Northern Bahr el Ghazal M&E Visit and a Quarterly Report

(After one of the many rains in Aweil that week, a rainbow appeared. You can't see it in this picture, but there was a double rainbow!)

From 13-17 July Lutfiyah and I again went to the field; this time to Northern Bahr el Ghazal (NBG) state. The trip started off a bit rocky. As we were checking in our bags at the airport, we discovered that our luggage was too heavy. The limit was 15 kg (around 30 lbs) for everything you are carrying. Normally, they just weigh your checked luggage, but this time they weighed everything. To make matters worse, we were carrying training materials for sessions we would hold with the team in Northern Bahr el Ghazal which added extra weight. After some begging, pleading, angry phone calls to our logistics team for not pre-arranging for the extra weight, we took only the essentials and boarded the plane.

After a quick plane transfer in Wau, we arrived in Aweil, the capital of NBG. Our team in Aweil has no compound yet so most are staying at the UNOCHA (United Nations Organization for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) compound. A few observations about Aweil and the UNOCHA compound: First, Aweil is HOT; very hot. The only relief is found under the many mango trees (sadly, mango season had ended) on the compound and the area. Even then, when there is no breeze, you simply suffer. The room I was staying in for the first half of the trip didn't have a working air conditioner or a fan. So, I simply could not go into the room during the day, and at night, the humidity and heat in the room was not conducive to sleep. Needless to say, I was awake for far too many hours during this trip. Second, logistics and communication systems in NBG were awful. Since the Winrock compound wasn't finished (or even really started) the program coordinators who we needed to speak to were scattered throughout the compound, either commandeering an open office if available or working under a tree. In this state, the junior staff were all based in the counties and could be up to 2.5 hours away from Aweil. Exacerbating the situation were poor cell phone networks, and terrible/unpredictable internet connection. Lastly, when you hear things that sound like hundreds of birds in the mango trees at night, don't be fooled, they are actually fruit bats. Upon this realization, stop video taping and begin walking faster.

These difficulties aside, we had several good field trip days in the county locations. We met two Community Action Groups, two Women's Support Groups, visited a school identified for rehabilitation by our program, two vegetable producer groups, a couple water points, and attended a PTA training. The vegetable producer groups and the PTA training were the unique aspects of this visit. Vegetable production is not very good in Aweil North or Aweil West (the two target counties in NBG) and it is evident in the lack of locally produced vegetables in the markets. So, the BRIDGE program (Winrock's program name) is going to train several communities on vegetable gardening techniques, and give training on "farming as a business" to the vegetable producer groups we train. Hopefully, these producer groups, as a result of being a group, have more bargaining power to get a better price for those who would sell their produce at local markets. Unfortunately, the message and purpose of these types of groups sometimes get lost or not effectively communicated when BRIDGE is forming the group. Team members continue to work on this, and due to visits such as our M&E visits, we can observe these shortcomings, inform project decision makers, and make recommendations on what needs to be done.

(Below: One of the vegetable producer groups we met. Second Picture: The children that naturally gather when they see outsiders, especially a white person.)

The PTA training was the first activity we have visited that was actually taking place during our visit. Although the training was set to start at 9am and was around 2.5 hours away from Aweil (starting from the UNOCHA compound), this did not seem to phase the coordinator in charge of the education sector. Lutfiyah and I were ready at 7am, but we didn't leave until 8:15 (and they still needed to pick up supplies and other trainers for the PTA training). It had also rained earlier that week so the roads were not the greatest. Several times we had to get out of the car and survey the mud/water puddles to see if the ground was hard enough for the vehicle (SUV with 4-wheel drive) to pass through. We finally made it to an area (called a boma, which is made up of several villages) called Marial Bai. In many societies time is not a huge factor and communities gather for meetings very late, but here, the communities always show up relatively on time. So, we were very late, and some people who had gathered earlier, namely women, had already left to attend to their daily tasks. On the bright side, people did gather after we came and the first of the three day PTA training began. For Lutfiyah and my sakes, translations from dinka/arabic were translated into English during the opening remarks we were observing. After opening remarks, the training continued in either dinka or arabic- training the PTA members on their roles, the role of a PTA as a whole and instructing them on how to create a proper project proposal.

(Below: PTA training sign-in for day 1 in Marial Bai boma.)
















As I mentioned earlier, the roads were not in very good condition due to the rains and communications systems were not good either. We had planned to leave the PTA training after 2 hours and get picked up from another car of Winrock's. It turned out that no one had the thuraya (satellite phone) number or vehicle radio number of the vehicle that was picking us up. We had heard that the vehicle left on time to pick us up, but hadn't arrived when it should have. With its front tires almost bald, we had to assume that the vehicle was stuck in the mud somewhere, which ended up being true.

