|
eople appreciate help on special occasions and emergencies—and
we offer such help, but what they really want and
need most is the kind of long-term development assistance
the Near East Foundation is all about. For
it is the underlying insecurity, poverty, disease,
ignorance, environmental degradation, and lack of
economic opportunity, that create conditions hostile
to peace and stability.
From the beginning, NEF’s work in Sudan has
provided funds and training to increase the skills
of Sudanese, who often lack only the expertise or
experience to implement the initiatives they have
in mind. At the World Bank's request, NEF helped
launch and coordinate the first Ethiopia-Sudan Development
Marketplace, a competition showcasing innovative
ideas for development and poverty reduction. NEF
promoted and eased Sudanese participation in the
marketplace, where 20 Sudanese organizations secured
funding. With Sudan's land-based people, we
have labored in fish farming, bee-keeping, rangeland
rehabilitation and much more.
But deserving of particular mention, one of NEF's
early publications in Arabic was an extensive case
study of micro-credit in Port Sudan back in the 1980s,
and that long history of providing training and capital
for micro-credit continues. NEF set up two
programs in the Abou Hamid area, 350 km north of
the capital of Khartoum. Even for the visually
impaired, a very special challenge requiring adaptation
of all our materials and techniques, for an association
of more than 60 young adults and heads of households. The
so-called "popsicle lady" from Tyba Kababish
in northern Sudan, graphically demonstrates the difference
a $200 loan can make in a human destiny.
Her house is mud brick, a couple of small, spare,
clean rooms with a bed of tree branches and woven
support for a thin mattress. Outside, the garden
space between the house and surrounding mud wall
features a few flowers and some herbs and peppers
planted in dirt-filled, powdered-milk cans. This
starkly simple home is also her business location
and makes possible the feeding, clothing, and education
of the children of this widow and sole support of
a large family.
The enterprise was her idea. She borrowed
the equivalent of $200 and bought a refrigerator
with a freezer. Every evening she fills small
plastic bags with flavored juice, and freezes them
overnight. In midmorning she puts them in the
orange insulated cooler atop the refrigerator, and
heads off to the nearby elementary school where the
children buy them as recess-time treats. The
pennies add up and she makes a living by dent of
her evident ingenuity, hard work, and the small loan—repaid
in less than a year—and made possible through NEF’s
program.
NEF is now working with the International Fund for
Agricultural Development to enhance Sudanese resiliency
to drought, food security, and income generation
in two western Sudan states. Beneficiaries
are the small farmers, livestock keepers, workers
and artisans, who comprise 90 percent of the rural
population with average annual incomes of only $100
to $150. Previously NEF partnered with the
Global Environmental Facility to support 20 community-based
credit funds in the same area in 2001. With
this new project, NEF is connecting with local groups
to help establish effective credit for small enterprises
and income-generating opportunities.
To make that possible, this spring NEF’s Jordan
staff organized a study tour for 16 Sudanese officers
of the traditional, informal, village saving and
credit sanduqs. The sanduqs offer
the advantages of use by illiterate villagers, low
cost servicing, and built in social pressure for
repayment. NEF is helping to develop these sanduqs with
organizational and management support, loan policies
and procedures, and grants up to $20,000. A
15-day workshop was held in Jordan, using participatory
techniques, case studies and other methods, including
field visits to two micro-financing companies and
two community-based credit programs established in
the south of Jordan with NEF support. Dr. Souliaman
Ajeb, Director General of Sudan’s Ministry
of Agriculture/State of Kordofan North, accompanied
the sanduq representatives on the study
trip.
Also NEF introduced credit facilities in New Dar
El-Salaam El-Rabwa to reinforce its reproductive
health program with income-generating activities
that supplement family income, improve nutrition,
and increase access to health services. Again,
to broaden the scope of training for the community-run,
micro-credit fund, NEF called upon its Jordan staff
and technical specialists from NEF-Egypt.
After 30 months of very hard work to provide, affordable,
quality reproductive health care to displaced Sudanese
living outside the capital city of Khartoum—there
is a fully operational health clinic, made possible
by a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
and with NEF support. It is the only health
center available for the entire settlement of about
35-45,000 people fleeing Sudan's internal conflicts,
drought and other difficulties.
Their health is jeopardized by both poverty and
the environment in which they live. Malaria
and endemic diseases rank the main causes of illness
and death with high maternal and infant mortality
and a fertility rate of 5.4 children per woman. National
family planning is estimated at only 9.9 percent
because of lack of information and misconceptions
about risks; and an estimated 82 percent of Sudanese
women have undergone female genital mutilation. Further,
reproductive health problems, sexually transmitted
disease and HIV/AIDS are growing at unprecedented
rates—and the Sudanese Ministry of Health has
put AIDS at the top of its agenda.
By the first of the year, the NEF clinic had treated
over 33,000 patients since opening in September,
and nearly another 30,500 in the past six months. In
addition to general health services—diagnosis,
primary health care, laboratory tests and a pharmacy,
the clinic emphasizes reproductive health care, including
family planning, prenatal and postnatal care, attracting
more than 800 patients for these new services in
the past six months. In 2005 NEF was able to
expand services to include labor and delivery
as well as advanced laboratory work, thanks to a
grant from the Population Council. This extension
involves designing a health management information
system and establishing a sustainable pricing model
for reproductive health care in low-income areas. All
clinic services are offered at nominal fees to enhance
access.
Given the kinds of health problems encountered by
clinic staff, there was a strong need for increased
community awareness, particularly about reproductive
health and sexually transmitted diseases. So
NEF responded with an outreach program teaching both
primary and reproductive health care. Women
have been trained in nutrition and hygiene, as midwives
and home visitors, benefiting nearly 4,000 families. There’s
even the possibility of micro-health insurance. Also,
the NEF project has helped local residents to plan,
manage and network within their own community, government
and non-governmental organizations, for the services
they need, including a severe shortage of clean,
potable water for the rapidly-growing population
of the settlement and roofing and equipping the local
school.
And all that effort is very appreciated. “We
used to travel a long distance to El-Hajj Youssef
area just to get even the most basic medications,” said
one member of her new village health committee, “We
can now get them at cheaper prices at the NEF health
center.” “This is my fourth pregnancy,
but the first time I follow up with a doctor,” said
a visitor to the Center for Pregnancy. “I
used to call the midwife only when the labor pains
came. Now I know how important it is to maintain
a proper diet and healthy life-style during pregnancy. The
friendly staff at the health center have taught us
many things about having and raising health children,” she
added.
On the official side, the Sudanese Ministry
of Health’s North Khartoum Health Team Director
summed up the prevailing opinion: “The
NEF center offers high-quality services at very low-cost
prices…services provided have contributed
considerably to improving the health situation. Our
entire team highly appreciates the valuable services
NEF is offering to the Dar El-Salaam community.”
Clearly delivering sheep to Sudan to provide meat
for a religious feast is just one piece in the Near
East Foundation’s multi-faceted approach to
bolstering human dignity. Over this year NEF
continued to invest in the people of Sudan for their
long-term development and well being, building a
people's sense of their possibilities and supporting
their priorities.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR LATEST STORIES FROM THE FIELD IN SUDAN |
