Achleitner Thesis Complete

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Institute for English Business Communication

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Richard J. Alexander, MA

UNDP MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS ONEDUCATION AND POVERTY IN SOUTH SUDAN

The plan on the big scale and realization on thesmall scale on the practical example of the big

contributions made by a small NGO (Miakwadang)

SS 2012 Andreas Achleitner 0852297


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WIRTSCHAFTSUNIVERSITT WIENVienna University of Economics and Business

Bachelor Thesis

I hereby declare that

1. I have written this Bachelor thesis independently and without the aid of unfair or unauthorizedresources. Whenever content was taken directly or indirectly from other sources, this has beenindicated and the source referenced.

2. this Bachelor thesis has neither previously been presented for assessment, nor has it beenpublished.

3. this Bachelor thesis is identical with the assessed thesis and the thesis which has been submit-ted in electronic form.

4. (only applicable if the thesis was written by more than one author): this Bachelor thesis waswritten together with first name(s), last name(s). The individual contributions of each writer as

well as the co-written passages have been indicated.

Date

English title of the BachelorThesis

UNDP Millennium Development Goals on Education and Poverty

in South Sudan

German title of the BachelorThesis

Die UNDP Millennium Development Goals im punkto Bildung

und Armut im Sdsudan

Authorlast name, first name(s)

Achleitner, Andreas

Student ID number 0852297

Degree program Bachelor's Program in Business, Economics and Social Sciences(Code nr. J 033 561)

Major in International Business Administration

Examinerdegree, first name(s), last name

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Richard J. Alexander, MA

26 June, 2012


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Table of Content:

1. Introduction ....................................................................................... 1

1.1. Aim of the paper .................................................................... 11.2. Structure of the paper ............................................................ 2

2. Main Part .......................................................................................... 3

2.1. Miakwadang & Project Environment ...................................... 3

2.1.1. Miakwadang an Austrian-Sudanese NGO .................... 3

2.1.1.1. History and project team of Miakwadang .............. 3

2.1.1.2. Principles and ideals.............................................. 4

2.1.1.3. Personal affiliation with Miakwadang..................... 5

2.1.2. South Sudan..................................................................... 6

2.1.2.1. Brief country history ............................................... 6

2.1.2.2. Geography and demographics .............................. 8

2.1.2.3. Nature and resources ............................................ 9

2.1.3. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ........ 10

2.1.3.1. Role of the UNDP in South Sudan ...................... 11

2.1.3.2. Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in South

Sudan .................................................................. 12

2.1.3.3. Criticism of MDG and UN .................................... 12

2.2. Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger ................... 14

2.2.1. Status quo in South Sudan............................................. 14

2.2.2. The governments approach to fight poverty .................. 16

2.2.2.1. What are social cash transfers? .......................... 17

2.2.2.2. South Sudans social cash transfer model .......... 17

2.2.3. Problem-solving approach by Miakwadang.................... 19

2.2.3.1. The role of small NGOs ....................................... 20

2.2.3.2. Microfinance against poverty ............................... 21

2.2.3.3. Why microfinance is better than social cash transfers

............................................................................. 22

2.3. Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education ...................... 26

2.3.1. Educational Status quo in South Sudan ......................... 26

2.3.2. Remaining challenges .................................................... 27


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2.3.2.1. Vast demand for efficient education force ........... 28

2.3.2.2. Lack of teacher payment and career development

system ................................................................. 29

2.3.2.3. Establishment of comprehensive teacher training

program ............................................................... 29

2.3.2.4. Gender disparities ............................................... 30

2.3.2.5. Need for permanent classrooms ......................... 32

2.3.2.6. Lack of uniform textbooks .................................... 33

2.3.3. Problem-solving approach by Miakwadang.................... 34

2.3.3.1. Accomplishments up to date ............................... 34

2.3.3.2. Educational visions .............................................. 35

3. Conclusion ...................................................................................... 37

4. Glossary ......................................................................................... 38

5. Bibliography .................................................................................... 44


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Table of Figures:

Figure 1: Percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day,

worldwide 1990 and 2005. ....................................................................... 15

Figure 2: Number of primary school teachers and pupil-teacher ratio ...... 28

Figure 3: Untrained and undertrained teachers (% of all) in primary

school ........................................................................................................ 30

Figure 4: Countries ranking on the Gender Parity Index (GPI), mostrecent years ............................................................................................... 31

Figure 5: Primary school classroom by type of construction ..................... 32

Figure 6: Number of pupils per Math textbook by state, 2010. ................. 33


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1. Introduction

Give a South Sudanese money and you will feed him for the day, show him

how to earn money and you will feed him and his family for a lifetime.

(Dr. Bronnenmayer, 2012)

Decades of civil war have left the newly founded country of South Sudan one

of the poorest nations in the whole wide world. The South Sudanese face

extreme poverty and hunger, they lack education and healthcare and the

environment is in great need of protection. In order to provide guidance for a

way out of this miserable situation, the United Nations came into play and set

the framework for a comprehensive development of the country; they

introduced the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At the same time, foreign and local NGOs have been making small but crucial

contributions towards promoting peace and growth in South Sudan. However,

all this foreign aid is worth little to nothing if it is done the wrong way. Hence, it

is extremely important to take the long-term prospects into account and to

focus on a sustainable development approach that is essentially carried out

by South Sudanese people. We do not want to feed the people of SouthSudan only for a day, but for a whole lifetime!

1.1. Aim of the paper

This paper has a dual objective. On the one hand, it seeks to analyze the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in South Sudan. For the sake of

brevity and clarity, only the first two MDGs, namely the reduction of extreme

poverty and hunger as well as the achievement of universal primary education,

are under close scrutiny. On the other hand, this paper also takes the

practical view on the small scale into account by analyzing how Miakwadang,

an Austrian-Sudanese NGO, deals with the issues of poverty and education.

A considerable amount of research on poverty reduction and education in

South Sudan has been conducted by the United Nations and related

organizations. However, very little critical literature about the effectiveness of


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the MDGs for poverty reduction and education is available. For this reason,

many of the critical parts of this paper are based on experiences and opinions

of South Sudan experts, collected in the form of personal, telephone and e-

mail interviews.

1.2. Structure of the paper

This paper is structured into three main sections. The first section consists of

an introduction to the operations of the NGO Miakwadang and to the country

in general in order to give you a better understanding about the critical

situation and challenges Miakwadang along with the country of South Sudanis concerned with. Furthermore, the UN Millennium Development Goals will

be discussed.

The second section focuses on the first Millennium Development Goal in

South Sudan, the reduction of poverty and hunger. Firstly, the governments

and UNs measures to accomplish this goal will be discussed, secondly, an

alternative approach by Miakwadang will be analyzed.

Last but not least, the third section of the paper explains the second

Millennium Development Goal, which concerns education in South Sudan. As

in the previous paragraph, first the governments and UNs, second,

Miakwadangs contributions to improving the educational situation in South

Sudan shall be taken under closer scrutiny.


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2. Main Part

2.1. Miakwadang & Project Environment

In this section of the paper we shall be concerned with providing anintroduction to the surroundings of the treated topic. First, the NGO this paper

often refers to will be introduced, along with a quick NGO history, the project

team, the principles and a little excursus into my personal affiliation with the

NGO. The second part of this section will deal about the country South Sudan,

including a brief historical and geographical part as well as information about

the nature and resources of South Sudan. In the third part of this introduction

we will discuss the UN Millennium Development Goals in South Sudan, therole of the United Nations Development Program and the UN Millennium

declaration.