During the wait, the heat was becoming hotter by the minute it seemed. The only relief we received was standing under a tree and listening to very interesting war-time stories of the area from the Director for Education in this county. The director, Jamesco, who was in his early or mid 30s perhaps, casually described the days of insecurity. People did what they could to maintain some level of a normal life. He was in school (either elementary or secondary) during some of the war and was very dedicated to his studies. Whenever word came that there was insecurity in the area, teachers and students would quickly get up, collect their chalk boards and materials, and run into the woods far enough away to be safe. There, they would set everything up again and continue their lessons. We also heard other, more terrible stories of the war. Schools, such as the one we visited in Wedwill boma a few days earlier, and any other structure within a community was bombed. The goal was total eradication of infrastructure. We were even told the story of a day of celebrations for education in Southern Sudan. Teachers, professors, and leaders within the education center all gathered for a day to celebrate some achievements. That day, with all these great minds of Southern Sudan gathered together, the venue for this event was targeted by the armies of the north and bombed. The director only knew of one person who survived ( a member of the community in Marial Bai where the PTA training was taking place). There was no foresight in this war, as in many. If there weren't any educated people left, then there wouldn't be anyone to lead the people to fight back.

(Below: Classes are most often held outside because buildings are either destroyed or unsafe. Because of this situation, classes are cancelled when it rains. At times, the rainy season lasts from June through September. Second Picture: One of the many buildings of a boarding school in Wedwill Boma that was bombed during the war.)




























Overall, the trip was better than we had expected. We had heard horror stories of a monkey that lived near the Southern Sudan hotel we were originally supposed to stay at that particularly liked to attack women, the team leader's tendency to never stop talking (mostly true), and the disorganization of the program in Northern Bahr el Ghazal (partially true). Whew- thank god the monkey wasn't there! (Below: One of the more serene pictures of Aweil. Mango trees line the streets.)

Unity State M&E Visit

On 28-June my supervisor, Lutfiyah, and I departed for the second of three monitoring and evaluation (M&E) trips. This time it was to Unity state. From the start, I knew it would be an interesting and unique trip. After we had checked into the Juba airport, we boarded a bus that took us to our plane. Every flight I had ever boarded in the past had seated at least 20-30 people, but not this one. This one seated 15 people, maximum, and there was no divider between the pilots and first seat of passengers. (Watching what the pilots actually do during take-off and landing is surprisingly interesting.) Despite the size of the plane, we took off very smoothly. The plane flew lower than other planes, and we were able to see beautiful scenery of Southern Sudan for most of the flight. (Below: A pastoralist tribeswoman, children and their donkey's at a water hole we visited.)

The place we were going to was called Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, where the Winrock BRIDGE team was based. However, the place we had to land was 2 hours away. There is an airport in Bentiu, but apparantly there is a radio tower at the end of the runway which is too close for WFP's (which manages the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service we were flying on) standards. So we instead landed in a small town called Leer, which had no airport, just a dirt runway. On the upside, without an airport, flying is completely hassle free. When the plane landed, we simply got out of the plane, removed our bags from the cargo area at the bottom of the plane, and got in the car to Bentiu.

On our trip to Unity, we wanted to accomplish several things: visit as many groups as possible that were formed by our field teams, speak to community members about the BRIDGE activities they have participated in, and train the field staff on the overall M&E system as well as proper procedures for documenting the work done with communities. I was expecting to find much of the same things I saw in Warrap state. However, as there are different staff members implementing activities, and varying srategies being pursued by the team leaders in each state, the results are not all uniform. Lutfiyah and I spoke to 4 communities where our team had formed Community Action and Women's Support Groups (groups meant to represent the larger community and help to introduce as well as manage self-help community development projects). In most communities we visited, our partner organization PACT had dug a borehole (a well) and formed a water user committee for each water point. While Lutfiyah interviewed the water-user committee, I interviewed the Women's Support Group (WSG), and then we both spoke with the Community Action Group (CAG). Generally, this meant that we would show up at a community, someone from our team would find a group representative, who would gather others from the group, and we would stand/sit under a tree and ask questions about the groups' activities, thoughts, and plans for the future. (Below: Myself interviewing a Women's Support Group in Tong Boma- a boma is a small administrative district)

Unfortunately, we discovered that while the Community Action and Women's Support Groups were formed nearly 2 months ago, none of the people in management positions had been trained on their respectives roles within the group. Despite this, many of the women I spoke to were very inspiring. Generally, the women do the majority of farming work, are responsible for bringing up the children, fetching water and charcoal or firewood for each day, and cooking. I do not know how they have time to be in such a group that BRIDGE has helped form, but they were all happy to be in it. They were eager to learn about their roles, repair or build schools and clinics for their communities, and build stalls for those in the community who sell goods at the market (usually they just sit on the ground to sell their items).

