Who are you trying to help? What issue are you trying to address?

Long term development in South Sudan has been severely challenged by more than two decades of civil war. This war led to the death of more than 2 million people and the displacement of millions more. Thousands of returnee families (former refugees) are now completely dependent on humanitarian aid as they return to their homes and family land many never having previously engaged in agriculture because of the conflict.

emerge poverty free are trying to engage and assist local communities in the Eastern Equatorial province by improving education (we operate a Teacher Training College), access to resources and through agricultural extension (primarily by demonstration farms).

What is your project and how will it help?

We have established a demonstration farm in Katire which directly engages a women’s cooperative, but also provides wider training to the communities in the region. Modern varieties of crops and farming techniques have been demonstrated. This has dramatically increased yields and enabled a level of food stability. Training has been provided for running grinding mills and for trading as a cooperative in the town of Torit.

This intervention has just been replicated in Ikotos, another town of Eastern Equatorial State, and a demonstration farm is being established.

How can other people partner with you on your project?

Simple agricultural equipment can transform a community which has the right knowledge and organisation.

We are able to ship commodities into these places. Potential partners would be able to provide donations of agricultural goods or funds to purchase those goods more locally (in neighbouring Uganda). This is vital.

Please detail the resources that you need.

Simple ploughs, handheld tractors (rotorvators), water pumps and other simple agricultural equipment.

We are also looking for an option to provide refrigeration for keeping produce fresh for market for a longer period of time. There is no stable power supply so perhaps a refrigeration container and a generator or similar would be an excellent self contained small project to supplement the work.