Sudan

In 2005 a comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed following decades of war which had had a devastating effect on the infrastructure and the government's ability to provide basic services. The Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) was a major provider of education services during the war, operating well over 200 formal and informal schools across Sudan.  With the arrival of peace, the church sought to expand, develop and improve the quality of this service.

In 2006 the Archbishop of Canterbury visited Sudan and since then the International Development Secretariat (IDS) has been involved in supporting the ECS in a building capacity for the design, implementation and impact assessment of education programmes. This was achieved by triangulating a relationship between Christian Aid, Reconcile Consulting and the dioceses of Malakal and Renk in the Upper Nile region, a region which saw a disproportionate level of damage during the war. The IDS has continued to work with all partners to build relationships and strengthen the ECS's capacity to provide education to its communities effectively and sustainable.

As a result of this dialogue, in 2006, the dioceses of Malakal and Renk, both in Upper Nile State, received funding for the expansion of six ECS schools and the building of two new ones.

Reconcile Consulting ltd is a Christian not for profit organisation that has worked alongside the church to strengthen their capacity to deliver their projects, through training and support in project and financial management, communication and strategic planning. This extra support has helped to strengthen the relationship between the donor and the local church partner, allowing the diocese to demonstrate to existing and future donors their capacity as a partner to deliver effective programmes.

Both dioceses have built strong partnerships with Christian Aid and after the successful completion of the initial year's work and secured further funding to continue the school building work for a following year. The two Dioceses now run nine primary schools and primary secondary school.

The IDS has supported the ECS, enabling these dioceses to realise a key objective within their Vision and Mission: To provide education to their local communities. The second phase of this programme has provided for capacity building at the national church level.

These powerful partnerships have resulted in the following key achievements:

• 1190 new school places have been provided for children with little or no access to education. By the end of 2008 another 490 new school places will be available.
• By the end of 2008 children at all the schools will have access to pit latrines and five of the schools will have access to clean water during the rainy season.
• All children attending the nine primary schools receive World Food Programme school feeding, resulting in increasing enrolment and retention and reducing illness.

• Girls make up 40-50% of school places.

It has also been working alongside USPG and CMS Britain to support a significant scaling up of the Provincial Education work of the ECS, in the area of teacher training. This work has provided training for over 700 teachers.

Recent items relating to Sudan are shown below:

February 2006

Address to worshippers in the compound of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, Khartoum
26 February 2006
The Archbishop visited southern Sudan to offer support to Christian communities and to those projects…

Sudan - Sermon at a Displaced Person's Camp in Khartoum
26 February 2006
The Archbishop visited southern Sudan, to offer support to Christian communities and to those projects…

Archbishop to Encourage Peace and Development in Sudan
17 February 2006
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to visit Sudan next week and will mark the start…

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