Sinkat Community Development Project and Port Sudan Organizational Development Program in Red Sea State in Sudan

Background

The Sudanese Red Crescent Society has implemented the Sinkat Community Development Project since 1986 in response to food insecurity for the Beja nomads living in the Red Sea State of the Sudan. Sinkat locality is a chronically food insecure area, due to recurrent drought.
The overall objective of the project was to re-establish the means of subsistence for up to 250.000 drought-affected Beja nomads or semi-nomads and to prepare both them and the environment they live in to cope with future climatic extremes through desertification control measures and diversification of local food production. Focus has been on rehabilitating existing water resources and constructing new ones including digging of haffirs - local dams.
At the same time it was realized that the Sudanese Red Crescent organizational structure was weak and its role unclear. Therefore, by addressing food security through a development project and building the capacity of the Sudanese Red Crescent, it was expected that positive results and impact would occur.

Purpose/objective

• To establish the actual effects and possible impact of the project during its lifespan up to 2003.
• To establish the effect of the project on the capacity building of the Sudanese Red Crescent.
• Determine level of sustainability of the project
• Give recommendations.

Methodology

The team were thoroughly briefed in Oslo at NRC HQ before going to Khartoum for briefing with SRC HQ, then further to Port Sudan and to Sinkat where the main part of the project has been implemented during the years.
1. Literature review of secondary data
2. Interviews with stakeholders and key persons
3. Field observation and sampling using mainly qualitative and where possible some quantitative approaches. (This included an inventory of water points using interviews, sampling and documentation search.

Key findings

? The project has contributed to the overall re-establishment of subsistence activities in Sinkat constituency and a growing sense of self-reliance amongst farmers, pastoralists and women attending women's centres activities.
? The Norcross contribution to water point rehabilitation and construction has enabled the Beja communities to access enough water for human consumption, livestock needs and household hygiene within less than three kilometres from their homesteads.
? Earth embankments and terraces have effectively harvested water runoffs and spread water over large areas of land, resulting in increased cultivation of sorghum, the staple food of the Beja nomads
? The Sudanese Red Crescent in collaboration with government ministries and community based organizations have reached the intended beneficiaries through the Sinkat Community Development Project and facilitated the following developments:
• Casual labour has increased
• Enrolment in Literacy and formal education have increased
• Capacity of the Sudanese Red Crescent in Port Sudan has increased
• Capacity of local institutions such as Women's Centres and Water Management Committees has increased
• Capacity of households to address the health, social and economic needs of family members have increased.

Recommendations

The consultants found that the project activities and the capacity building to the Sudanese Red Crescent have contributed to the overall re-establishment of subsistence activities in Sinkat constituency. The evaluation results also indicate a growing sense of self-reliance amongst farmers, pastoralists and women attending women's centres.
However, the following recommendations can enhance development projects in Sinkat in the future:
? Address financial sustainability by expanding community income generating activities and income generation within the Sudanese Red Crescent. This means targeting specific livelihood areas and clientele, to contribute to operating costs of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society and communities taking greater initiatives to expand successful interventions.
? Re-define the project design to reflect a more participatory approach, addressing gaps in terms of technical expertise and identification of community needs though situational analyses.
? Address relevance through more activities directed at livestock development, community empowerment and training and community based health care.
? Integrate the water/sanitation and agro-farming activities into a disaster preparedness program by linking components to each other and assessing vulnerability of different target groups.
? Address synergy between the Sudanese Red Crescent, government, other charitable organizations and community groups to jointly partner in Integrated Food Security Projects and other Development projects.
? Expand the present interventions in the field of water development, agriculture and education to reach more beneficiaries.

Comments from the organisation

The project evaluation report was thoroughly discussed in Sinkat. A consultant from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, facilitator and expert log frame user, undertook a 3 week mission to Sinkat to design a new plan of action and budget. The project is now focused more towards development of agricultural methods and improved livestock. The Sinkat component of the project will be further redesigned in 2006. In addition - the project will from 2006/2007 include a new component: Tokar locality, a drought stricken area neighbouring to Sinkat.