2.1.1. Miakwadang an Austrian-Sudanese NGO

2.1.1.1. History and project team of Miakwadang

Miakwadang is a word in the language of the Dinka and means future. The

Dinka are an ethnic group and constitute the largest tribe in South Sudan with

about 1.5 million people (Dinka people). The very roots of Miakwadang date

back to the year 1978, when Dr. Herbert Bronnenmayer was engaged in a

primary health care project in Melut, Southern Sudan. After five years of

passionate work he was forced to leave the country because of reverting civil

conflicts. More than 20 years later in 2007, he was finally able to establish

contact with the Sudanese again, which led to the establishment of

Miakwadang Sudan as a national NGO for integrated village-based

development aid. At the same time, Miakwadang Austria was launched as a

sister organization to Miakwadang Sudan. By 2008, Miakwadang was also

represented in America by the Canadian organization Devxchange. With the

incorporation of Miakwadang Romania in 2009, Miakwadang was able to

extend its ties again. The Austrian part of the NGO is run by Dr. Herbert


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Bronnenmayer, who co-founded the project together with Mary Akuot Ruun,

chairwoman of Miakwadang Sudan. (Miakwadang: ber uns)

2.1.1.2. Principles and ideals

Miakwadang addresses the realization of development aid on a person-to-

person, heart-to-heart approach. A high premium is hereby put on mutual

respect and acceptance of local culture, traditions, customs and habits (Grain

for Pain: About us). It emphasizes empowering and enabling local people

from the village to guide and carry out the projects with a high degree of

independence. Miakwadang is offering assistance by providing know-how andmaterial support, but only as far as reasonable and needed (Final report

2008). It has always been considered highly crucial to work together with the

people and support them in everything they are trying to accomplish but not to

work for or instead of them. Furthermore, pursuance of the Millennium

Development Goals by the United Nations Development Program (explained

in more detail in section 2.1.3.) is of high importance.

Miakwadang has developed models that can be applied by the villages in the

Melut and Northern Nile regions in order to promote growth and raise the

standard of living. These models are comprised of the five domains of

Miakwadang:

1. Agriculture:

Because of the twenty-two years of war during which agriculture halted,

there are many people who dont know how to grow fruits, vegetables or

cereals. Miakwadang is bringing teams to show people how an efficient andhealthy agriculture is developed.

2. Medical:

Health care is almost nonexistent. Tropical diseases, severe malnutrition,

lack of vaccines and tribal practices are the reasons why in Sudan one in

five children do not reach the age of five years and one in ten women dies

during childbirth. Besides bringing medical teams to consult and treat people,

Miakwadang began to train several women in villages to provide primary

medical care.


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3. Education:

The lack of education is worrisome. Most inhabitants of the villages are

illiterate. Most of them dont even know their own age. The strongest desire

of the mothers is that their children attend school. But this requires the

construction of a schoolhouse and a financial support for teachers.4. Microcredit:

Because people in the village have no income, Miakwadang wants to give

them the chance to earn their daily bread. Relatively small amounts of well

invested money will help families that receive the money later to generate

profit for reinvestment. This will allow for not just survival, but also progress.

5. Art and Culture:

It is not good for any nation to lose its cultural values. Therefore,

Miakwadang encourages villagers to continue making objects of art and to

explore and develop their songs and customs to promote the value of their

culture.

(Grain for Pain: About us)

2.1.1.3. Personal affiliation with Miakwadang

In the summer of 2010 I had the unique privilege of getting hands-on

experience in an absolutely fascinating project. It all started with a message

on Facebook by Dr. Herbert Bronnenmayer, who happens to be a good friend

of my parents. He asked me if I could imagine becoming an active part of the

project and maybe apply some of the knowledge I had gained in the course of

my International Business studies. I was instantly thrilled about the idea of

throwing myself out into a completely different environment. And a few e-mails,

meetings and months later I already found myself on the back seat of a Jeep

driving down the bumpy roads from Khartoum to the south. Our final

destination was a small village called Nyeyok, located in the Upper Nile region

close to Melut, South Sudan.

I had the privilege of being actively engaged in many different fields of the

project acquiring lots of practical experience by teaching English in the village

school, playing sports with the children, working on handicrafts with the village

woman, helping out in the local clinic, and more. However, my main task was

to work on a microloan project in the village. In cooperation with Benjamin

Doplbauer, a fellow student from my university in Austria, we worked out a


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plan on how to establish a microloan system and we were even able to grant

loans to two villagers.

In addition, after my stay in Sudan I was able to contribute to Miakwadang by

presenting the project at a charity event and a courtyard festival in my

hometown of Eferding.

At this point, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Herbert Bronnenmayer

for giving me the unique chance to be an active part of such an exciting

project. Furthermore, I would like to thank Mary Akuot Ruun, chairwoman of

Miakwadang Sudan, for being so welcoming and taking such great care of the

whole team for the whole duration of our stay. She represents core

characteristics of the South-Sudanese such as hospitality, warm-heartedness,

cheerfulness and diligence in the best possible way.

2.1.2. South Sudan

Having looked at the history, principles, ideas and my personal affiliation with

Miakwadang in the section above, we are now going to take a peek at thebigger scale, which is the country history, geography and the nature and

resources of South Sudan. This aims to provide a better understanding of the

history, surroundings and the very complex challenges Miakwadang faces

during its operations in South Sudan.

2.1.2.1. Brief country history

Before having become an independent country in 2011, South Sudan was a

semi-autonomous region of the Republic of Sudan and it was called Southern

Sudan. That means, before 2011, technically speaking, we cannot speak of

the country of South Sudan, even though it has had a certain degree of

autonomy. Nevertheless, it had to endure a long period of violence, conflicts

and civil war. In fact, since its existence the Republic of Sudan therefore

also South Sudan has spent more time in civil war than in peace.


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First Civil War

The modern Sudan has its origins in the period of British colonization, more

precisely the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (1898-1955), where it was

officially occupied under the name of the Egyptian Khedive, but it was

basically considered a British Colony (Daly 1986). Sudan finally gained

independence in 1956. When establishing the government, the British failed to

distribute equal powers to the north and the south, which would result in

severe negative long-term effects for the south. Thus, the Arab-dominated

north with the government in Khartoum failed to delegate rights to the mainly

black African south and suppressed them. Consequently, the southerners

engineered a revolt and formed the Anyana guerilla army with the goal ofestablishing an independent south. This would lead to the First Civil War

lasting from 1955 to 1972 (Sudan First Civil War).

Second Civil War

After a mere decade of peace, conflicts emerged again in 1983. A more than

twenty-year-long period of unrest, fear and misery came along with the

Second Civil War in Sudan. Two primary factors fueled the Second Civil War.On the one hand the great amount of natural resources, especially the oil

fields that are mainly located in the boarder area between the north and the

south. On the other hand, the great number of tributaries to the Nile River and

the higher precipitation provides the south with more fertile land. For all these

reasons and more, the north was doing everything conceivable to not allow

the south to gain the independence it strived for. The Sudan People Liberation

Movement (SPLM), the main force to oppose the northern Muslim government,

enforced this desperately pursued independence. To make matters worse, the

south also suffered under heavy disputes within its boarders between the two

main tribes, the Dinka and the Nuer (Raftopoulos and Alexander 2006: 12).

The disastrous consequence of this 22 year long reign of terror and the

famine coming along with it was a death toll of nearly two million people in

Sudan, one of the highest numbers of civilian fatalities since World War II. On

top of that, about four million people were displaced from their homes

(Africa.com Sudan).


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Africas longest ongoing civil war finally ceased in January 2005, when the

SPLM together with the north-dominated Government of Sudan signed the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA aimed to ensure the

establishment of democratic countrywide governance respecting the needs of

both sides and the fair distribution of oil revenues. Furthermore, it was meant

to set a schedule for a referendum on Southern Sudans independence (Text

of the CPA, 2005).