We also took other field trips to explore our agricultural component activities. First we visited a fishing group in a community called Manga. There, gender relations were in a poor state, more intense that in the previous communities we had visited. The men did all the fishing and fish drying. The women's role was to cook them and bring up the children. In this community, the BRIDGE project is focusing on forming fisher groups so that they can combine their efforts in fishing, marketing, and selling their dried fish in order to either get a better price for their fish or to invest in materials needed by all fishermen. We are also going to introduce an improved fish dryer system to them, which will result in more sanitary dried fish (currently they hang them to dry outside among the flies) and get a better price at the market. (Below: A fisherman getting off of his boat.)

However, much to our dismay, the group seemed to be hastily formed, and besides working together for a common interest, no group member really understood why they were in this group or what this group could do for them and the community. As we asked questions about their plans as a group, representatives simply responded by asking for fishing nets and boats.

While supplying fishing nets and boats sounds like a very simple request and a good plan to help meet community needs, these types of activities are characterized as relief, not development.
Throughout the 20 year civil war (that just ended in 2005) between north and south sudan, international organizations focused on supplying people with what they needed; giving hand-outs. After 20 years, many communities became dependent upon these hand-outs, unable to help themselves; unable to sustain themselves. This is one thing our program is trying desparately to avoid and overcome. Instead of simply giving people things, we require that there be some community contribution. Most communities cannot afford to pay for materials, and in those cases, we require that the community or the government, for example, commit to maintaining the borehole (water well) after we install it. For other projects, the community may contribute the labour required to rebuild a school. Unfortunately, we are simply relying on the voiced and signed committment of community leaders and government officials that they will maintain material items we supply them; it is unclear how we will actually ensure that maintenance.

Aside from work, Unity, specifically Bentiu was a decent place. By and large, Unity state is a marshland, which unfortunately makes it quite humid. On top of that, the water is often salty, which makes digging boreholes for communities difficult at times. Our team's compound we stayed on had several buildings recently built, but terribly designed. The building seemed to be made out of plaster and maybe cement, had high cielings, large and loud metal doors, and no air conditioning. Luckily there were cieling fans, but as city power only lasted from 7pm to about 6:00am, and the generators were not switched on all the time, it got hot; not just hot, but humid and sticky. Needless to say, I did not get a lot of sleep on that trip.

Compounding the situation was a plethora of really weird and large bugs, many of them able to fly. I constantly woke up with a jolt during the night, thinking there was bug on me. Half of the time there was. One thing I have found is that there are two insects that I just don't like, and when I see them, would like to run away: large wasps that seemed to be everywhere (their long dangling legs made me cringe every time) and large flying beetles. Luckily the beetles would only fly for a short period of time, drop from whatever height they were at, and if they crawled on you, were easily squashed.

As we departed, I felt like it was a good trip, but I was happy to be going back to Juba to my nice bed where there were fewer bugs. We once again drove to Leer, the plane landed, but the runway was a little wet due to the rains earlier in the week. As a result, the pilot stated that he would only take 6 of the 8 people that were scheduled for the flight to Rumbek (a city in Lakes State where we would transfer to another plane to Juba). As a result of being very vocal and slightly pushy, both Lutfiyah, myself and another BRIDGE employee were able to board the plane. Unfortunately, after we landed in Rumbeck, we discovered that our names were not on the manifest for the next flight to Juba. It turned out that our logistics team instead booked us for a later flight. A later flight wouldn't have been too bad, except that WFP only flies a certain number of planes on certain days to and from specific locations. As this was a friday, the next flight out of Rumbek to Juba was not until Monday. After some furious phone calls, Lutfiyah and I settled into the hotel (more like a campground because we stayed in safari style tents- complete with a full bathroom!) next to the airport. All in all, Rumbek was great. We slept, hung out, and watched the Wimbledon finals. What a final match for the men! On Monday, we made it to Juba, safe and sound. (Below: the plane we flew in from Leer to Rumbek)

A Workshop and a Whirlwind of a trip!

