Policy LINK Internship Program to Sustain South Sudan Efforts

Participants in Policy LINK-facilitated townhall meeting, Wau County, South Sudan. [Photo: Policy LINK]

The interns, both recent graduates, will play a pivotal role in documenting Policy LINK’s work with far-flung communities, part of a larger stock-taking effort that has already produced a resource guide for USAID implementing partners.

Policy LINK’s South Sudan team has launched an internship program that builds on the activity’s reputation for transparent, merit-based recruitment while offering young South Sudanese professionals a first-hand look at how donor projects are managed. The effort, say Policy LINK staff in South Sudan, will ensure that the systems USAID has helped build can inform future, locally-led development projects in the country. 

That sustainability is a key aim of Policy LINK’s South Sudan activity, which is laying the groundwork for other USAID implementing partners to engage with conflict-affected communities, especially within Akobo, Budi, Jur River, Kapoeta North, and Wau—five of the thirteen counties that form the agency’s Resilience Focus Zone.

Hailing from similar communities, the two South Sudanese interns chosen to launch the new program joined the team last week. Their duties will span administration and logistics as well as monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Throughout, the pair will work closely with Policy LINK’s Area Program Managers, who have been making inroads with stakeholders—like community leaders, local government officials, and youth—in the focus zone.

Policy LINK’s Convening Power

USAID/South Sudan’s third-party monitoring project has given high marks to Policy LINK for its engagement of local communities in Jur River — one of 13 counties that form USAID’s Resilience Focus Zone in the country.

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The interns, both recent graduates, will play a pivotal role in documenting Policy LINK’s work with far-flung communities, part of a larger stock-taking effort that has already produced a resource guide for USAID implementing partners slated to begin work in Jur River. That resource guide will be available soon through an online portal the activity is building with support from Policy LINK’s global team. 

In October, Policy LINK’s South Sudan team recruited 27 Jur River residents from more than 400 applications to serve as “mobilizers” and “enumerators” ahead of an ambitious community resilience mapping effort that will help improve the targeting of USAID’s investments and address the root causes of vulnerability. 

The group’s appointment came with the buy-in of local representatives from South Sudan’s National Bureau of Statistics, Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, and Labor Office, who—together with local officials known as payam administrators—formed an “observatory team” to oversee the recruitment process. The transparency of that process, said one representative of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, helped earn the trust of the local community, paving the way for further engagement with USAID. 

“This is a very unique process which cleared our doubts,” said the representative, “and it will build the communities’ confidence in [USAID’s] activities.” 

For their part, the new interns said they hoped to further cement this sense of confidence. Although Policy LINK is withholding their names to preserve their privacy, we are proud to work with these talented individuals and look forward to seeing the contributions they will make—to USAID programming as well as the future of South Sudan.    

Resources

Read about the Jur River County recruitment effort.

Learn more about Policy LINK’s work in South Sudan.