Referendum final independence from the north

About six years after the CPA was signed, the Southern Sudanese took their

final step towards complete independence from the north. The referendum on

whether Southern Sudan should remain part of Sudan or become a fully

independent country took place in January 2011. Under the watchful eyes of

an international community, such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter,

former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Tanzania Prime Minister

Joseph Warioba, actor George Clooney, etc., the South Sudanese voted in

favor of independence with an overwhelming majority of almost 99%. Half a

year later on the 9th of July 2011 South Sudan officially became the 193rd

country of the world (The Carter Center: Jimmy Carter... to Observe

Referendum of Self-Determination of Southern Sudan, Sudan referendum

result confirmed, Hello country number 193).

However, with the ratification of the independence treaty South Sudan is still

not out of the woods. Especially in the oil-rich boarder regions, armed conflicts

are still being registered. It takes comprehensive efforts by the international

community to monitor peace developments in order to allow the country to

have a prosperous future (One Year After Independence, South Sudan Still

Needs International Support).

2.1.2.2. Geography and Demographics

The Republic of South Sudan is a landlocked country bordered by Sudan to

the north, Ethiopia to the east, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republicof the Congo to the south and the Central African Republic to the west. It


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consists of ten states, namely Upper Nile, Jongley, Eastern Equatoria, Central

Equatoria, Western Equatoria, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el

Ghazal, Warrap, Unity and Lakes (Geography of South Sudan, GoSS.org)

The population is estimated to be 8,260,490 (2008 census). With Juba as its

capital city, the worlds youngest country also joined the United Nations and

has become a member state of the African Union. The official language is

English. However, numerous indigenous languages, which account for far

more speakers than English, are also recognized as national languages

(GoSS.org). In terms of religion, a co-existence between a rising minority of

Christianity (Catholic and Anglican), a constant minority of Islam and yet a

majority of traditional indigenous beliefs has been registered (Kaufmann2004). The President of the Government of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, pledged

that his country is one with respect for the freedom of religion (South Sudan

To Respect Freedom Of Religion Says GOSS President).

2.1.2.3. Nature & resources

South Sudan bears a fascinating diversity of natural resources and wildlife.

The latter, however, was strongly effected by the Second Civil War starting in

1983. Due to ongoing fighting and violence a great number of the animals

were forced to flee. The area near the border with Congo (Sudd wetland and

Southern National Park) as well as the area west of the Ethiopian border

(Boma National Park) was home to large populations of antelopes, buffalos,

elephants, giraffes, giant forest hogs, red river hogs, chimpanzees and forest

monkeys. With the return of peace in 2006, the wildlife stock also seems to bethriving in an area that is home to the worlds second largest wildlife migration

(Wildlife Conservation Society: South Sudan).

In terms of natural resources, South Sudan is said to have enormous potential

both on and under the ground. The agricultural possibilities seem endless,

especially in the areas around the Nile River. The incredibly fertile soil would

allow farmers to grow all sorts of grain, sugar cane, coffee, tea, a variety of

tropical fruits, etc. Yet, most of this agricultural potential remains not taken


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advantage of. Traditionally most of the farmers concentrate on raising

livestock. Ironically, most of it is not even for slaughter. In a land with a lack of

a proper banking system, cattle were used as a means of payment (South

Sudans future. Now for the hard part).

What is more, a huge variety of natural resources are slumbering under the

cattles hooves. The worlds youngest country contains huge amounts of

mostly unexplored gold, copper, iron ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver,

diamonds and many more. Nevertheless, South Sudan largely relies on oil as

its driving economic revenue. 80% of Sudans untapped oil deposit is

estimated to be in South Sudan. The dependency on oil can be more of a

curse than a blessing though, as it has historically proved to be a major triggerof conflict with the north. Hence, the south is well advised to strive for taking

advantage of its agricultural potential in order to reduce oil dependency and

diversify economic risks (Awaiting Independence Vote, Southern Sudan has

high hopes).

In this section we have learned that South Sudan has had to face severechallenges on its way to independence. After almost 40 long and dreadful

years of civil war, which claimed two million victims, the south and the north

were tired of fighting and let reason prevail. They signed the Comprehensive

Peace Agreement in 2005 and six years later in June 2011 South Sudan was

announced as the worlds 193rd country. This achieved political stability is

highly crucial for the country, on the one hand to protect and support the

fascinating wildlife migration, and on the other hand to be able to benefit from

the potentials provided by fertile soil and natural resources.

2.1.3. Role of the United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) in South Sudan

The previous section has shown the history and specifics of South Sudan

along with the numerous problems and challenges the bumpy past caused.


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We have also gotten a first impression of the role of Miakwadang in South

Sudan. In this section we shall be concerned with the UNDPs measures set

to tackle the challenges of the past and how it is linked to Miakwadangs field

of tasks.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a worldwide network

for development aiming to assist countries getting better knowledge,

experience and resources in order to ultimately help people build a better life.

The UNDP as a solution-oriented, knowledge based development

organization supports countries to reach their own and international objectives,

as well as the Millennium Development Goals, which will be presented in

more detail below (United Nations Development Programme: What we do).

2.1.3.1. Role of the UNDP in South Sudan

With South Sudan turning into an independent nation in July 2011, there is a

lot at stake, not only for the young country itself, but also for its international

partners. The main role of the UNDP is to help the Government of South

Sudan create sustainable governance structures by providing technical

assistance, mentoring and direct financial support.

Furthermore, the UNDP assists to develop an efficient legal framework. This

includes cooperation with the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional

Development. A further emphasize is put on the prevention of future conflicts

and crises, which can be effected by promoting community security and

infrastructure as well as controlling small arms, while at the same time

boosting economic development. In cooperation with other non-state

participants such as NGOs, media and traditional leaders the UNDP also

works on initiatives to reduce poverty and combat HIV/Aids, malaria and

tuberculosis (Our Work).


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2.1.3.2. Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in South Sudan

When the world leaders assembled at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000,

they set the Millennium Development Goals with the aim of addressing and

improving human conditions around the world. Specifically, eight measurable

goals were introduced. In an effort not to go beyond the scope of a bachelors

thesis, I decided to only describe the first two in greater detail.

Goal 1: Eradicate poverty and hunger

In South Sudan, chronic hunger was reduced from 48 to 33 percent between

1995 and 2004. However 50.6 percent of the population lives below the

national poverty line.

The South Sudan Development Plan aims to reduce this to 46 percent by 2013.One key initiative is social cash transfers, which the Government intends to be

provided to a least 20 percent of households

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Net enrolment in primary school was 46 percent in 2010, but far fewer children

complete all eight years. The qualified teacher to children ratio stands at 1:117.

The South Sudan Development Plan sets a target of 65 percent enrolment in

the next three years.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development (access to foreign

markets, debt relief and increased grant)

(The Millennium Development Goals in South Sudan - UNDP)

2.1.3.3. Criticism of MDG and UN

As groundbreaking and valuable the Millennium Development Goals appear,

they are not entirely free of criticism. Deneulin and Shahani (2009: 66) point

out drawbacks concerning the insufficient analytical power and justification of

the eight goals. In addition, they do not involve empowerment and

participation issues (except for gender empowerment), equity and


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distributional concerns as well as the sustainability of the development goals

after expiration in 2015.

On a larger scale, the United Nations in general also had to face some

critique. According to Gold (2004: 216-217), the UN was accused of practicing

moral relativism as it occasionally tolerated and sometimes even supported

genocide and terrorism. Furthermore, the United Nations Security Council

(UNSC) is said to be an exclusive group of elite nations and nuclear powers.

Its five permanent members, consisting of Russia, the United States, China,

the United Kingdom and France, are imputed with focusing on issues that are

of political and strategic interest. This was particularly obvious in humanitarian

interventions: for instance, they immediately protected oil-rich Kuwait in 1991,while they barely put any effort in protecting Rwanda, which is not so blessed

with natural resources (Rajan 2006). Given the fact that South Sudan is rich in

natural resources and oil, it might not appear too surprising that the United

Nations show strong presence in the worlds youngest nation.


