Interaction with State Institutions
Chapters Five and Six have examined some issues relating to decentralisation and government authorities. There are many negative practices and images of government authorities. There is a belief that the government determines who may have access to services and decision-making processes; therefore it can promote or constrain the movement and performance of grassroots organisations (GROs). In general, the poor relationship between the state and local communities may result in the exclusion of some from accessing resources and services. Despite this reality, the research participants showed that they preferred to establish a trusting, mutual relationship with the project management and local state institutions. They believe that if good relationships do not benefit them, confrontation will never do that, but would the government authorities respond equally to all grassroots organisations in the area? For example, the members of GROs, in Um-Ruwaba 2 (FGD, 1 0/2005) spoke with pride about their ability to establish strong and friendly relationships with government officials, which resulted in the establishment of rural hospital, market, and
secondary schools. They spoke about developing personal relationships, organising invitations and showing support when dealing with local authorities and government personnel. During my stay in the village, I found that there were many influential government officials who belonged to this village and this could explained how and why these GROs succeeded in establishing strong and beneficial relationships with government authorities.
Despite the widespread feature of solidarity and cooperation within the communities, whether homogenous or heterogeneous, there are still some leaders who make contact and coordinate with the government for their own benefit. A member of Popular Development Works (PDW) revealed that there was no possibility of coordinating with the IFAD project (NKRDP) or the locality authorities. It appeared that both parties had their own agenda for rejecting collaboration with national development NGOs.
'The government institutions refused to coordinate with our organisation because the government wants to establish relationships with local leaders and some influential individuals. For example we arranged to provide the poor farmers with improved seeds, either free of charge or at a lower price. This was dependent on available funds. In fact we are doing the government work, because the state government in NKS has subsidised the improved seeds by 87.S%. Unfortunately they sell them through the local leaders. Some of those leaders sell the seeds in the market. This year we bought the government' s seeds from the market to distribute to the farmers' (MM-SSI, 091200SIPDW).
Despite these negative practices there is a new change in the thinking of the key government officials, particularly the planners at North Kordofan State level. The following section illustrates this shift.
New Administrative Shift: Towards Real Decentralisation
According to the recently changed government decentralisation policy (KD-SSI, EI-Obeid, 07/200S) North Kordofan State comprises five localities, Rara, Um-Ruwaba, Gabrat El Sheikh, Shiekan and Sodri. The five localities constitute nineteen administrative units. The new governance system, which was approved and applied in 2004, has started the establishment of localities to replace the old provincial system. The goal of establishing these localities was decentralisation of resources and initiation of a comprehensive development plan. The Ministry of Finance and Labour Force (MFLF) has been responsible for developing mechanisms to enhance the cooperative efforts and supports for the new system. 7S% of
manpower in the state institutions was transferred to the localities and four major departments were established at the locality level to absorb the transferred staff. These departments are education and social services, engineering and health, finance, and agriculture. The new staff started to receive some technical training. The State Government and the MFLF has great expectations that after the peace process in Sudan and the exploitation and export of oil more resources would be allocated for development. The MFLF established the following coordination units: 1 ) the Development Council, which is aimed at coordinating the government efforts and organising a regular meeting to agree on allocating resources according to their needs and plans; 2) the Local Government Coordination Council, which leads the strategic planning at local level, setting guidelines and formulating strategies, assessing the capacities and performance of the localities and creating optimum relationships between localities, state and local NGOs; and 3) technical Unit to coordinate with grassroots organisations accessing the financial institutions and enhancing the capacity of its members. In 2005 the MFLF started to produce an annual working plan, which included the plans of the state government agencies, UN agencies, and international and national NGOs. Government professionals at the highest level have become aware that there is a need to change the traditional system. A key director at the MFLF explained that:
'By developing this system we are trying to develop the concept of people's participation and a bottom-up approach in reality. This new organisational system required a tremendous courage from all of us to give up power and authorities, which we held for decades. In general most of the senior government officials now are fully aware of the principles and practice of people' s participation. The new system has created redistribution of power, which might not be admired by many people, who need to adjust themselves to this situation. Fortunately the external auditor report has shown that the corruption in the State institutions has declined by 4 1 % in this year 2004/05, which we relate to the new system where there is more accountability and transparency' (KD-SSI, 07/20051 EI-Obeid).
