Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KHARTOUM1457
2006-06-21 11:23:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Khartoum
Cable title:  

Sudan - USAID/OFDA and Partners Meet in Juba

Tags:  EAID PREF PGOV TBIO PHUM SOCI SU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0016
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #1457/01 1721123
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211123Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3320
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001457 

SIPDIS

AIDAC
SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/USAID/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS
USMISSION UN ROME
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH
NAIROBI FOR SFO
NSC FOR JBRAUSE, TSHORTLEY
USUN FOR TMALY
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV TBIO PHUM SOCI SU
SUBJECT: Sudan - USAID/OFDA and Partners Meet in Juba
and Khartoum to Plan for FY 2007


-------
Summary
-------

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 001457

SIPDIS

AIDAC
SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP
NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/USAID/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS
USMISSION UN ROME
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH
NAIROBI FOR SFO
NSC FOR JBRAUSE, TSHORTLEY
USUN FOR TMALY
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV TBIO PHUM SOCI SU
SUBJECT: Sudan - USAID/OFDA and Partners Meet in Juba
and Khartoum to Plan for FY 2007


--------------
Summary
--------------


1. On June 9 and 13, 2006, the USAID Office of U.S.
Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) convened
meetings in Juba and Khartoum, Sudan, to discuss the
upcoming publication of an Annual Program Statement (APS)
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. USAID/OFDA shared information
with interested parties regarding plans to focus on key
sectors and priority geographical areas. The meetings
brought together more than 80 participants, including
potential partners, USAID/Sudan staff, other donors, and
government ministries. The transition of the health
sector activities from emergency relief to longer-term
development mechanisms generated the most discussion.
End summary.

--------------
APS To Be Issued for Non-Darfur Sudan
--------------


2. As the peace process in Southern Sudan progresses,
USAID/OFDA is planning to target assistance to non-Darfur
Sudan in FY 2007 to meet ongoing emergency needs, with a
strong emphasis on transitioning these programs from
emergency to longer-term development. USAID/OFDA will
focus programs on supporting the implementation of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement and mitigating the drivers
on conflict through both traditional humanitarian
interventions as well as creative new approaches. To
target funding accordingly, USAID/OFDA plans to program
the majority of the FY 2007 non-Darfur Sudan budget via
an Annual Program Statement (APS). The APS will help
focus programs in key sectors and geographic areas,
attract new partners and creative response methodologies,
and still allow for flexibility in programming and rapid
emergency response capacity.


3. On June 9 and 13, 2006, USAID/OFDA convened meetings
in Juba and Khartoum, Sudan, to discuss the APS approach

for FY 2007 with all interested parties. The meetings
brought together more than 80 participants, including
potential partners, USAID/Sudan health development
assistance staff and contractors, other donors, and
government ministries, who provided valuable feedback on
the APS approach. USAID/OFDA representatives explained
current FY 2006 programming and described the rationale,
process, and timeline for the upcoming FY 2007 APS.


4. USAID/OFDA has prepared and posted online a FY 2007
APS Statement of Intent (located at www.grants.gov,
keyword "APS"),detailing USAID/OFDA's proposed approach
for six sectors: health, nutrition, water and
sanitation, food security, income generation, and relief
commodities. Meeting participants provided feedback on
the Statement of Intent and asked questions during the
discussion of each sector.

--------------
Key Sectors and Priority Geographical Areas
--------------


5. Important considerations incorporated in the sector
approaches under the APS Statement of Intent are as
follows:


A. Health: Proposed programs should focus on counties
not already covered by USAID development assistance
funding through the Sudan Health Transformation Program
(SHTP) and should demonstrate close coordination with the
SHTP process in order to promote even coverage and
effective transitioning from relief to development in
this critical sector. In FY 2007, USAID/OFDA anticipates
that clinic staff salaries and procurement of drugs will
no longer be funded.


B. Nutrition: USAID/OFDA will consider funding programs
that promote a holistic approach to the prevention and
treatment of acute malnutrition, focusing as much on the
root causes as on treatment.