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2.2. Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target one: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whoseincome is less than $1 a day.

Target two: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer

from hunger.

(The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, 6-15)

2.2.1. Status quo in South Sudan

In this chapter we shall be confronted with extreme poverty and hunger in

South Sudan. First, we are going to analyze the current situation with facts

and figures, followed by a look at the measures taken by the Government ofSouth Sudan in cooperation with the UNDP. In the following section we are

going to take a look at Miakwadangs approach on how to tackle the problem

of extreme poverty and hunger on a smaller scale.

From an international perspective the attainment of the Millennium

Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of the poor (measured by

income of less than $1 a day) looks quite promising and achievable. If one

believes projections made by the world bank, the overall poverty rate is

expected to drop under 15% by 2015, which means meeting the MDG is

possible (The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, 7).

When looking at the numbers of Figure 1, we can easily discover that the

inconsistencies in terms of poverty reduction from 1990 to 2005 between the

worlds poorest regions are significant. Whereas particularly countries in

Eastern-, Southeastern and Southern Asia registered substantial

improvements, with Eastern Asia even having quartered its numbers, some

other countries are still lagging miles behind. Sub-Saharan Africa ranks at the

very bottom of the list, among it, South Sudan. According to data by the South

Sudan National Bureau of Statistics (2009), in 2009, 50.6% of the countrys

population lived below the national poverty line, which corresponds to the

Sub-Saharan African average in 2005 (see Figure 1). The South Sudan

Development Plan strives for a reduction to 46% by 2013. We can conclude

from these figures that poverty remains an endemic problem, which


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essentially means that, unlike the UN MDG Report predicts, the MDG of

halving poverty by 2015 is highly unlikely to be met (UNDP Draft country

programme document for the Republic of South Sudan, 2012, 2).

Figure 1: Percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day, worldwide 1990 and 2005.

Source: The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, United Nations, 6

For the sake of clarity, it has to be noted that the poverty line used in the

graph is $1.25 of income per day. The standard practice for internationalpoverty comparisons does not use market exchange rates but usually refers


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to power purchasing parity (PPP) exchange rates. However, to date there is

no existing PPP exchange rate for South Sudan. For this reason a market

exchange rate is used in this case, which amounts to $1 a day.

2.2.2. The governments approach to fight poverty

While there are a variety of short- and long-term measures the government

can use to alleviate poverty, for the sake of brevity, I decided to focus on one

explicitly suggested in the MDGs: the implementation of social cash transfers

(The Millennium Development Goals in South Sudan). First, we will learn

about social cash transfers in general and the different existing varietiesalong with their advantages and disadvantages. In the subsequent section

we will have a closer look at the approach the government decided to take.

2.2.2.1. What are social cash transfers?

Cash transfers are state-run cash transfer programs with the primary goal of

providing a basic level of consumption to its recipients.

Cash transfers provide non-contributory payment in the form of cash to the pooror to those who risk falling into poverty. The objective of these programs is toincrease the households real income.

(Knnemann and Leonhard 2008, 9)

Generally, we can distinguish between two forms of cash transfers differing in

terms of conditionality:

Unconditional cash transfers also referred to as basic income

programs are universal programs providing income to all

people in a certain territory (e.g. country, region) without any

conditions or a so-called means test. A means test is a method

to assess a persons or a households income.

Conditional transfer systems, on the other hand, are based on

certain conditions. Conditionality implies that (further) payment

will only be effected after certain requirements, for example


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educational enrollment or uptake of health-checks, vaccinations,

etc., have been met.

While both types can be effective, they each have distinct positive and

negative aspects. Experience with conditional transfer systems have often

proved to be successful. Brauw and Hoddinott (2010, 5-10) analyzed the

positive outcomes of conditional over unconditional transfer systems on a

study conducted in Mexico. While the latter included payments to households

with no strings attached (unconditional cash transfers), the first system was

based on the condition that the children had to attend secondary school if the

household wanted to receive payments. Results showed considerably higher

enrolment rates for the households who were encouraged to send theirchildren to school.

Nevertheless, there still are certain arguments that legitimize unconditional

cash transfer systems. Thus, in particular supporters of a rights-based stance

on human development argue that all members of a society have the right to

receive social protections and have a minimum standard of living. Therefore,

states have should be obligated to protect and ensure these rights with all

efforts and resources available to them (Knnemann and Leonhard 2008, 18-

20).

2.2.2.2. South Sudans social cash transfer model

After decades of civil war, hardship and poverty South Sudan finally achieved

independence and now the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) is striving to

create a better future for its poor people. With assistance of the UNDP and

other development partners, the GoSS established the first South Sudan

Development Plan in 2011. This plan should serve as a guide for

development for the next three years and recommends actions and targets

concerning the creation of a democratic governance, economic development,

social and human development as well as security and conflict prevention

(UNDP Draft country programme document for the Republic of South Sudan,

2012, 9-13).


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In terms of addressing poverty, the GoSS is trying to enhance social and

human development by launching a social cash transfer model. It involves

cash payments, made on a regular basis targeting a broad sector of the

population, for example every household with a child under five years. The

money can be used by each family as desired. It is assumed that families

know best what their greatest needs are and are the most likely to spend the

money carefully and reasonably. The money is intended to immediately raise

the familys quality of life. What is more, a social cash transfer system should

also boost sustainable economic growth, since the money is spent locally, for

instance on animals or fertilizers, which is intended to create new jobs and

generate income (South Sudan Update 2011: 4).

South Sudans social cash transfer model does not primarily seek to provide

a safety net, but is a rights-based development approach. The money can be

used as at will and there are no strings attached. Hence, it can be

categorized as an unconditional cash transfer system.

Joseph Hanlon, a leading figure in the field of social cash transfers and

technical advisor for the GoSS, invited by the UNDP, established six key

principles for a successful implementation of social cash transfers in

cooperation with the GoSS and the UNDP:

Fairness must be fair to everyone

Assured must be administered on a regular basis

Practical simple and within the capacity of the civil service and

banking sector

Not just pennies the payments must be large enough to makea difference

Popular and politically acceptable

Must be Government run and seen by the population to be so

(South Sudan Update 2011: 4; Hanlon, Barrientos and Hulme

2010: 177)

In order for a social cash transfer system to be effective, it needs to be

regarded as fair and reasonable by the people. The households need to have


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a guarantee that they will receive regular payments at an amount that

improves their lives noticeably. Social cash transfers must be performed by

the government and should immediately reach the poorest of the poor, so the

people can actually feel the governments efforts and presence.

In this section we have learned about the GoSS attempts to fight poverty,

with a special focus on social cash transfers. We distinguished between two

forms, conditional and unconditional cash transfers and discussed the

advantages and disadvantages of each. From a human rights perspective,

unconditional cash transfers are preferred, because they have no strings

attached and no members of a society are excluded. South Sudan uses an

unconditional model targeting all families with children under the age of fivewith the aim to immediately improve the families quality of life and thus

reduce poverty.

In light of the aforesaid, one might have the impression that social cash

transfers could be a revolutionary instrument used towards sustainably

alleviating poverty. However, as we will learn in the next section when we

exemplify Miakwadangs approach on poverty eradication, there still should

be some serious concerns about the real efficiency and sustainability of

social cash transfers in South Sudan.

2.2.3. Problem-solving approach by Miakwadang

As mentioned in section 2.1.1 of the paper, Miak Wadang stands for future

in the language of the Dinka. So when it comes to the future of the people in

South Sudan, the Austrian-Sudanese NGO Miakwadang is aiming for

independence, peace and growth in the long run and not just for short-term

relief. This requires highly elaborate, strategic and sustainable methods.

Thus, Miakwadang is pursuing a person-to-person, heart-to-heart approach

in order to make accomplishments together with the people and not just for

them.