(Myself at Buli's Restaurant in Kuajok, Warrap State, Southern Sudan)

I have to say I am quite tired, but there is no end to it in the near future. It started the second and third week of June. We geared up for a workshop to disseminate the central government's (Government of Southern Sudan- GOSS) recently adopted water policy to government officials in the three states in which Winrock is working (Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Unity states). We flew a total of about 35 people from these states to Juba, where the central government is located as is Winrock's country headquarters. We were all working about 12 hr days getting last minute things ready for the conference.

While there were some minor hang ups before the conference, over all it went very well. One incident, for example, was when the Minister of Health from Unity State demanded that we pay for an extra 3 or 4 days for her to stay in a hotel of her choosing as well as her gas money while in Juba... And would you know, we gave it to her! Very frustrating.) It lasted a total of 3 days and all the participants from the states were very engaged and communicated openly with the central government representatives. We were told before the workshop that when GOSS representatives state something, the state representatives rarely say anything to challenge the statements or even add on to GOSS statements. Luckily, this was not the case for our workshop. In the end, the central government was really pleased with the workshop, and they said it exceeded their expectations.

The real trouble came when we tried to get all the state participants on the plane to go back home. Juba airport is the smallest airport yet is still took us 2 hrs to get everyone on the charter plane. Apparantly we paid the charter company in full before the event so basically everything went to hell. Then, as the airport is really small, we were actually all allowed to go out on the tarmac where all the planes were pulling in. While the participants were loading, a huge cargo type plane came, went through a large puddle, turned its back to us and sprayed everyone with dirt, mud and water. Oh fun.

Overall though, it went well. Aside from helping prepare for the workshop, I also worked at a registration table every morning, then took notes all day on workshop discussions and helped out the facilitator with anything he needed. Also, my boss (the chief of party) stated that I was invaluable and asked if I could stay on after August! Silly grad school getting in the way.. Honestly though, even if I did stay on, I think I would need a break anyways.

After the workshop ended there was no real break. The workshop participants left on a Friday and we (my supervisor Lutfiya- the monitoring and evaluation director) left on Monday for our trip to Warrap state in the northern part of Southern Sudan. We first flew on a World Food Programme (WFP) flight to Wau, of which our first view was of two airplanes that had crashed, then drove north to Kuajok where Winrock has a team based and a recently opened, still being constructed, compound. Kuajok was great actually. The weather was surprisingly cool (meaning not too hot- only high 80s/low 90s F), there was a lot of open space as it was a small town in the country, and it was surprisingly green. I heard the rains earlier in May were responsible for that, but I'm grateful. It was very pretty- lots of palm trees and other vegetation.

The purpose of our trip was to speak with field staff and learn more about the programs they were running, observe ongoing activities and speak to community members who are participants in Winrock activities. We traveled to Twic (twich) county first. It took about 2 hrs or more on a very bumpy road to get to the area, but just before we arrived it started storming. The sky was really pretty before the storm, but the rain made it very difficult for us to get around (even in a four wheel drive jeep!). In the end, we weren't able to meet with any communities, see any activities, or even meet with our partern organizations in Twic. We arrived and left about 30 minutes later. Only a slight waste of time... (Picture above: On the way to Twic County, possibly near Gogrial in Warrap State)

The whole next day was spent in meetings- first one starting at 8am and the last one ending about 9:30pm. Then we ate dinner... The next day we went to Akon South county to visit a few boreholes that our partner organization PACT drilled, speak with newly formed water user committees, and interview a community action group (formed to discuss and plan actions they will take to develop their own community, i.e. building schools, adult education for women, etc.) that was formed by Winrock staff. We traveled on ok to terrible roads. We saw three vehicles get stuck on the way, and we even had some trouble traversing the huge puddles (more like lakes) that were still around from the rain the other day. That trip took all day, followed by more meetings with field staff, then it was friday.

(Above: Children we met when visiting a community/borehole in Akon South.)

(Below: Video of us going through one of the very wet, muddy, and lake like areas. Thank goodness for four wheel drive. Although, even with it we were a little worried.)

On Friday, while Lutfiyah conducted a meeting with one of our partner organizations, I was able to go to a nearby community (Angui) and speak with another community action group. This community was particularly interesting because they had formed a community action group and elected a woman as its chairperson. The only group so far to do that! I had a wonderful conversation with the woman and several of the groups' management officers, and they showed me around their community. The woman was very remarkable. Before Winrock came to the community, she had been a member of the community school PTA and ran her own business. The community as a whole was similarly inspiring. Instead of relying on outside organizations to build things for them, they have made their own bricks and begun building a storage room for future ox-ploughs as well as a school. The group also contains a women's sub group which plans to start up a bedsheet weaving and dying business. When I left Angui, I left with a potential success story to report to USAID, and I learned some words in Dinka! Unfortunately, as soon as I returned to the Winrock compound in Kuajok, I found out our plane would leave Wau (south of Kuajok by about 1.5 hrs) very early in the morning, which meant we had to leave that afternoon (about 15 minutes to pack up and leave).


