Max Maharry
Roosevelt High School
Des Moines, IA
Sudan, Factor 17: Good Governance
Sudan: Improving government and food security
Citizens of the United States of America are very fortunate. Blessed with a Constitution and permitted a Bill of Rights that guarantees the rights and freedoms of the American people, liberty is granted at nearly no cost. All that is required by the average citizen is to pay taxes, and obey the law, and they are paid back with a democratic government that provides them with nearly every freedom imaginable. These freedoms include items that are taken for granted each and every day, such as the right to say whatever you please, to carry a firearm as protection, to purchase things, to work, to earn money, and to provide for one’s family. American citizens are also provided a wide range of opportunity to obtain nutrition. Due to this freedom the democratic government bestows upon its people, food is everywhere. Food is available for extremely cheap prices and in tremendous abundances. Laws also enable the food to be available in safe, consumable form. Thanks to the U.S. Government, these are all given to the American people. Now turn the tables. Imagine having no idea who is in charge of your country. Imagine wondering whether the “government” of your nation even knows of your region’s existence. Imagine contemplating whether you were going to be able to eat on any given day, and worse, if your family would be able to eat. American citizens rarely deal with issues so severe, but in Sudan, it’s drastically common. Malnutrition and starvation are far too familiar concepts to Sudanese people. This can be largely traced to their government. The citizens of Sudan deserve to eat, and even more, they deserve to live.
- Sudanese Living
Sudan is one of the most poverty stricken countries on the planet. Over half of all housing units in Sudan are single rooms with round mud walls and a conical straw roof (“Encyclopedia of the Nations”). The average family size in an urban setting is a set of parents with three to four children. When it comes to rural areas, the average number of children to accompany the parents is six or seven (“Central Intelligence Agency”). While the large number of children will eventually contribute to family agricultural practices, they also require nourishment and more resources. Nearly every family is engaged in agriculture; education is uncommon, making it increasingly difficult for families to further themselves economically. Healthcare is poor to non-existent in areas outside of the capital, Khartoum. The father is typically who generates the income, along with every child as soon as they are of age. The mother is in charge of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children that are not able to work yet.
The average farm size in Sudan ranges from one to four acres. The average farm size in America is four hundred and forty one acres. Sudanese people almost wholly participate in subsistence farming, farming their average two acre farm for only themselves and their family. The main crops that they produce are sorghum, millet, and maize. Their average meal consists of these ingredients. In areas lucky enough to have a little more rainfall, mangoes, peanut butter, and potatoes are common (“Central Intelligence Agency”).When participating in subsistence agriculture (because they are given no other option) they eat the majority of their food, leaving very from which to generate profit. Families are often left with little to no money to use for health needs. As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, health care is poor to non existent. Urban health clinics, doctors offices’, and hospitals lack medicine and utilities. In rural areas there are no health care facilities that exist. Those who seek health care and are able to afford it must travel to the capital city of Khartoum. High quality care is expensive and rare. There is some international assistance to war torn areas, but that can not be relied upon (“Central Intelligence Agency”). Because of this, the life expectancy for a male is only 60 years, while for females it’s 63 (“Sudan - Life Expectancy”). That is nearly a 20-year shorter life than expected of an American citizen (“United States - Life Expectancy”).
2. Set-backs
There are many setbacks in the current average Sudanese lifestyle that are preventing progress to be made within the country. One of the major setbacks is the corruption that lives within the government. With the recent separation of North and South Sudan, tensions are still high and conflict between the nations continue. Government spending is extremely high, as the officials that are appointed by the nominated president (though of the nominees, all of them are corrupt politicians with selfish motives) only worry about themselves and the capital city of Khartoum. These politicians are responsible for the disappearance of millions of dollars in government money that are still yet to be found. Agriculturally, major setbacks include the internal conflict and displacement, but directly the drought and unpredictability of precipitation and climate. This makes the harvesting of crops in an already dry, nutrient-less soil even more difficult. (“Sudan and South Sudan: Current Issues…”)These hardships obviously lead to lack of food availability causing prices to jump dramatically making food even more difficult to obtain. Meat prices have recently risen 84%, 45% for sugar, 40% for vegetables, and 70% for transportation which is highly linked to food availability as well (“Sudan and South Sudan: Current Issues…”).