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2.3.3.1. The role of small NGOs

In a UNDP country programme document draft for the Republic of South

Sudan (2012), the GoSS and the UNDP addressed the importance of

cooperation with local and international NGOs, however, only to a rather

limited extent concentrating on medical and health issues. The work of small

NGOs should not be underestimated. They developed strong ties with South-

Sudanese people and leaders and played a very crucial role on the countrys

weary way towards independence (NGOs can and should help South Sudan

along the path to peace and prosperity). 38 South Sudanese NGOs, working

on peace-building, development and humanitarian assistance, compiled a

joint briefing paper with ten recommendations for the GoSS to prioritize in thefirst years of independence. Miakwadangs work especially targets the third

recommendations, which states the following:

3. Involve communities and strengthen civil society. Provide moresubstantial support for initiatives that promote community participation inhumanitarian and development assistance; support initiatives aimed atstrengthening civil society; and facilitate access by national NGOs and civilsociety organisations to international funds.

(Getting it Right from the Start Priorities for Action in the New Republic of

South Sudan).

Miakwadang also emphasizes the strong importance of collaborating with the

villagers, initiating involvement, encouraging self-responsibility, giving them

authority and having them run projects themselves. One such tool meeting all

the criteria mentioned above is microfinance.

The remainder of this section will mainly build on information and expert

opinion provided by Dr. Herbert Bronnenmayer, chairman of Miakwadang

Austria. We will find out that Miakwadangs approaches to fighting poverty

sometimes differ from those the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) and the

United Nations with the UNDP are planning to implement.


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2.3.3.2. Microfinance against poverty

As opposed to the GoSSs and UNDPs approach with social cash transfers,

Miakwadang addresses the issue of reducing poverty with a microfinance

system. Miakwadang takes a different approach for a number of reasons, as

we will find out in a later paragraph of this section. First, the principals of

microfinance will be explained.

Microfinance has its roots in Bangladesh in the early 1980s, where Professor

Muhammad Yunus pioneered the idea of microfinance by founding the

Grameen Bank. In 2006 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for creating

economic and social development through his revolutionary work. Yunus

identified a way of how lending to the poorest of the poor is possible, mainly

targeting people in rural areas who live in villages without tangible

possessions and collateral of any kind whatsoever. He addressed people

lacking any infrastructure, roads or power supplies. The only asset he found

out that the people possessed was interdependence and trust within the

communities. Essentially, he came up with a system where this trust is

converted into collateral (Moyo 2010, 126).

In order to make this conversion of trust into collateral more illustrative, here

is a practical example of the solidarity lending process: In a small village in

Bangladesh a group of five traders receives a loan of US$100 (that is about

the average loan size). However, the loan does not go to the whole group,

but only to a single member, let us call her (97% of all receivers of loans are

female) trader A. Trader A receives the loan with a pre-specified maturity of

one year (typical period). After this year she is solely responsible for repaying

the loan plus interest (microloan interest rates are traditionally high).

Providing the loan is paid back successfully before or at maturity, the next

loan will be granted to trader B. Even though technically no group joint

liability is prevalent in this case as only trader A has to repay the loan the

whole group will be supporting trader A and do everything conceivable to

make sure she repays the loan in order to also get the chance to receive a

loan. In other words, each individual group members behavior affects the

whole group.


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With this simple concept the Grameen Bank has achieved astonishing

success. Since its inception in 1983 it had served 36,000 clients with a

portfolio of US$3.1 million. By 1997 this number increased to 2.3 million

members and a portfolio totaling US$230 million. Most impressively, the

average credit default rate remained as low as only 2% (Moyo 2010, 126-

127).

Since that time, microfinance has not only proved to be successful in Asian

countries, but it has continued its wave of success throughout the whole

world, namely in South American and also African nations. Impressed and

encouraged by the positive results of microfinance, Dr. Herbert

Bronnenmayer decided to make it a basic element of the Miakwadang project.

2.3.3.3. Why microfinance is better than social cash transfers

As we might be able to conclude from section 2.2.2.1 and 2.2.2.2, the idea of

social cash transfers basically appears to be a wonderful concept to tackle

poverty cash payments, made on a regular basis targeting a broad sector

of the population boosting economic growth and generating income and

creating new jobs. Assuming that families know best what their greatest

needs are and that they will spend the money the most thoughtfully, each

family can use the money as desired sounds like a blessing and a win-win

situation for the government and the people of South Sudan (South Sudan

Update 2011: 4).

However, when taking a closer look at social cash transfers by considering

the countrys history and culture as well as the mentality of the people, it will

soon become clear that social cash transfers are more illusion than reality

and may turn into the opposite of a blessing. Dr. Bronnenmayer (2012),

chairman of Miakwadang Austria and South Sudan expert, questions the

effectiveness of social cash transfers and even warns about the possible

damages it could cause. He stresses that social cash transfers are not in line

with the South Sudanese culture.


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Bronnenmayer argues one must consider that the people of South Sudan

have gone through decades of civil war, suppression and violence and due to

this they were forced to seek refuge in flight. Consequently, they were forced

to live from day to day and all they could hold was cattle, chicken, goats and

other animals. Since they constantly had to be prepared to flee, in many

cases they were no longer able to practice arable farming and in the course

of time many forgot their agricultural know-how. To prevent the worst,

international aid agencies (e.g. UN, Medair, etc.) kept (and still keep)

assisting them by bridging food gaps. As essential for survival as this

emergency relief is, it can become problematic when people become

continually dependent on it. If villagers habitually rely on relief in emergencies,

then they have less incentive to be self-responsible and take care of

themselves.

Now when we compare the aid by international aid agencies and the

principles of social cash transfers we can find one very essential thing they

share: People get used to this type of unconditional service and become

dependent. According to Dr. Bronnenmayer (2012), they have no

responsibilities and no incentive for increasing self-reliance. Another problemis the assumption that families know best what their greatest needs are and

spend the money the most reasonably. The truth of the matter is that the

families are very hierarchically structured, typically with the man as the head

of the family as the person in charge. That means if the families were to

receive money, the man would be the first one to take advantage of it and

use it primarily for his own purposes. In many cases he would buy alcohol,

which often leads to violence within the family. And even if the mother and

children were to receive the money, they would mainly use it to meet their

daily needs and requirements but would not invest it, since they have no

incentive for performance whatsoever. Families need to be trained first on

how to use the money purposefully. Furthermore, it is quite likely that this

constant giving will lead to dependence on the government, since

responsibility is delegated to others, the money is misused (e.g. for alcohol)

and people would rather be weakened in their struggle for existence. What is

more, social cash transfers in South Sudan are regulated and run by the


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government, as we have learned in section 2.2.2.2. But where in a country

with low average income and consequently low tax revenues does the

government take the money from? If it cannot be generated from internal

sources it has to come somewhere from the outside in many cases from

international aid donors. According to Moyo (2010, 48-57), aid in the long run

is anything but beneficial, often leading to corruption and even said to be the

silent killer of growth (Moyo, 48). Therefore, it can be argued that social cash

transfers do little to boost economic growth, generate income and create new

jobs. Social cash transfers may rather turn out as a curse than a blessing to

the South Sudanese.

The situation, however, is different with microfinance. Unlike social cashtransfers, the microfinance concept encourages people to take responsibility

and gives incentive for self-reliance. It is a guarantee that the money is used

for the right purposes, since the loan recipients are eager to repay the loan in

order to give other members of the group a chance to receive a loan, as well

as to get a second loan themselves. Furthermore, loan recipients will receive

training on proper use of money and support on running their investment

projects.

Miakwadang witnessed initial success with microfinance. Two very ambitious

village women took the initiative and started a project. They were granted a

micro loan and with that money they opened up a roadhouse about two

kilometers outside of the village near a newly built street. The roadhouse

includes a small restaurant, a teahouse and a little shop. They are already

planning to expand and consider adding a small motel and a repair shop.

