have market, will sell
Farm-to-market = 35km + $150 truck rental. See how a covered market built strategically within a small village rakes in more profit for women in South Sudan.
South Sudan - Grace Poni, a 42 year-old mother of 10, no longer has to shell out precious cash to transport her agricultural products to town. These days, she and a number of women’s groups can bring and sell their goods directly in a newly constructed covered market right in their hometown in Nyai-Wudabi, Morobo County in Central Equatoria State.
Sudan Recovery Fund-South Sudan (SRF-SS), through its Small Grants Mechanism, provided funds to national non-government and community-based organizations to improve livelihoods and generate income among vulnerable groups. The Fund, supported by the United Kingdom and the Government of the Netherlands, aims to bridge the gap between recovery and development in South Sudan.
In Nyai-Wudabi, the covered market has been strategically built along the main road. This cuts the costs of transporting vegetables from the farm to the main market by over US$150 per trip. It also saves market sellers up to three hours of travel time and reduces loss of perishable goods. Moreover, having a central trading area within the village allows concessionaires to sell at higher prices than they would in the main market, located 35 km away in Yei, where supply is higher and prices are lower.
Completed in December 2010, the covered market can accommodate as many as 25 sellers on a first come-first served basis. Market days are usually held every Thursday and Friday. Women’s groups sell vegetables and fruits to an average of about 100 buyers a day. Concessionaires pay local authorities a minimal market access fee upfront for a space in the covered market. This set-up has generated greater income for women like Grace, with savings earned from transportation and post-harvest losses. “I used to earn about US$15 per month from selling vegetables,” she shares. “Now, I bring home US$3-4 per day,” she reveals.
The project was implemented by the national NGO Sudan Peace and Education Development Programme (SPEDP) – one of almost 70 organizations across South Sudan who have received funding from SRF-SS. SPEDP also conducted agricultural livelihoods training, such as vegetable farming, and formed women’s farming groups in Morobo and other counties in Central Equatoria State. Assorted vegetable seeds, fruit seedlings and agricultural tools and equipment were provided to communities as well, to increase their agricultural productivity and household income levels. A similar market shade has been built nearby through the same scheme.
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Sudan Recovery Fund-South Sudan (SRF-SS), established in May 2008, aims to facilitate the transition from humanitarian to recovery assistance in South Sudan. With a total committed amount of US$ 111.8 million from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, SRF focuses on projects that demonstrate peace dividends, encourage participation and empowerment of communities affected by conflict and poverty, and address stabilization in areas affected by insecurity. SRF also contributes to strengthening the capacities of state institutions, in particular through its stabilization programmes at the state level.
Source: Multi-Donor Trust Fund Gateway
To learn more please visit the new UN South Sudan website: http://southsudan.one.un.org/index.html
Happy feet on red earth
The earth really is red. From the airplane window, it is a massive stretch of land dotted with roofs so sparse you can actually count them. Infrastructure is few, roads are rough, and it is hot.
At the airport, armed men in military regalia stand by. The place is reminiscent of the recent referendum where South Sudan voted for secession from the North. Posters are everywhere: “The Symbol of Justice: Separation.”
Welcome to the youngest, 193rd country in the world.
At the airport, it’s a mad scramble to get your travel permit stamped and open your luggage for inspection. Having landed on Sudanese soil for the first time, it is a huge relief to see my driver holding up my name and the UN logo on the side of the van.
On the way to the hotel, I notice that most vehicles are 4×4 trucks marked with familiar insignia of aid organizations. In fact, many of the passengers on the same flight were aid workers.
Our rooms at the Beijing Juba Hotel look like container vans from the exterior but they’re clean, have running water, and are equipped with the all-important mosquito net. Internet is available at the restaurant and is good for two days. One US dollar is equivalent to 3 Sudanese pounds. One pot of rice (which serves two) is 5 Sp, roughly the price of a kilo and a half of rice in the Philippines.
Dust if you must…
Here’s to all the women who love to live life to the fullest. Because we never wished to be another Martha Stewart. Happy Women’s Day/Month/Year/Season! (re-posted from an email).
Remember … a layer of dust protects the wood beneath it.
A house becomes a home when you can write ‘I love you’ on the furniture.
I used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend making sure things were just perfect – ‘in case someone came over’. Finally I realized one day that no-one came over; they were all out living life and having fun!
Now, when people visit, I don’t have to explain the ‘condition’ of my home. They are more interested in hearing about the things I’ve been doing while I was away living life and having fun.
If you haven’t figured this out yet, please heed this advice.
Life is short. Enjoy it!
Dust if you must…
but wouldn’t it be better to paint a picture or write a letter, bake cookies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed, ponder the difference between want and need?
Dust if you must, but there’s not much time…
with wine to drink, rivers to swim and mountains to climb, music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.
Dust if you must, but the world’s out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain. This day will not come around, again.
Dust if you must, but bear in mind, old age will come and it’s not kind
And when you go – and go you must – you, yourself will make more dust.
Share this with all the wonderful women in your life.
It’s not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.
how you can do better charity than george clooney
Seriously, if you’re looking for that oomph in your life, get your freak on and just try volunteer work overseas. Let’s see, I did twice – first in India and then in Kenya – and I never looked back. Suffice it to say that it was an eye-opener (and if you’re drawn to the dramatics, dare I say it was… life-changing).
And so you master the art of haggling for a cheap autorickshaw ride. Every single day. You get to practice zen aboard a madly driven matatu on your way to work in the slums. You learn to budget your finances (read: allowance) like you’ve never done before, so much so that butter and fabric softener become luxuries (because you opted to save your precious Shillings for a weekend night out). You get accustomed to doing desk work under the sun during winter because the office has no heater. Or suddenly you find the utmost value of a single glass of water stored in a clay jar that your colleague saved just for you – on a hot, sticky, 48 degree Celsius summer. Or you learn to let your hair down because you hear the happy cackles, giggles and banters of your young and vibrant colleagues while they shoot a documentary about what they’ve learned about shooting a documentary – while you stress yourself out with how the organization you work at can function under a very tight budget. There’s just a more fun way of working.
And then you learn so much more that there is a world outside of yours where people happily survive with meager resources (you don’t really need another fancy pot, do you?). Or that you take away more life lessons than what you share of your knowledge and skills to people who lack them. Or you see a bigger picture that there is so much work to do for communities to progress – and that you want to be part of that change.
Or you can just sit comfortably where you are right now and ogle at what a great job George Clooney is doing in Sudan.
Go to VSO Philippines or VSO International.
the greatest wonder of them all
"True religion is caring for the widowed and the orphaned." At an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya.
So enough of the squabbling on who gets the coveted 8th Wonder of the World status. Apparently, it’s a lot more tangible (at least for some of us) than we hoped for.
PARIS—At a press conference Tuesday, the World Heritage Committee officially recognized the Gap Between Rich and Poor as the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” describing the global wealth divide as the “most colossal and enduring of mankind’s creations.
“Of all the epic structures the human race has devised, none is more staggering or imposing than the Gap Between Rich and Poor,” committee chairman Henri Jean-Baptiste said. “It is a tremendous, millennia-old expanse that fills us with both wonder and humility.”
“And thanks to careful maintenance through the ages, this massive relic survives intact, instilling in each new generation a sense of awe,” Jean- Baptiste added.” More…