Another example was recorded from the Forests National Corporation (FNC) experiences with the community forestry programme. As part of agro-forestry programme the FNC has adopted a participatory management system in North Kordofan State. It focused on planting Acacia and Acacis both produce gum Arabic, which is considered as cash crop. This plantation scheme utilises both communal and private land and offers a promising source of cash, at low cost, for local people. These forest plantations provide the villagers with fodder, medicine and fuel wood, especially during the dry seasons. These changes indicated that bureaucratic institutions could change their policies and adopt a collaborative
system. This requires support from existing development organisations and projects, such as the NKRDP. However despite the NKRDP claim about building institutional capacity at different levels, there was no evidence to show the project's involvement in these efforts.
National and Regional NGOs
In North Kordofan State there are large numbers of local non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Most of them are not active or trusted, but very keen to renew their registration and show up at public or formal meetings (SPO-SI, 1 0/2005). These regional NGOs have a similar reputation to that of the national NGOs, which is explained in Chapter Five. According to the Senior Social Development Officer at the Ministry of Education and Social Affairs (NKS) there are 265 registered organisations, eight of them are international, being UNDP, WFP, UNICEF, Plan Sudan, CARE, Islamic Relief, Red Crescent and IFAD (SSDO SSI, 1 0/2005). Most of the regional NGOs were established in response to emergencies that occurred in the area, especially during the 1 980s. Except for the Popular Development Works (PDW) all the national and regional organisations, which are assumed to be working in North Kordofan State, are completely absent from the two localities (Bara and Um-Ruwaba), where the NKRDP is working as can be seen in Fig 7.2. The regional NGOs justified their absence by not having enough resources and depending on volunteers who do not have enough time for community work (KM-SSI, 08/2005). However during the NGOs workshop in El-Obeid (the capital of NKS) in July 2005, which was funded by UNDP and attended by members of regional and some national NGOs, it was observed that the participants were talking about international partners and participation in international events. Meaning that these organisations have the capacity to develop connections and get access to resources.
As mentioned earlier Popular Development Works (PDW) is the only national organisation that works in the project site. PDW was established in 2000 by a small group of professionals who graduated from universities and gained experiences through working with development agencies in North Kordofan. The members of the organisation are seven people; six of them are volunteers, offering their holidays and some hours weekly to provide some services. One of them is the coordinator who is paid a living allowance from the projects' funds. The organisation has a small, one room, office in Khartoum and a portable computer. The group is aware of the social and religious organisations, practices and customary law. The group acquired knowledge of participatory techniques such as PRA methods, drama and puppet
theatre, through their work with international NGOs. They succeeded in gaining some support for small projects that targeted some villages in Um-Ruwaba locality in North Kordofan State. Almost all the funds are directed to field projects. The organisation office in Khartoum acts as a coordination unit. It focuses on planning, making contact with donors, government institutions and migrants, who live permanently or temporary in Khartoum.
Figure 7. 2: Non-Governmental Organisations: the Case of North Kordofan State
Grassroots gional andRe
Organis tions Nationa NGOs
Local Groups ViIlage Development ViIlage Popular Organisation Committee
Established by
different
Established by groups
local
Established by the Established by Different
communities
Project the specialisations
Governed by Government
local norms Complicated Absent
structure Community
Adopted strategic tool Monopolised
incligenous Community strategic
participatory tool Sustainability? Inherited
approaches
Resolved Sustainability? Personal
Conflicts interests
Source: Fieldwork Information, 2005 .
Popular Development Works (PDW) is the only national NGO, out of hundreds at both national and regional levels who succeeded in establishing links with grassroots organisations in Um-Ruwaba locality. It involved people in planning and implementing field activities in
many villages. Its main objective is to address the issues of underdevelopment. It developed its own approach, which was based on personal contact and building on the existing local organisations and practices. They focused on building the capacity of grassroots organisations and encouraged the communities in each village to establish a centre (Dar) where people could meet, conduct training and awareness programmes, and accommodate village' s visitors.
In Um-Ruwaba locality the Popular Development Works (PDW) organised sessions for collective identification and analysis of the problems and shared their experiences and knowledge with the communities. Based on communities' priorities and interests the PDW prepared projects' proposals and sent them to donors. The final formulation of projects' proposals and making contact with donors and government were done by this NGO; the people's role was mainly to present ideas and implementation. The villagers had shown little interest in participating in writing the project proposals or traveling around to seek technical and financial support. They acknowledged that they did not have time, resources and capacity for that. They also expressed their trust and full acceptance of what the PDW members are doing. A villager in Um-Ruwaba J explained:
'The members of PDW belong to this community and they know what we need. We do not have time to do what they are doing; actually we do not know how to do it' (MV-FGD, 09/2005/ Um-Ruwaba J).