Encouraged by the progress of this project, several other villagers have

already expressed interest in new business ideas, e.g. a jalabiya tailor shop

(note: a jalabiya is the traditional Sudanese mens clothing), a fruit and

vegetable store, a fish store, etc. As we can see from this first project, once

initiative is taken and the ball gets rolling, microfinance indeed can be a way

to promote growth, generate income and create new jobs through self-

initiative and responsibility. And if this simple but revolutionary concept works

in one small village, why should it not work in other villages or maybe even inthe whole country and become the backbone of South Sudans economic


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recovery all this under the peoples own steam and without any gifts from

outside.

The chief lesson we can learn from the aforesaid is that in order to achieve

the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger

in South Sudan, it is our main responsibility to promote responsibility and

self-reliance among the South Sudanese. It is incredibly essential to not

make the same continually repeated mistake of the past, which is to just

leave people with gifts and grants of all kinds (e.g. social cash transfers). The

result in the long run this will make the situation worse rather than better.


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2.3. Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will beable to complete a full course of primary schooling.

(The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, 6-15)

2.3.1. Educational Status Quo in South Sudan

In the following paragraphs South Sudans current educational situation will

be analyzed. Prevalent deficits as well as initiatives by the government and

the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) to tackle those

deficits will be highlighted. Furthermore, the numerous challenges South

Sudan is about to face if it wants to meet the Millennium Development Goals

will be displayed. The data for the current situation is extracted from UNESCO

reports, consultant reports, South Sudanese online newspapers as well as

from presentations by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

There is a hunger for education in South Sudan that is obvious wherever yougo.

Young people will travel hundreds of kilometers to attend school or university.Old people in the most impoverished areas will ask a visitor for food, but young

people will ask for scholarships.(Markam 2012)

In developed countries such as Austria, the feeling might arise that people

take education for granted and sometimes even perceive it more as a burden

than a blessing. In this case, we are all well advised to bring ourselves back to

reality by taking a glimpse at other countries like South Sudan where

education is a privilege and young people are enthusiastic if they are given

the rare chance to go to school.

In South Sudan, however, education is seen as something much morefundamental than just a process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge

(Education definition 2012). Markam (2012) states that education is an

important catalyst as a country transitions from war to peace. Nevertheless,

more than 1.3 million primary school age children do not receive primary

education. The country ranks second last in world rankings for primary

education net enrolment and last in secondary education enrolment. In

addition to these poor rankings, in some parts of the country one teacher has


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to take care of more than 100 students. On top of that, schools are short of

textbooks and classrooms are insufficiently equipped (UNESCO 2011a).

Without confirmation of accurate data, it is estimated that currently between

12,000 and 25,000 teachers are active (MoEST 2008). However, a Public

Sector Personnel survey conducted in 2005 arrived at a number of merely

7802 teachers (Computer Feeds Ltd. & Ecotech Consultants 2006). Thus, the

optimistic estimate of an education force of 25,000 teachers can be

questioned.

Furthermore, only 16 % of all teachers have attained tertiary education and a

degree. Only 7% of all teachers were of female gender. (JAM Sudan 2005).

The Ministry of Science Education and Technology (MoEST) reported a lack

of 25,000 additional teachers required in 2011. However, this is only the tip of

the iceberg. The long periods of conflicts the South Sudanese were exposed

to led to ad hoc bush schools (Kirk 2008) with strongly varying teaching

workloads ranging from seven to 35 hours weekly. Hence, it is considered

highly crucial that standards are being set for professional accountability and

performance of teachers (MoEST 2008).

2.3.2. Remaining Challenges

As was pointed out in section 2.3.1, South Sudan has identified education as

a vital topic. Certainly, first steps have already been taken. But if the country

wants to achieve sustainable growth and development, education has to be

assigned as one of its top priorities, if not the top priority, as stated by Salva

Kiir, President of South Sudan (Education remains our top priority 2011).

Nonetheless, a lot of challenges have yet to be faced. In the next section, we

will discuss the young nations urgent need for a greater number of well-

trained teachers and a comprehensive system to provide adequate payment

and career development.


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2.3.2.1. Vast demand for efficient education force

According to the MoEST (2008), the main education issue in South Sudan is

the fact that the regional training institutions can only generate 2,500 new

teachers per year. That is only a drop in the ocean, considering the countrys

aim to reach a gross enrollment rate of 50%, which means they would have to

employ 25,000 additional teachers. In order to meet this goal, a number of

measures are in the process of planning. In the short-term, voluntary teachers

and teachers from the diaspora and neighboring countries are being hired so

at least part of the initial demand can be met. In the long run, however, it will

take a more strategic and coordinated approach.

Long term planning to increase the capacity of the pre-service and in-servicetraining systems are critical including, for example, the establishment of anetwork of decentralized teacher training and support through, for example,resource centres and school clusters, supported by learning methodologiessuch as radio(Kirk 2008: 9).

Figure 2: Number of primary school teachers and pupil-teacher ratio, Southern Sudan 2007-

2009. Source: Education Policy and Data Center and Systems Service Center, AED (2010: 13)

Figure 1 illustrates the number of primary school teachers in each region and

the ratio between teachers and pupils. Despite an increase in the absolute

number of teachers, an overall rise in the pupil-teacher ratio can be witnessed.

Figure 1 shows that the average national rate increased from 43:1 in 2007 to


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52:1 in 2009. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that in case of

booming enrollments, it is hard to acquire the additional teaching staff required

to meet this excess demand (AED, 2010: 14). We can conclude from the

above that measures have to be implemented to boost teacher recruitment. In

the next section we will analyze some of the measures that have already been

taken and still have to be tackled.

2.3.2.2. Lack of teacher payment and career development system

A substantial problem the country encountered was the non-existence of a

payment and career development system for teachers. In 2007, for instance,all teachers regardless of experience and level of education received the

same salary. The absence of a comprehensive planning tool on teachers

data posed serious problems in performing precise calculations of current and

future capacities. (Kirk 2008)

By June 2008, however, the MoEST (2008) realized the strong urgency for a

basic system to manage information concerning teachers. The Southern

Sudanese government made it a top priority for the following two years and

conducted a comprehensive teacher headcount across 10 states. The main

goal of this headcount was to establish a system that benefits hard working

teachers by timely and accurate payment in order to grant the children

education of higher quality (South Sudan to conduct teachers headcount

2008).

2.3.2.3. Establishment of comprehensive teacher training program

No education system is better than its teachers (UNICEF 2011b). In addition

to the quantitative lack in educational force we discovered above, there is also

a lot to catch up on in terms of quality of education. The best way to contribute

to better teaching outcomes is to provide the schools with professionally

trained staff. The following table shows the significant majority of untrained

and undertrained teachers.


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Figure 3: Untrained and undertrained teachers (% of all) in primary school, Southern Sudan

2008-2009. Source: Education Policy and Data Center and Systems Service Center, AED

(2010: 14)

The tremendous lack of trained teachers can be derived from the figures

above. Whereas in 2008 trained teachers accounted for at least 23% of the

working force, in 2009 the portion slumped to 13%. Given the fact that pre-

service training for teachers usually takes between two to three years, it is

hard to provide an adequate number of education professionals for theskyrocketing number of students. This should be a clear indicator of the

importance of the initial development of comprehensive teacher training

programs (AED 2010: 14)

2.3.2.4. Gender disparities

Even though progress has been made on the educational sector in recentyears, according to the former South Sudanese Minister of Education, Dr.

Michael Milly Hussein, a very significant gender gap is still prevalent across

the entire country (South Sudan Illiteracy reduces to 73% 2011).


