South Sudan Urged to Learn From Experiences of Other African Countries
Matata Safi
15 October 2011
press release
Juba — The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK-based research institute has urged the Republic of South Sudan to learn from the experiences of other African countries which have come out from serious conflict to thrive both socially and economically.
The call was made yesterday by Mr. Marcus Manuel, the ODI director in South Sudan while releasing the findings of a global research project conducted at Home and Away in Juba. Mr. Manuel said that South Sudan has the potential of a complete transformation like many other African countries with the same difficult conflict background which have witnessed tremendous progress in development in the past ten to twenty years.
He said the purpose of the presentation of the findings in Juba was to share with South Sudan the lessons gleaned from development progress in over 200 countries all round the world. He added that the presentation was also intended to inspire development players in South Sudan to ask themselves as to what has driven these remarkable development changes in these countries.
He said among the countries that may share the same challenges with South Sudan is Ethiopia. For instance, he explained that Ethiopia has excelled well in education despite it emerging from a conflict background just a few years down the road. He also mentioned Rwanda that has recorded tremendous progress in health despite the genocide of 1994. Mr. Manuel also mentioned Uganda which he said has managed to provide clean water to its rural population in spite of its challenges emanating from its past conflicts.
Mr. Manuel stressed that to realize progress in development calls for what he described as "drivers of development" which include smart leadership, smart policies, smart institutions and friends that can be able to set road-signs that guide people or countries towards development.
He asserted that realizing development progress is not a case of "cut and paste" from other countries that have seen progress being pasted in South Sudan. He said that there is need to customize the development lessons and apply them selectively in South Sudan. He explained that the workshop provided a platform for the stakeholders to develop a sense of reflection and opportunity to learn from the challenges of other countries and see how they managed to turn them around to development.
Mr. Manuel cautioned that the challenges may at times seem overwhelming but affirmed that this should not make people lose focus. He said that if other countries have managed or are managing then South Sudan can also make it.
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