Building peace between communities
2008 - 2013. Village of Paccong, Rumbek area, Lakes State, South Sudan.
cooperative of 600 women – 1200 beneficiaries - managing a vegetable farm.
The farm was equipped with a pomping system and a water tank. The water was distributed with taps along the 14 ha. The women were obliged to water their crops twice a day, morning and evening.
The farm is located in the Dinka ethnical area. Other ethnic groups are in the surrounding areas, but located in villages further away from the farm.
Strong tensions have long existed between ethnic groups (robberies, rapes, killings).
TOTAL Exploration & Production South Sudan was interested in running programmes with these communities within the framework of its social responsability policy.
A lot of women came to the farm from further than 10km and the need to water the crops twice a day meant they walked for long durations.
Some women couldn't come to water their plots twice a day, so their crops suffered from lack of water.
Ethnical quarrels added to this problem of distance, the ethnic groups farthest from the farm were the poorest.