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Figure 4: Countries ranking on the Gender Parity Index (GPI), most recent years, Source: Government

of South Sudan (2011) Education Statistics for Southern Sudan. National Statistics Booklet. Juba,

Ministry of Education

As the chart above suggests, in an international comparison South Sudan can

be found at the very bottom of the Gender Parity Index (GPI) ranking. Girls

represent a significant minority at both primary and secondary school level. In

the average first grade primary school classroom ten boys face only sevengirls. To make matters worse, according to statistics girls are also more likely

to drop out of school prematurely. Out of 20 girls entering primary school, only

eleven progress to third grade and only one reaches eighth grade (GoSS

2011). In other words, a young girl in South Sudan is three times more likely

to not survive pregnancy or birth than to reach eighth grade. We can conclude

from this graph that there is a lot of catching-up to do for the GoSS in order to

battle the lack of female education (UNESCO 2011b: 7).


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2.3.2.5. Need for permanent classrooms

While we have learned about the essence of an efficient and well-educated

teaching staff above, one must also bear in mind that it is crucial to have the

proper surroundings in order to guarantee high quality education. Ideally,

students should be taught in sturdy, permanent buildings with solid waterproof

roofs and robust walls. This is of particular importance when the climate tends

to be harsher, for example in the rain period (Marlowe, 2010). However,

reality in South Sudan shows a different picture, as we can observe on the

graph (Figure 4) below.

Figure 5: Primary school classroom by type of construction, Source: Government of South Sudan

(2011) Education Statistics for Southern Sudan. National Statistics Booklet. Juba, Ministry of

Education

As can be witnessed above, the majority of classrooms consist of roof only- or

open-air learning facilities. Even though the situation has been improving in

recent years, especially through immediate help by the setup of relatively

durable UNICEF tents (AED 2010: 15), the ideal solution would be robust and

permanent school buildings. Not only do they guarantee more resistance

against the rough climate, but they also provide a higher degree of protection

in case of reverting conflicts and violence (UNESCO 2010b: 10).


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2.3.2.6. Lack of uniform textbooks

Another rudimentary factor for effective education is the sufficient supply of

uniform and professional textbooks. As we can see on the graph below

(Figure 5), textbook shortages still pose a significant challenge, considering

the aim of reducing the ratio of pupils per textbook from currently 4:1 to 1:1 by

2015. According to a UNESCO report (2010b: 12), this will require another 5.6

million textbooks on primary school level.

Figure 6: Number of pupils per Math textbook by state, 2010. Source: Government of South Sudan

(2010) Education Statistics for Southern Sudan. National Statistics Booklet. Juba, Ministry of

Education

Besides the lack in the number of textbooks, another barrier is the missing

uniformity and language of textbooks. The government is trying to reduce the

use of curricula of neighboring countries like Kenya and Uganda and establish

a nationally standardized primary education curriculum. The most important

element of uniformity is, without a doubt, the language. Given the fact that

South Sudan puts a high premium on having English as its major language,

especially the Arabic speaking regions experience major challenges. Hence,

efforts towards providing uniform English textbooks in a sufficient quantity

need to be concentrated (AED 2010: 17).

We can conclude from the paragraphs above that the education system in

South Sudan is just about to get off the starting blocks and many challenges

still have to be faced. We have first learned about the significant lack in

educational workforce that is prevalent in South Sudan. The path to

fundamental improvement should not only focus on the quantity of teachers

but also on the quality of education they are providing. At the same time, we

have seen that a first step towards an efficient education system is the


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implementation of a systematic teacher payment and development system.

Furthermore, a comprehensive teacher training program needs to be

established. Another significant challenge the country encounters is the

disparity between genders among both students and teachers. Last but not

least, we need to be aware of the importance of equipping students and

teachers with uniform textbooks and permanent teaching facilities. Having

scrutinized the countrys current situation and challenges, we are now going

to take a look at how Miakwadang is dealing with the circumstances and is

approaching these challenges.

2.3.3. Problem-solving approach by Miakwadang

This paper has a dual objective. On the one hand, it seeks to explore the first

two UNDP Millennium Development Goals in South Sudan, namely poverty

and education, including description of the status quo and the challenges

being faced. On the other hand, it aims to highlight the significant

contributions a small NGO can make to accomplish these goals. In section

2.3.1 we analyzed the current educational situation of South Sudan. We have

learned that in terms of primary school enrollment South Sudan ranks among

the very bottom in a worldwide comparison. However, the country has

identified the numerous challenges it still has to tackle (section 2.3.2) and it is

willing to set education as one of its top priorities in order to improve its

situation and build the foundation for a prosperous future.

2.3.3.1. Accomplishments up to date

Together with the people of South Sudan, Miakwadang has always

highlighted the great importance of education for their children. It is one of the

most basic factors for the reduction of poverty and establishment of peace. In

cooperation with two villages, Miakwadang decided to take the initiative and

opened the first primary school in the village of Nyeyok. Initially, all school


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activities were conducted under a tree. In order to provide protection against

natural and civil threats, the villagers constructed school buildings made of

stick walls and grass roofs. Even though this still is a complete startup

situation, first considerable successes have already been achieved. Three

teachers have been employed and 200 children registered, however, many

had to be turned down, as the absolute maximum capacity was reached with

200 pupils. Miakwadang assists with assuring teachers a base salary, in case

the government is not able to pay timely. Furthermore, Miakwadang provides

the children one healthy, nutritious meal a day. After one and a half years of

school, children are already capable of carrying on a simple conversation in

English. As the quality of teaching is already higher than in the nearby district

town, many families consider sending their children to Nyeyok for schooling.

As we have learned in section 2.3.2, the school system in South Sudan is still

facing a lot of challenges. The village of Nyeyok shares many of those

challenges. Thus, there is a lack of well-trained teachers prevalent in Nyeyok,

which results in a pupil-teacher ratio of 50:1 (compared to about 70:1 in the

Upper Nile Region). However, measures are taken to improve this situation by

implementing teacher recruitment and training processes. Experienced

teachers are brought into the village to change the teaching style from the old

colonial front teaching method to a more stimulating self-learning approach

based on the Montessori-technique with more interactive and

communicational elements. Moreover, the school lacks solid buildings and

class equipment in order to provide the children a safer and more efficient

learning environment (Bronnenmayer 2012).

2.3.3.2. Educational visions

As we have learned above, very important initial steps have been taken for

providing education to the people of Nyeyok and surrounding villages. First

successes have become apparent. Now, it is very important to follow up on

this successful start and set the framework for a prosperous future.


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Miakwadangs vision is to create a school center that extends from primary

school to high school, with the goal of providing the graduates with general

qualification for university entrance. Strongly supported by the government,

Miakwadang seeks to take action to offer agricultural and prevocational

education themes. The establishment of a school farm as well as facilities for

woodwork, metalwork and home economics aim to introduce the new

generations to work techniques with the goal to strengthen the rise of a new

nation. The school center will also be open for children that are now situated

in Uganda and Kenya. Government officials in Juba even encouraged

Miakwadang to envisage the creation of tertiary education facilities, with a

remark to think big enough in terms of campus size (Miakwadang

Projektreise Jnner 2012).


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3. Conclusion

As presented in the introductory section, this paper was compiled with a dual

objective: On the one hand, we critically discussed the first two Millennium

Development Goals in South Sudan, i.e. the reduction of extreme poverty and

the achievement of universal primary education. On the other hand, we

analyzed the approach to tackle the issues poverty and education on the

example of Miakwadang, an Austrian-Sudanese NGO.

We can conclude that South Sudan is still in the very early stages when it

comes to education. We analyzed that a lot of challenges have yet to be faced.

Not only does South Sudan need a better education force both in terms of

quantity and qualification, but they also have to focus on issues such as

gender disparity, shortage of uniform textbooks and a need for permanent

classrooms.

