Governance in Post-Conflict Sudan: Perceptions of Water Supply and Sanitation Experts in South Kordofan

In the course of the attempt to restructure and decentralize the water sector in Sudan, the National Water Corporation was formed in 1994 as the responsible body at national level. The State Water Corporations gained substantial responsibilities, also because of the introduction of a federal state system in Sudan. Despite these restructurings, the water sector faces various problems (missing legal guidelines and policies, administrative issues, staff, responsibilities, financial aspects). The fact that South Kordofan was one of the major war zones during the conflict between the government of Sudan and the SPLM/A let to an early involvement of humanitarian actors in water supply and sanitation. Therefore, structures of coordination and exchange could consolidate early.
These two aspects (existing problems and constraints in the water sector, rather long existing structures of coordination and exchange in South Kordofan) lead to the question of how the actors on this level perceive the situation. As Taylor & Bogdan (1998: 3) argue: “The important reality is what people perceive it to be.” The aim of the Thesis therefore is to gain insight into the actors’ perceptions of the actual governance situation in the water supply and sanitation sector in South Kordofan. The following research questions are guiding my Thesis:

• Which actors address what kinds of topics and/or constraints regarding the actual governance situation, and what kind of explanations do they give?
• What are the central common topics and/or common constraints regarding the actual governance situation?

Field research took place from October to December 2007. Nine semi-guided interviews were held beside the analysis of documents and literature (background information). The interviews were held with three governmental bodies, one international organization and with five NGOs in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan.
Common topics and/or constraints were addressed regarding the different actors’ roles (own background and mandate), own internal mechanisms as well as internal mechanisms of the other actors (administrative issues, debates about the mandate, etc), the specific circumstances (post-conflict, geology, returnees), the funding situation as well as the project implementation. The actual setting of the governmental actor (internal constraints, unclear responsibilities between the different authorities) was one big issue, although addressed in different ways. For some NGOs, the internal struggles are not significant (only dealing with implementation, government as a superior structure). Otherwise, they were seen as a constraint (find the right contact). The international organization addressed this topic too. In addition, the political situation was seen as important. The governmental authorities perceived their own situation differently, always against the background of their concrete role and influence within the governmental actor and their role in the past.

(Cited literature: Taylor, Steven J. & Bogdan, Robert (1998): Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: The Search for Meanings. New York: Wiley)

Contacts

Oliver Humbel
Rankstrasse 4
CH-5415 Nussbaumen
moli_oli@hotmail.com

Dr. Marc Zaugg Stern
Regionalplanung Zürich und Umgebung RZU
Seefeldstrasse 329
CH-8008 Zürich
zaugg@rzu.ch

Prof. Seif Eldin Abdalla
Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources
11113 Khartoum
Sudan
seif_eltwaim@yahoo.com

Handpump in Saudia, northeast of Kadugli, South Kordofan

Biosandfilter for filtration of water from the stream in Roseris, northeast of Kadugli, South Kordofan