Building peace between communities

 

Topics

Climate smart agriculture,
Communities development
      construction de la paix inter ethnique

Situation

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.

Problem

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.

Implemented solutions

• Training of the cooperative leaders to straw-mulch the cultivated land.
• Straw-mulching of all the women's plots.
• Monitoring and evaluation with the cooperative members.

Results

• The need to water was reduced, the straw kept the soil fresh and humid.
• Watering once a day was enough.
• Traveling to the farm was reduced to once a day, reducing also the time spent on the road.
• The harvests were good, covering family needs and leaving extras to be sold at the local market.
• The women were initially under the poverty line (<1 USD/day) and were able to reach 4 USD/day (7 USD/day for the most hard-working women).
• Ethnic tensions decreased between communities due to the economic empowerment of the women.