For the Popular Development Works (PDW) there were no fixed interventions; different activities were implemented in different villages. The PDW organised separate meetings for men and women before calling people for joint meetings. A female member explained the organisation' s approach:
'In each village and based on the existing groups, such as Sanduq, coffee group and education committee. We motivated the existing groups/committees to look at other issues and participate in relevant activities. We coordinate with the existing committees according to their interest and the proposed interventions. We also encourage the coordination between women and men rather than forcing them to form mixed committees' (FM-SSI, 09/2005IPDW).
The women' s coffee groups were encouraged by the PDW to act as women' s committees. Since they had to interact with men's organisations, they decided to select an old woman who
is respected by all of the community to speak out on behalf of the group. Normally that kind of woman in rural communities is called AI-Hakama 'a, which means 'the ruler' . The name i s usually given to a woman who speaks with wisdom and offers consultation for both men and women. In the villages where the PDW was involved, the women' s committees had selected AI-Hakama 'a as a chairwoman in addition to another assistant who was young, active and educated. The PDW used the women' s coffee groups as a channel to reach women and involved them in the production of extension material such as drama and songs that promote the concepts of sharing and cooperation. They developed new ways of communicating new messages through drama, songs and social entertainments. Women' s groups were the producers and presenters of educational material . The products of these groups have become well known all over the locality and adults memorised their poems. The PDW utilised these groups to discuss economic, social and political issues and to facilitate participation in developing activities. For them participation is considered as one package, as a means and as an end in itself. A member of PDW explained:
'We combined the coffee session, Nafir and drama. People in these areas are very talented. The women 's coffee groups become singing groups; they turn the PDW concepts and ideas into poem. During public meetings, awareness and training programmes different groups present their songs' (MM-SSI, 09/2005IPDW).
As was explained earlier the Popular Development Works (PDW) is the only national NGO based in Khartoum that works directly with grassroots organisations in Um-Ruwaba locality. It helped these grassroots organisations to overcome their isolation and tried to link them with international and national development agencies. The PDW's contributions gained acceptance and appreciation as it succeeded in communicating with communities and donors, sharing common views and concerns and working as a caring and supportive voluntary team. Unfortunately the PDW has limited resources and received only small funds from international donors. However, the experience of the PDW in North Kordofan created new understanding of the role of local organisations and raised concerns about the strategies of international agencies and their staff's behavour. The interaction between PDW and the NKRDP will be examined in the next chapter while we analyse the project approaches and mechanisms.
In digenous Participatory Con cepts in the Project Sites
The villages in the project sites are small settlements of 50-550 households, the biggest ones are dominated by many tribes such as Gawamaa, Baza 'a and Hamar; while the smallest villages normally belong to one tribe. In general there are no ethnic conflicts or domination of any kind by any group. The extended family is the basic unit of the social organisation, and kinship relations are the backbone within the social system. People of different tribal backgrounds live together; they mix through marriage and social interactions. The history of most villages dates back to the 1 8th century. People have memorised events since the beginning of the 20th century. The societies adhere to some social norms and values and people act spontaneously to achieve community work, welcome visitors and share each other's joys and calamities. It was observed that the villages almost share a similar way of life, social organisations and language. The size of the houses and the style of construction are similar with variation hardly evident between wealth and poverty, particularly for outsiders, unless explained by villagers themselves. Providing the family with income and food is the responsibility of the adults and is achieved in different ways and by different means. There is belief that a lot of work has to be done and no one can do it alone.
The structure of the community, especially at village level adheres to the spirit of solidarity, which is based on cooperation and sharing among the groups as family members, relatives and neighbors. Even if a person is alone, has no children, extended family or is a stranger, there is always someone who is ready and willing to help. When people are confronted by difficulties or challenges they act and contribute in different ways, individually or collectively, within the limits of their possibilities
Those who have migrated to cities and abroad are never cut off from the social and cultural setting in their rural homelands. They regularly visit their villages. They have obligations toward their families; in some cases these obligations can extend to include relatives, neighbors and friends.