3. Current government situation
The current government in Sudan can hardly be called a government at all. The government in Sudan is titled as a Federal Republic. It is made up of a legislative, a judicial, and an executive branch (“Central Intelligence Agency”). There are “democratic” elections that determine who the president of the country will be. In words, the government sounds strikingly similar to ours, but in reality, Sudan has one of the most corrupt governments in the world. The U.S. Department of State reports that government officials frequently engage in corrupt practices, as officials suspected of corruption are only rarely investigated (US Department of State, 2009). Poorly paid and trained administrative staff, inefficient government bureaucracy, lax record keeping combined with a general lack of transparency and oversight provide both opportunities and incentives for corruption and rent-seeking behavior (Business Anti- Corruption Portal, 2010). The majority of Sudanese citizens have reported bribes being paid to authorities. (Transparency International, 2011). The government provides the public with minimal information on the its budget and financial activities, making it virtually impossible for citizens to hold the government accountable for its management of public money. According to the U.S. Department of State, over 2.3 billion dollars could have been embezzled from government institutions. The idea of democratic elections in Sudan is on the correct track, but in the run-up to the elections, many candidates apparently withdrew their candidacies in favor of rival candidates in exchange for cash, or other material resources or jobs (“Sudan Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation…”). All of these corrupt practices exist on a Federal level. The local governments are further subdivided into 66 provinces and 218 local government areas or districts with am appointed governor, deputy governor, and council of ministers for each state. These officials were responsible for administration and economic planning in the states. These local governments receive little to no funding/attention from the Federal government and are therefor completely ineffective to the ares they govern. Not to mention the ongoing practice of crimes against humanity that the government forces upon its people, such as the unnecessary murder of innocent citizens.
4. Current food security situation
Due to decades of conflict between North and South Sudan, there are over a million displaced citizens within Sudan. These citizens’ families are split-up, and they are placed in refugee camps with hundreds of other lost, and displaced Sudanese people (“Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Sudan”). Needless to say, they are provided with nothing to help them live. International aid is sometimes provided to these refugee camps, but that cannot be relied on. With the implementation of a solid government these refugee camps could be handled with care and provided with nourishments. This leads to massive starvation and malnourishment in these overpopulated refugee camps (“Encyclopedia of the Nations”). There are also many starving citizens that are not in refugee camps. These people attempt to partake in subsistence farming. Multiple difficult challenges surround farming in Sudan. The country is obviously very poor, therefore can afford little to no farm equipment, technology, watering systems, or anything of the sorts to increase their yield. The environment does not assist agricultural efforts because of the extremely difficult to predict weather and fluctuation in precipitation. Lack of food availability causes prices to jump, making it even more difficult to afford. (84% for meat, 45% for sugar, and 40% for vegetables. 70% for transport which can be directly linked to the difficulty of obtaining and transporting food to those who need it) (“Sudan and South Sudan: Current Issues”). Livestock that are present are often riddled with diseases and live very short lives. It is very common that when livestock is eaten, the consumer will obtain a disease from the animal and die shortly after (“UN World Food Program”). All of these difficulties with farming allow the average Sudanese person to consume a very minimal amount of food, eventually to the point where death is looming. The mixture of hard work to produce the food in a harsh environment combined with the little nourishment that they are able to obtain leads to the statistic of nearly one-fourth of Sudan dying of starvation.
5. Sudanese need for a stable government and nutrition
Providing the Sudanese citizens with a reliable government would amend a multitude of life-changing improvements. The Sudanese government is unorganized, unreliable, and doing the bare minimum to improve the overall status of Sudan. Engaged in so many corrupt practices, it is impossible for the country to take any steps toward resolving its many issues. If the government were able to train its administrative staff, leading to a more efficient government bureaucracy, it is highly likely that the lack of transparency will diminish and provided opportunities for incentives, corruption, and rent-seeking behavior will decline. A decline in bribes being paid to authorities would result in a much more trustworthy core of law enforcers. This would dramatically improve relationships among the citizens and government appointed officials who are entitled to take care of the law. Providing information to the people about what is being done with public money would hold the government accountable for all of its funds, contributing to no more disappearing funds. If the government were to halt their crimes against humanity, this would be another major and obvious improvement to the lives of the Sudanese people. If all of these things were accomplished, imagine the advancements that could be made within the lives of these suffering men women and children.