Wau was actually pretty nice. It's a much bigger city than Kuajok (Kuajok is a very small town, despite it being the capital of the state). We stayed in The River Lodge to which we each paid about 130 dollars to stay in a tent. Mind you it was a very large tent- the type you see in old safari movie scenes. That night, we had the most wonderful potato soup, one beer (which did us both in- very sad), and were otherwise completely happy staring into space. There was a storm that night which we were worried would not allow planes to leave or take off (no tarmac here.. just dirt), but thankfully there was no large damage. We even took off relatively on time! Granted, this was only because we decided to fly a Southern Sudanese commercial airline instead of the WFP flight. The WFP flights are always late, sometimes leave early, and sometimes don't show up at all, stranding you for days.

I'm back in Juba now, but I'll be leaving again on Tuesday. This time, it is for Unity state. Much like the last trip, we'll be staying where Winrock has a compound, in Bentiu, then traveling to one or more counties to visit with communities and see how our activities and programs are progressing. (Below: The view we had before it poured in Twic County.)

"The Island"

Yesterday, the entire compound went to "the island." When I heard we were going, I naturally asked what it was like. Vlad, our finances guy who is Russian (who was it who said I wouldn't be using my Russian language skills?), asked me if I had ever seen the movie "The Island." Turns out, the movie is about this perfect looking society in which every now and then people win a trip to "the island." Everyone is excited for those who win, but unfortunately when they go to the island, there is no paradise. They go to the island so the authorities can harvest their organs...

Hmmm... do I really want to go to this island, I thought? Well, I did, and we did, and it was great. After a long and bumpy drive to the Oasis hotel/campground/"resort" of sorts, we were finally on the boat (yes, a singular boat) to the island. Since there was only one boat and about 30-40 people, it took quite a few trips to get us all there. When we were there it was nice... A little relaxing, enjoying the slight breeze when it was there, sweating when it went away, but generally just talking about work, life, etc. Turns out that Vlad, the Russian finances guy used to be a rocket scientist, but when the soviet union collapsed he went for another degree in economics. And, he's also ridiculously into airplanes. His father was a pilot I think, and whenever a plane would fly overhead, Vlad would name the type of plane and tell us the configuration of seats inside the plane. Who knew? (On top of this, he's a slightly eccentric Russian so he's generally hilarious.)
(Vlad is on the left. On the right is Dominic, another funny person.)

After a nice relaxing time we headed back through the Oasis lodge thing, saw my first gorilla water fountain (complete with fake goat!- see above), then back to the compound only to be stalled by a large group of cattle in the middle of the road. I couldn't believe how large the horns were!

The First Days

Driving down the main road in Juba, we never make it out of second gear. Swerving this way and that, the driver attempts to avoid the massive potholes and collapsed sections of road. Passing people living in abandoned lots, and those zipping around on their motorbikes, we finally arrive at our destination- JIT, the only supermarket in Juba. An expat heaven for alcohol, cigarettes, international food, all for only double, triple or quadruple the price you would pay elsewhere in the world. You need a toaster? $50 please.

I keep having to remind myself that this is only the second day, although it feels like it has been a week. Yesterday I read a lot of program documents and reports, and today I worked on making a water policy overview more user friendly for a minstry level conference coming up in mid June. I will have to say, working in an office, whether it is in Juba or Chicago, really isn't much different. I wouldn't have even really known I was in Southern Sudan had I not went to JIT with some other staff members.

It's also a strange feeling to be living and working in Juba on development projects, but not doing anything in the city where we actually can see the poverty and shortcomings of governance/social services. I hope I get to go out into the field soon so I can actually see what Winrock is doing and who they are helping/enabling to help themselves.

Additionally, at times life in this compound seems to be extremely pampered. There are maids that clean your room, someone cooks 3 meals a day for you, I'm not paying rent my "office" is just a 5 second walk from my room, and there's satellite tv (weird considering I haven't owned a tv this year and would never consider buying satellite programming). Further, has not been as hot as they say. I have been able to wear pants each day outside, and each building has air conditioning (when was the last time I had air conditioning in my apartment? never!).

Lastly, things I wish I had brought: Oddly enough- a pair of scissors (would have been handy twice today).

Cheers to new adventures.