Integrated Help and Opportunities for Peaceful Existence (iHOPE) Inc: Inspiring the Invisible Giants, Restoring Hope and Self-Reliance through Scholarship and Vocational Training for South Sudanese Orphans, Widows, and Disabled in and Outside South Sudan
By Deng Garang Bul, Darwin, Australia
Thursday, October 06, 2022 (PW) — The dictionary defines self-reliance as the ability to do things and make decisions by yourself without needing other people to help you. Apparently, self-reliance is not an inherent ability but can be extrinsically cultivated and internalised. The iHOPE Inc. has been providing education scholarship awards to needy children in South Sudan for the last five (5) years, purposely to restore hope and build self-reliance in them.
Our vision inspires and prompts us to reach out to the most disadvantaged South Sudanese, especially the orphans, widows and disabled in need. However, building self-reliance in the war-afflicted South Sudan is not easy as NGOs and other relief agencies are often tempted to do things that only people can do. This is evidenced in South Sudan and across the globe, where relief agencies pour financial resources into situations where the real need is not financial.
To correct this misalignment, we suggest that in addition to addressing the basic needs of the individual and those of the community, NGOs should also focus on durable solutions such as the provision of education, knowledge, and skills. To accurately map out real needs, the locals need to ask a set of questions, including what is durable or sustainable over the long term. Can it be locally produced and maintained? Does it encourage independence?
In other words, will the locals acquire the expertise to continue the project after the NGO is gone? For our case, we think a robust education system that produces workers with vocational training and other general skills is a durable solution. Through education, we can empower children to become agents of change for their families as well as the nation.
We suggest that instead of humanitarian aid, NGOs should prioritise education as a means to facilitate development. Furthermore, NGOs and relief agencies should restrict handouts to emergency situations that otherwise could be life-threatening if they are not immediately addressed.
We intend to replace the live-for-today, survival mentality with an investment mindset, where the locals can strive to acquire the necessary knowledge or skills. We seek to impart a vision for a better everyday life for the children of financially disadvantaged families in Australia and across South Sudan.
We encourage NGOs serving in South Sudan to focus on building local capacity so that locals can meet their basic needs. Particularly, South Sudan’s rural and remote populations should be taught how to farm, protect their livelihoods, and respond to natural calamities such as floods or pandemics.
Recent successes by South Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda, at Bidi Bidi, Adjumani, Kiryandongo camps and elsewhere (see figures 1, 2, 3 & 4 below) speak volumes.
These refugees receive monthly relief aid from the United Nations food agencies. However, to supplement the relief aid, the refugees in those camps have started to grow vegetables and other crops to reduce their dependence on relief aid.
And in the words of one, Mathew Module, who does tomato farming, “We were taught and now have got a lot of knowledge and skills in agriculture, and we decided to put our ideas together to do something that can help us in the future.”
Other testimonies include James Maker Ter, who told the Sudan Tribune, “I see this land has a lot of opportunities, and I have decided to cultivate it. I know doing this job will strengthen me, although the UNHCR [ United Nations refugee agency] is supporting me. I must do more to support my family. “
It is obvious that training provided to individuals or groups, be it at home or at refugee camps, does lead to positive behavioural change that can potentially improve the overall health of the afflicted community. NGOs must understand that their job is not to exacerbate poverty by encouraging dependence but must strive to uphold the dignity and lives of vulnerable families through the provision of sustainable services and lifesaving goods in times of disaster.
NGOs and relief agencies need to focus on the following:
- Initiate projects that have the potential to empower the locals instead of the continuing provision of emergency relief.
- Impart a positive attitude and self-discipline. In other words, map out local gifts or abilities that can be further developed.
- Look for opportunities to foster change. In other words, focus on the assets of the community. That is, what the community has that can be nurtured.
- Speak up for the voiceless while ensuring their participation in decision-making.
In conclusion, change within the community and/or individual should be prioritised in the NGOs’ decision-making.
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