The present status of food security in Sudan is hardly better than the status of their government. The population of Sudan as of 2013 is thirty eight million people. In some areas, the rate of malnutrition is over thirty precent, equaling out to almost twelve million undernourished starving Sudanese citizens (“Child Malnutrition Emergency in South Sudan”). The number of people needing food aid in southern Sudan quadrupled this year from 1.1 million to 4.3 million. Nine in ten people in the area live on less than one dollar a day (“Sudan”). Thirty-two percent of Sudanese children are chronically malnourished, and nearly 600,000 mothers and babies are in need of nutritious supplementary food (“Sudan”). People are so weak and frail they can hardly move. Men, women, and children are pencil thin and pass away every day because of starvation. Emaciated babies are a common sight with exposed ribs and distended stomachs. The need for food in Sudan is worse than ever, and the need is only increasing.
6. Solutions
(Government)
The fact that Sudan economically suffers so largely would make it very difficult for Sudan to fix the status of their country on their own. The government is much too self centered to place any focus on the recovery of Sudan. It becomes very apparent that foreign intervention is necessary. Foreign intervention is currently occurring; however, the effects are non-existent. The U.S. is attempting to provide money in order to “accelerate progress in the critical areas of governance, rule of law, conflict mitigation, economic development, delivery of basic services, and security sector reform.” Nearly all of the current attempts at intervention are at a Federal level, and the corruption of those officials are allowing no progress to be made with the help that they are given. I propose that smaller government systems be implemented throughout the nation in strategic locations where the drought and malnutrition is the worst. The locations that are the absolute worst off are areas such as Darfur, Ash Shamaliyah, and Ash Sharqiyah. These areas are mainly in the Northern half of the country and receive the least rainfall. Depending on the status of the local governments within these areas, improvements would be made. First and foremost, the crimes against humanity and internal conflicts must stop. To halt the government from murdering their own people, I believe that if Americans are stationed in these three regions and propose an end to these crimes, our presence will cause a slight decline in the numbers of people killed. U.S. intervention into these smaller government systems would then educate the members of the local governments in order for them to better make decisions on behalf of their region. Next, small scale legal and regulatory government framework is advised. This framework would need to include budget/financial plans, laws, regulations, etc. not only for the people but for those within the government as well. If this government framework were created, it would be required that the laws and new regulations be followed. In order for this to occur, American assistance would still be required. U.S. stations within these newly improved local governments are advised to offer any necessary assistance and ensure that the government is doing their job and people are benefiting properly. With the strengthening of these governments, it is highly possible that other struggling areas in Sudan will notice the improvements and rally for help in their area as well. This may very well cause a spread in the want for internal improvement and lead to much larder scale advancement.
Once these governments are established, food security will be strengthened next.
(Food Security)
When more stable governments are created throughout the worst areas in Sudan, feeding the people will be a much easier task.
Since two of the three major causes of food instability in Sudan are conflict and displacement, strengthening local government systems would heavily assist in diminishing those issues. The third issue is poor harvest. Poor harvest is due to dry, nutrient-free soil, and drought. One solution to these issues is water harvesting, through the use of chisel ploughs. Chisel ploughs are used to excavate soil to a depth of 25-30 cm – to increase the permeability of soil – and shields (dust barriers) of approximately 60 cm are erected – to retain the water so that the soil can become saturated (“People, Enabling Poor Rural…”). Another idea is incorporating small water pumps near individual farms to provide water. Water is in extremely high demand due to the drought and unpredictability of rainfall. This water would not only be heavily beneficial to the crops and farms of the people, but they could drink it as well. Also, educating farmers in Sudan would provide them with much more knowledge on how to farm, where to farm, when to farm, and much more. This could be done through classes or distributed pamphlets. Different farming strategies could be implemented that may have a higher success in Sudanese subsistence farms if they were educated. If famers became more educated they could definitely learn to yield more crops and produce a much healthier farm. Livestock have a huge potential to positively effect Sudanese farmers. In Sudan, eight in every ten people earn money by rearing livestock to sell. But many farmers struggle to find the water, food and medicines needed to keep their animals healthy (“People, Enabling Poor Rural…”). By providing water through these pumps livestock would have a much higher success rate. If farmers were educated they could also learn to take much better care of their livestock, how to breed and use them to their advantage in many ways. The final way the livestock situation could be improved was through livestock vaccinations. If these livestock were vaccinated they would live much longer lives (creating more offspring to do the same later on) and would produce healthy meat that wouldn’t have any harmful effects on the consumers. A possible innovation for the future could be a cheap, GMO that would thrive in low quality soil with little water. If said GMO came into existence, Sudan could plant them instead and begin to develop greatly.