C. Water and Sanitation: Water and sanitation will
continue to be a key sector in FY 2007 due to its
importance for human health and reducing conflict among
rural communities. Under the APS, USAID/OFDA will
consider applications for water and sanitation programs
in Equatoria, the Three Areas, Eastern Sudan, and
southern capitals only, as forward planning and ongoing
mechanisms will provide coverage in other regions.


D. Food Security: USAID/OFDA is most interested in high-
impact emergency activities that increase local
production, strengthen local market systems, build local
capacity, and train communities.


E. Income Generation: Programs should focus on small,
quick-impact projects that give immediate benefits to
communities and support nascent markets (for instance,
through voucher interventions); in past fiscal years,
these programs have been more rural development-oriented.
In FY 2007, USAID/OFDA will support income generation and
food security activities that directly target emergency
needs.


F. Relief Commodities: USAID/OFDA will support relief
commodity activities that directly assist highly
vulnerable families through the distribution of basic
household and hygiene items, targeting those displaced by
conflict or recently returned from displacement.


6. The APS Statement of Intent also explains geographic
priorities, including Red Sea and Kassala States in
Eastern Sudan, the Three Areas (Abyei, Nuba Mountains,
and Southern Blue Nile),and eight of the ten states in
Southern Sudan. Given the needs in these locations,
USAID/OFDA will place less priority on funding programs
in other areas (Khartoum, Lakes and Western Equatoria
States) in FY 2007, although activities in these non-
priority areas may continue.

--------------
Potential Gaps in Health Sector a Concern
--------------


7. Participants made several useful comments for
USAID/OFDA to consider as the final APS is drafted,
especially with regard to the health sector. The
majority of each meeting was spent discussing the
transition of the health sector from emergency relief to
longer-term development mechanisms. USAID's Sudan Health
Transformation Program (SHTP) has significantly changed
its approach and geographic coverage under the new USAID
Sudan Strategy. The SHTP will now work in the three
conflict areas of the transition zone and four urban
centers in the South, rather than in the original 20
focus counties. This shift has created some gaps in
coverage, placing greater pressure on the Government of
Southern Sudan (GOSS) Ministry of Health (MOH) and other
development mechanisms (for example, the Multi-Donor
Trust Fund) to fill gaps. Based on examination of
USAID/OFDA's current health program coverage and the
USAID/SHTP new priority areas, eight counties in the
South may lose USAID health program support. The GOSS
MOH expressed concern about assuming responsibility for
these activities so quickly, as planning for the next few
years was based on the old SHTP coverage arrangement.
The Acting GOSS Under Secretary for Health urged USAID to
allow more time to prepare for the transition, as the
ministry does not yet have the capacity to take on the
operation of health facilities in these counties.


8. At the conclusion of the second APS meeting in
Khartoum, USAID/OFDA met with health partners and USAID
development assistance health staff to discuss planning
for the transition of some health projects now funded by
USAID/OFDA to USAID's SHTP and to work to minimize
potential gaps in coverage for the sector. USAID/OFDA
has four main partners currently operating in the new
geographic priority areas of USAID's health development
assistance program: the Three Areas (Abyei, Nuba
Mountains, and Southern Blue Nile) and the southern

cities of Malakal, Juba, Yei, and Wau. During the
meeting, participants agreed that representatives from
USAID/Sudan and the SHTP contractor will convene a follow-
up meeting in Khartoum before mid-July to formulate
concrete steps for the transition of programs and examine
ways to avoid further coverage gaps.


9. Meeting participants, including the Acting GOSS
Under Secretary for Health in Juba, also expressed
concern that next year is too early for USAID/OFDA to
cease support of clinic staff salaries since the GOSS
will not be ready to assume the responsibility in the
timeframe provided. USAID/OFDA representatives agreed
that there will need to be a flexible approach to funding
clinic salaries under the APS. With respect to
USAID/OFDA's plans to cease funding for drug procurement
in FY 2007, meeting attendees agreed that the GOSS MOH
will organize a meeting in Juba before the end of June to
plan a more centralized and coordinated approach for next
year.

HUME