February 2024. Today was a special day. Special because I had a meeting with five (5) chiefs from which one (1) was an acting paramount chief. Also special, because they were happy to meet with me. In countries like South Sudan, working with local government employees, you need to have at least an understanding about the relationship between local government, municipality and communities. Does local government provide the required services to the communities? And are communities prepared to follow the rules and regulations of local government? Communities in South Sudan are often dissatisfied with local government because they do not provide the services they should provide. Local government is often in a difficult position because they have insufficient budget and manpower. Same with municipality.
I’m currently assigned to find more in depth information about how local government and municipality can shape more sustainable futures for their communities through improved resilience to floods, climate change and naturals disasters. This environment (Bor county, Jonglei State, South Sudan) is mainly rural area and for the past few years, annual floods have been plaguing people's lives. And that’s the reason to talk to the chiefs, to learn from them about their traditional mechanism to cope with (natural) disasters. Also to find out how we can take their approach into account during the implementation of the project.
Being prepared for natural disasters, the chiefs closely observe what is going on in nature; from which side the wind is coming, signs from the trees (leaves that fall down or leaves that become suddenly very green), 6 time rain per year is fine, but 8 times rain means flooding. When there is a serious flood, the community (mainly women and children) temporarily moves to a dry part while a few powerful men stay behind to protect their space and resources. In addition, they strictly stick to ‘law & order’. Not to prevent natural disaster but to prevent or quickly deal with conflicts and crises in their communities. The fines given out always involve payment with cows. In case you kill a person without intention, you pay 51 cows to the family of the victim. If you ‘spoil’ a woman but she is not pregnant, you pay 2 cows to her family. In case of a complicated issue, chiefs consult each other. In case a person does not agree with the chief’s statement, he can go to traditional court. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the conversation.
What have I actually learned? That life in the community of Bor county is simple and follows strict rules. Improvements that projects expect to deliver must be simple and explainable, but efficient. No ‘gadget/box/container-oriented-solution’ but something that fits into the natural and local environment of the community. The community blindly believes the chief and listens to what he says. Never skip the chief in a project visit, but involve him in the plans that are made. Does this make the project easier to implement? Certainly not!! But this does increase the chance of long term results & impact.