|TOP|ICCO, the Interchurch Organisation for Development Coordination, will head a major new reconstruction programme to be launched in the Juba district in southern Sudan.

Four million euro has been allotted to ICCO for the new phase of reconstruction from an EU fund controlled by the development programme in the United Nations, the UNDP.

ICCO will collaborate with other major organisations over the next three years to see through the regional development, set to benefit more than 100,000 people.

The new reconstruction programme will provide the rural population of the Juba district with tools and seeds for farmers, as well as promote small-scale trade, with the long-term aim of securing a minimum standard of living.

New hospitals are also currently being built under the new programme, with plans already underway to construct a new clean and safe water supply in the region for rural households affected by the ongoing conflict.

|AD|ICCO said in a press statement that the construction of the new facilities is especially urgent as Juba, the new capital of southern Sudan, continues to experience a period of turbulent growth with the population predicted to double in the coming years as displaced persons return to the region once again.

“Since the peace treaty between northern and southern Sudan was signed over a year ago, the population has been waiting for tangible improvements in their living conditions in vain,” said the ICCO statement.

“The project headed by ICCO partly gives substance to the promise made by the government and the international community to support the reconstruction.”

While the project will contribute material support, training and counselling in the development of local structures, the actual reconstruction will be managed and led by local government and social organisations.
The ICCO-led reconstruction programme will partner with the African organisation Action Africa Help International (AAH-I) and the Dutch-based ZOA Vluchtelingenzorg.

ICCO, which has contributed 350,000 euro to the programme, will play a key role in developing local NGOs in the Juba district through its field office for Sudan, which will be head the project.
A further 250,000 euro has been contributed to the reconstruction programme by ZOA.