Fostering Resilient Communities in South Sudan’s Wau County
The development landscape of Wau County -- one of the 13 counties in South Sudan that form USAID’s Resilience Focus Zone — is challenged by a complex shock environment, which includes violent conflict and threats to health, food security, and livelihoods.
Like the rest of South Sudan, local communities in Wau County have persevered in the face of protracted political and economic crises. To help them transform that perseverance into viable plans for the future, USAID’s Policy LINK project organized local action planning and joint work planning workshops that placed indigenous wisdom front-and-center. Participants in these workshops drew on a sense of urgency and political will to focus their collective energies on small, emerging possibilities for strengthening their communities’ long-term resilience.
Policy LINK has facilitated local action planning and joint work planning workshops across USAID’s Resilience Focus Zone.
As the Honorable Commissioner of Wau County, Hon. Jacinto Matia Mboro, said: “In the past, NGOs used to move randomly in our villages and implemented ready programs they believed will solve community problems. Most of these failed. Now, we are all saying let those affected by the problems be the ones to tell us what should be done. If it is a women’s program, women should have a say in what should be done, how, why, and for what resources.”
As they have gathered through these Policy LINK-facilitated workshops, the dispersed communities of Wau have elevated the previously unheard perspectives of their fellow community members, unveiling opportunities to do things differently and collaboratively. “We learned how to speak out about the problems facing us,” said Mario Nyagoi Kamis, a community delegate from Wau South. “Now we know our roles and duties. In my village, we organize our people and now the youth are laying bricks to build the office of the chief.”
Harnessing their potential and creativity, 25 community representatives have worked alongside 16 local government officials and nine donor implementing partners to develop a road map for their aspirations to become resilient, self-reliant, and stronger.
Female Delegates Speak
Elevating the voices of women and youth in community planning is a key aim of USAID’s Policy LINK activity.
Julia Natale, a women’s representative from Beggari Payam, said: “I have learnt from Policy LINK’s resilience engagement activities the importance of self-reliance. After I participated in planning meetings and other workshops organized by Policy LINK and the Wau Civic Engagement Center (WCEC), I decided to work for myself and not to expect too much from other people. We need to use the problem-solving skills we have learned to solve some of the shocks facing us; for example, I advised women to engage in dialogue to create understanding and avoid gender-based violence in their homes.”
Through the Policy LINK-supported workshops, a broad spectrum of community stakeholders, including youth, women, farmers, faith-based groups, chiefs, local authorities, people with disabilities, and traders have been put at the heart of an inclusive and participatory, community-led resilience-building process.
These stakeholders have been empowered to articulate a bold vision for their future and take a responsible amount of risk in addressing recurring shocks and stressors within their households and communities. As Hilary Claudio, a female community delegate from Bessilia, illustrated, quoting a real-life example:
“I learned how to take responsibility for my household. This year, the only thing I need is sugar because I still don’t know how to grow and process it in my village. We had misconception that organizations and the government will do everything to address shocks and stressors affecting us. We now realize this is not the case. Policy LINK’s approach has demonstrated that this is a joint partnership between all stakeholders and that as a community we have a leading role in addressing shocks that are facing us.”
Sowing the Seeds of Community Resilience
Thanks to the facilitated activities they participated in at the workshops, communities are now able to frame and contextualize their thinking and understanding of community resilience and what it takes to lead from the front.
“Policy LINK’s resilience engagement activities have opened our eyes to what we can do to support ourselves, our households, and the community.”
“We need to learn new planning techniques using [a] SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound] approach. We don’t need to be trained every year if we don’t put our knowledge and skills into use,” said Hon. Jacinto Matia Mboro.
The people who have been historically left out of these conversations, like women and youth, demonstrated active interest in Policy LINK’s county-wide events, stemming from the payam level. This has stimulated other actors working in Wau to integrate community and social capital to make steady gains. As Ismael Kau, Chairperson for the Community Action Group in Wau North, said:
“Policy LINK’s resilience engagement activities have opened our eyes to what we can do to support ourselves, our households, and the community. After we attended the previous workshops, we went back and started doing awareness and engaged in dialogue with cattle keepers to keep their animals out of the gardens and to respect the farmers.”
Bringing the Message Home
Still, much remains to be done. There is a demonstrable need among community delegates and other stakeholders to better understand people’s aspirations and align them with community resources and the political will for sustainable impact.
“After attending [the] series of workshops organized by Policy LINK and WCEC, I have become conscious of conflict sensitivity and how to resolve issues using peaceful means. It will be irresponsible if, after this resilience workshop, you return to the community and resort to violence to resolve disputes over cattle destroying crops. Our role is to be aware of the disadvantages of violence and how these affect vulnerable people including women and children,” said Claudio.
Today, the urban and rural communities in Wau County have not only regained confidence in their strength and abilities to turn the corner, but they have returned to their communities and families with a clear roadmap to navigate any future shocks and stressors. As Natale noted in her comments, “The two workshops (local action planning and joint work planning) didn’t only give us information and knowledge on resilience, but rather capacitated us [for the] identification of challenges, planning for solutions, and execution of actions.”