Furthermore, we found out that the governments main measure to address

the reduction of poverty by implementing a social cash transfer model sounds

much more promising in theory as it might turn out to be in practice. The chief

reason for this, according to Dr. Bronnenmayer, is the lack of responsibilityand self-reliance. In order to encourage responsibility and self-reliance and to

guarantee that the money is used for the right purposes, Bronnenmayer

suggests considering microfinance as a greatly promising alternative to social

cash transfers, as he witnessed initial success when launching a microfinance

project with Miakwadang. Nevertheless, we have to keep in mind that

microfinance cannot be the only and ultimate cure but it takes a bundle of

measures to guide South Sudan out of poverty. Unfortunately this paper islimited in scope and thus not able to cover further specific measures for

reduction of poverty and promotion of education in South Sudan, however, it

could encourage for deeper research on the matter.

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Herbert

Bronnenmayer, who provided me with his expertise and inspired, encouraged

and supported me throughout the whole writing process.


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4. Glossary

Term: Definition, Authentic Sample Sentences,Collocations:

Collateral

p. 22

Definition:

Collateral is defined as property that secures a loan or other debt so thelender may seize the property if the borrower fails to make proper paymentson the loan (Slee 2011: 212).

Authentic Sample Sentences:

By itself, collateral will not turn a poor credit risk into a good credit and itnever eliminates credit risk (Harding and Johnson 2002: 3).

However, it has been shown that collateral can be used as a screening

device as long as the potential applicants are endowed with sufficientpersonal wealth that can be used to fully guarantee the loan (Sena 2008:17).

Thus, periods of financial distress, when borrowers have lessunencumbered collateral, are also times of relatively high agency costs ininvestment (Bernanke and Gertler 1986: 2).

Owners must be able to develop a business and furnish collateral to cover40 per cent of any loan (Hulme and Mosley 1996: 256).

Moreover, these complex and arbitrary divisions can diminish the use ofproperty as collateral simply by creating confusion about what is includedunder the law (Fleisig, Safavian and De la Pena 2006: 26).

Collocations:

collateral will not turn

.. collateral can be used as

to have less unencumbered collateral

to develop a business and furnish collateral

the use of property as collateral

(Credit)Default rate

p. 23

Definition:

While the arrears rate indicates the proportion of the loan portfolio whichmight be at risk, the default rate shows the proportion of the loan fund whichhas gone a stager further towards being lost (Johnson and Rogaly 1997:127).


If the default rates are themselves shifting, the analysis can become moreprotracted (Hong Kong Institute of Bankers: 291).

While the potential existed for a ballooning default rate, the defaultrate actually remained stable (Parsons 1997: 175).


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Fourth, the calculation of default rates as simple proportions is possibleonly when no samples are censored1 during the one year period (Li 1999:3).

This is achieved by convoluting the conditional, marginal loss distributionsof the individual positions to develop the aggregate loss distribution, with

default correlations between different counterparties determined by thesystematic risk driving the correlated average default rates (Wilson 1998:73).

To date, most of the work on credit risk has focused solely on thesystematic variation of the default rate (Frye 2005: 7).

Collocations:

default rates are themselves shifting

the default rate actually remained stable

the calculation of default rates

to drive the correlated average default rates

the systematic variation of the default rate

Conditionalcashtransfers(CCT)

p. 17

Definition:

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are programs that transfer cash,generally to poor households, on the condition that those households makeprespecified investments in the human capital of their children (World BankPolicy Research Report 2009: 1).


CCTs, in general, show promising results in addressing structural povertyand breaking the intergenerational cycle of disadvantage (Fajth and Vinay2010: 4).

Instead of mean-tested, some households have implemented gender-targeted CCTs to explicitly address intra-household disparities in humancapital investments (Chaudhury and Parajuli 2006: 2).

The results show that a a conditional cash transfer program can beeffective in a low-income setting (Maluccio and Flores 2005: 3).

In this paper, we proposed a micro-simulation method for evaluating andexperimenting with conditional cash transfer program designs, ex-ante(Bourguignon et al. 2002: 21).

Governments throughout Latin America and South America have adoptedconditional cash transfer programs aimed at alleviating short-term povertyand reducing the intergenerational transmission of poverty by providingincentives for private investment in schooling and health (Behrman et al.2005: 1).

Collocations:

conditional cash

transfers show promising results

to implement gender conditional cash


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targeted transfers

a conditional cashtransfer can be effective

to experiment with conditional cashtransfer program designs

conditional cashtransfer programs aimed at

Grossenrollmentrate

p. 29

Definition:

The gross enrollment rate (GER) is the number of pupils enrolled in a givenlevel of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of thepopulation in the official age group for the same level of education (Buvinic2008: 122).


The gross enrollment rate of junior and senior middle school studentsincreased by about 20 percent over 1997 (Mengkui 2009: 245).

Educational attainment is a composite of two variables, a two thirds weightbased on the adult literacy rate and a one-third weight on the combinedprimary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment rate (Nafziger 2012: 34).

Despite the stagnancy of income, Kenya made rapid strides in theexpansion of primary education during this period; the gross enrollment ratefor primary school-aged children increased from 53 percent in 1970 to 94percent in 1991 (Deolalikar 1997: 3).

In 1991, the gross enrollment rate for the three levels of pre-primaryeducation was 49 percent (Berlinski and Galiani 2005: 5).

The relationship is similar if we take the Gross Enrollment Rate as themeasure of access (Crouch and Vinjevold 2006: 5).

Collocations:

the gross enrollmentrate

of junior and seniormiddle school increased

a one-third weight onthe combined

gross enrollmentrate


for primary school-agedchildren increased


for the three levels of pre-primary education was

to take the gross enrollmentrate

as the measure of access

Maturity

p. 22

Definition:

Maturity date of a bill is defined as the date on which payment will fall due

(Gurusami 2009: 290).


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Regardless of the currency that an MNC uses to finance its internationaloperations, it must also decide on the maturity that it should use for its debt(Madura 2010: 542).

This section investigates whether the maturity structure that is optimal for

individual firms is socially optimal when the government cannot commit tofuture policies, that is, whether the government could increase welfare by(Tirole 2006: 560).

This maturity effect is greater for high credit quality portfolios (FinancialStability Review 1999: 132).

What does exist is a limited number of contributions that, using drasticsimplifying assumptions, highlight some particular aspect of the maturitychoice (Schiantarelli and Sembenelli 1997: 5).

If maturity is extended to more than five years, this fraction falls to 8% oftotal capital (or just under 40% of total debt) (Barclay and Smith 1996: 8).

Collocations:

to decide on the maturity

the maturity that is optimal forindividual firms

this maturity effect is greater for

some particular aspect of the maturity choice

if maturity is extended

MDGs

p. 1

Definition:

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which range fromhalving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providinguniversal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 form a blueprintagreed to by all the worlds countries and all the worlds leadingdevelopment institutions (UN 2012).


Huge obstacles remain in the way of mobilising predictable external financeto meet the Millennium Development Goals (Cheru and Bradford 2005: 3).

Progress toward the International Development Goals in June 2000formally paved the road for a monitoring process of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) (Agnor et al. 2005: 3).

As a part of that agreement, Bangladesh is working towards achieving theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) committing herself to a set ofinternationally agreed development targets (Rahman et al. 2005: 1).

For the billion-plus people still living in extreme poverty, the MillenniumDevelopment Goals are a life-and-death issue. (Sachs 2005: 4).

More relevant is the fact that gender gaps in secondary education may wellnarrow more quickly in the new millennium than in the 1990s as a result ofthe gender Millennium Development Goal (Wagstaff and Claeson 2004: 4).


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Collocations:

to meet the MDGs

to pave the road for amonitoring process of the MDGs

to work towards achieving the MDGs

the MDGs are a life-and-death issue

as a result of the gender MDG

Microcredit

p. 5

Definition:

Microcredit is generally defined as making small loans available directly tosmall-scale entrepreneurs to enable them either to establish or to expandmicro-enterprises and small businesses (Commonwealth Youth Programme2002).


We have learned in the last years that microcredit is one of the

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