USAID Support to the Comprehensive Peace Plan

The Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement have signed a comprehensive peace agreement including fundamental changes in governance through power-sharing, wealth-sharing, security arrangements, and a formal ceasefire. It is hoped that these changes will provide a framework for resolving conflicts in other unstable areas outside of southern Sudan, most notably Darfur and Eastern Sudan. A peaceful Sudan is important to the United States to promote regional stability in the volatile horn of Africa. Current USAID programs focus on supporting the peace process, democracy and governance, education, health, economic growth, and humanitarian assistance.

Programs

Support to the Peace Process
The war has been the central focus of political life throughout Sudan for more than 20 years. To support the peace process in Sudan, USAID activi-ties will seek to establish social and institutional foundations for stability and peacebuilding at the grassroots level in selected conflict-prone com-munities in Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile, and Equatoria provinces. This in-cludes increased access to information through the development of independent media and wide distribution of the peace protocol. Read more...

Responsive and Participatory Governance
Under the peace agreement, southern Sudan will have governing auton-omy within the context of a national unity government. USAID will seek to aid in the establishment of transparent and accountable government struc-tures in southern Sudan. Efforts will be made to support the development of civilian political parties and a vibrant civil society, including a network of organizations that are committed to the empowerment of women. Read more...

Equitable Access to Quality Education
Children in south Sudan have limited access to basic education and an estimated 80 percent of all adults, especially women, are unable to read. USAID is rehabilitating schools, training teachers, and mobilizing parent-teacher associations to increase the local capacity to provide quality pri-mary and secondary education. Nonformal education activities are also being targeted toward out-of-school youth and adult learners. At present, there are 870 students enrolled in adult literacy programs and close to 1,000 scholarships provided to female students to promote an interest in teaching as a profession. Read more...

Health, Water, and Sanitation Services and Practice
HIV/AIDS is an emerging threat, malaria and diarrhea are the biggest causes of child mortality, and life expectancy is around 42 years of age. In an effort to increase access to basic health and hygiene services, USAID is focusing in 20 counties to expand primary health care through the train-ing of county medical officers. Since Sudan is one of the last countries in the world to have a recent incidence of polio, USAID is funding the polio eradication campaign including national immunization days and surveil-lance. Multi-sectoral approaches are also being used to expand HIV/AIDS prevention through behavior change communication and voluntary testing and counseling. Read more...

Foundations for Economic Recovery
Low agricultural production and inaccessible markets are additional lega-cies from more than two decades of conflict and development neglect. In southern Sudan, 90 percent of the population earns less than a dollar a day. USAID will provide assistance to market support activities including improved agricultural practices, export promotion, and market information. A southern Sudanese microfinance institution has been established with half of all loans to go to women. Major infrastructure and capacity building programs are slated to improve roads, river transport, electricity, and tele-communications in southern Sudan. Emergency road repair along the Kaya-Rumek road has already improved trade in beneficiary towns. Read more...

Humanitarian Assistance
Destruction and neglect have resulted in essentially no physical infrastruc-ture and institutional capacity in southern Sudan. Activities undertaken by USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and Food for Peace pro-gram aim to address humanitarian needs while simultaneously providing an effective bridge to development activities in South Sudan. Program pri-orities include individuals displaced by conflict, the provision of basic ser-vices in traditionally underserved areas and food security through increased agricultural production. USAID also provides considerable hu-manitarian assistance in Darfur where civil strife continues.