7. Other possibilities
Other options for improving the corrupt government in Sudan include not only American intervention to assist with recovery, but worldwide intervention. Allies of the U.S. such as Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and other small African nations such as Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. If all (or some) of these countries joined together to help the United States in developing plans and providing funds for Sudan there would be much more brain power, man power, and money being filtered into the project. Specifically, a plan that would work exceptionally well in my opinion would be the United States working with the smaller African nations (Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria) to help the U.S. in supporting Sudan. Since these nations are near Sudan they would be able to provide direct assistance (described in previous sections) to Sudan. The U.S. could provide incentive to these African nations and create a written deal that highlights a specific plan of what will be done to Sudan through these nations to improve their government, such keeping a watchful eye and making sure government is acting in an appropriate way.
Other options for improving food security once the government is patched up include the same thing as previously listed, except for agricultural and food services. Assistance from other nations such as the ones listed above would help to provide funds for suggested solutions such as water pumps and agricultural education within Sudan. With the help of other countries (especially ones in Africa) it wouldn’t be completely up to the United States to resolve every issue in the country and more countries could put their brain power and financial power together to ultimately resolve the current corruption and starvation in Sudan. The ideal location of Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria would be very beneficial in terms of directly sending aid to Sudan through the United States and possibly other nations.
8. Sponsors
With the extreme corruption in the Sudanese government, international intervention is inevitable. My proposed solutions suggest that the majority of the fixes made in Sudan be due to American, or possibly a multitude of countries’ assistance. Therefore, the main sponsor of my proposed solution is The United States or other countries that offer help.
Within the United States, there are multiple humanitarian efforts to supply water to suffering countries like Sudan. The “Water for Sudan” program is currently working to drill wells and bring fresh, clean water to the country (“Home”). The program focuses on providing a larger numbers of wells so that the scarce amount of water wells doesn’t cause people to walk multiple miles to the nearest water source in a summer that reaches above 120 degrees fahrenheit. “The Water Project” is another effort to provide water for Sudan (“Water In Crisis”). The Water Project also focuses on drilling wells throughout Sudan to provide those in desperate need with their basic resource. The continuous funding of these programs could be another already established and impactful way to provide water to Sudan to drink and to use for agriculture.
The International Fertilizer Development Center is a development group currently working on a very small scale to educate farmers around the world and in Sudan (“IFDC”). With improved funding in the IFDC and increasing their role on the education of farmers, the IFDC could work as a sponsor for the education of farmers in Sudan if the funding and support for the program was increased.
Among these help foundations, many are donation based and rely upon the money of those who contribute to charities. Therefore, you and I can become a sponsor of creating a better life in Sudan. Water for Sudan and The Water Project are nearly wholly donation based. MercyCorp, UNHCR, Help Sudan International, Care, and many other programs require the money from the pockets of people like you and I.
Although these proposed solutions work as a very difficult, time consuming, financially active process, Sudan is among one of the most struggling countries on the planet. In order to resolve and begin to recover the country of Sudan, it is going to require maximum effort and focus from the global community on the country. If the solutions I proposed happened to be followed, the lives of many Sudanese people would change for the better. Mothers would be able to live in happiness knowing that their child will not die of starvation, Families would no longer be torn apart because of harsh displacement. Communities would come together in unity without their current worries about whether they or their family will live to see tomorrow. The members of a poverty stricken and corrupt country would begin to see the fundamental rights and nutritional basics that every human being deserves.
"IFDC." Documentary Tracks Fertilizer Journey. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
People, Enabling Poor Rural, and To Overcome Poverty. Seeds of Innovation (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
R42774. Sudan and South Sudan: Current Issues for Congress and U.S. Policy (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
"Sudan." Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2015.
Www.transparency.org, and Www.cmi.no. Corruption and Anti-corruption in Sudan (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
