(View from the balcony of the new house for BRIDGE staff based in Juba)
After 3 months away, I'm back. In some respects, it seems as if I never left. As soon as I arrived in Juba, I picked up almost in the same place I left off. I'm again working for Winrock International on the Sudan BRIDGE program, based out of Juba, on Monitoring & Evaluation. When I arrived, most of the people I worked with last summer were still around, but there were some great new staff members as well.
On my first day back, I started the catch-up process, but almost immediately became side-tracked. I first learned that in a couple of weeks, I would travel to each of the three states and help implement a impact assessment baseline survey. However, my initial excitement about that project was almost immediately pushed to the side. On my first Monday (8-Feb) I was called into the Chief of Party's (COP) office, and was told several board members, program managers from the headquarters in the U.S. as well as the president of Winrock were going to be visiting South Sudan for 3 days within a week and a half. In particular, they were going to get to know our program better. "Can you coordinate this?" I was asked. "Sure," I answered.
There was no easing into life in Sudan this time. So, I jumped on this task and ran with it. Throughout the process I re-learned a valuable lesson about establishing clear lines of communication, the value of having reliable people, delved into the world of security and risk mitigation for VIPs in insecure areas, and realized that I never want my sole task to be logistics. (As fast paced and intriguing as logistics can be sometimes, I like having a balance between logistics and program content. Also, I value sleep... a luxury a logistics manager does not often have.) However, I am proud to say that their visit went very well. Despite a very tight schedule on their first day in Sudan, including visiting sites around town and numerous presentations, at the end of the day, we miraculously stayed on schedule.
(At a secondary school in Juba during the Board Visit. This school is supported by a Winrock program called GEE- Gender Equity through Education)After this visit, sleeping for a day was definitely in order. Next task, prepare for a trip to our field sites (across three states: Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Unity) to pilot/ administer a baseline survey for our impact indicators.* Over three weeks, myself and at least two consultants, along with members from our field teams, would interview members of the communities in which we worked. (*For those of you not involved in development, indicators are one of the main ways to manage and report on the progress of a program. An example of one of our indicators is: Number of people trained in agricultural productivity with US Government Assistance. Indicators that focus on outputs- i.e. number of people trained- are important, but in the end, you want to see that there has been a change in the human condition or in the situation.)
Initially the idea was to conduct a survey with our target communities on how the BRIDGE program (the program I am working for again) was affecting their lives, and how they were interacting with the government. Through several discussions and arguments, the purpose changed. Now, we are focusing on field testing and implementing a governance perception survey. While focusing on areas like water, sanitation, education and agriculture, the BRIDGE program was designed first and foremost as a governance program. In all our activities, we try to involve the government and put the government's face on the activities we implement. The reason behind this is that when the BRIDGE program eventually ends, we want the government to be better able to provide public services, and for the communities in our target states to overcome distrust of the government and see the government as a provider of those services, rather than just NGOs. Our questions, therefore, are focusing on how the community perceives government. We expect the answers to be more negative than positive at this point, but in the coming years, we hope that the perception of local government in South Sudan becomes more positive.
(On the way to Kuajok, we ran into a seemingly never-ending World Food Programme caravan carrying food supplies toward Wau town from, presumably, Khartoum.)I am currently in Kuajok, Warrap State, Southern Sudan preparing to implement this survey. The team and I worked on improving the survey today, but we know that once we actually start asking our questions in the communities, more changes will come.
On a personal note, Kuajok is very nice. When we travel here, my colleagues and I joke that we are heading to paradise. The programs and compound are well managed, if you need something done, it happens, and Kuajok is a nice town. Compared to Juba, Kuajok is much more rural, and because of this, you can see for miles around. The town is calm, and evening walks are a must. The compound has running water now too! Very exciting.
Overall, there have already been challenges, and I know there will be many challenges ahead. I'm confident I can overcome these challenges (I'm keeping a running list for myself of lessons to be learned to help out with this), and by developing personally and professionally, help out the project in a meaningful way.
