scheme.
Nyanyai is one such woman who was identified by her community chief and JFSP to be one of beneficiaries of small ruminants to help her regain her lost animals. She could not hide her joy at receiving the goats.
"I am happy for this opportunity because I will be able to feed my children with goat milk. I really appreciate CRS and my community chief for the great assistance that they have given me after losing 15 goats during the crisis. Now that I will be able to return to my previous livelihood. I am really happy for this move. 11
Since Nyanyai received her three goats in a fair conducted seven months, her number has increased to nine. Some of the goats are expected to produce offspring within a month. She keeps her goats in a small fence pen, which is best only during the dry season. She plans to build a proper goat shelter using local materials and knowledge passed on to her by JFSP on small ruminant production. She keeps the inside of the pen clean to help keep away diseases as per her training. The major challenge Nyanyai faces is where to get veterinary drugs should one of her goats fall sick.
JFSP hopes to bridge this gap by working with community animal health workers (CAHWs). JFSP has identified active CAHWs and intends to re-start the support the support it used to provide to CAHWs. The program builds the capacity of CAHWs to vaccinate and treat against common animal diseases through trainings and demonstrations, and provides them with a starter kit to kick-start their work of providing para-vet services to communities. This will ensure households supported to re-stock will have their livestock protected from diseases.
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