Blue Nile Post War Recovery Programme

Project Overview
The Blue Nile post-war recovery programme is an integrated rehabilitation and community development initiative, focussing on livelihood improvement.

Community committees will be formed, trained and empowered to ensure the programme sustainability once Islamic Relief leaves the area.

Problem / Project Background
The Blue Nile area, which has a traditional agro-nomadic population, has suffered from devastating civil strife. The conflict has caused a massive deterioration in standards of living and created over 110,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in addition to those who crossed the border and settled in the neighbouring Ethiopian villages.

The civil war resulted in a complete destruction of basic social services as well as a deterioration in socio-economic patterns of the population. The Blue Nile State has been ignored for long time by humanitarian agencies, donors as well as the federal government.

The Blue Nile is rich in natural resources, but lack of investment and proper utilisation of these resources has left the region in poverty. The area, once a food basket for Sudan, cannot now feed itself. Due to the conflict, the area remained inaccessible to aid agencies and the UN for several years, however the recent peace initiative in Sudan has provided an opportunity for local development. The Islamic Relief project, if implemented soon, will be the first of its kind in this area.

Project Objectives
The specific objectives of the project are summarized into the following:

• Support displaced resettlement, consolidate peace and build trust among targeted communities

• Formation and empowerment of community committees

• Provision of safe drinking water and improvement of sanitation facilities

• Increase access to basic education through improving school buildings, increasing enrolment, organising teacher training and distributing of education materials
  

• Strengthen primary health care

• Improve family income

Project Activities

1. Peace building, including conflict resolution and peace building training

2. Supporting the repatriation and resettlement of the IDPs and returnees

3. Provision of safe drinking water

4. Supporting primary education, including distribution of education materials, school rehabilitation, furnishing schools and teacher training

5. Primary Health Care, including the provision of essential drugs, vaccination, medical equipment and training of health personnel

6. Distribution of credit to beneficiaries

7. Supporting agriculture, improved seeds, extension services and agricultural tools
   

Beneficiaries
The project will target 65,000 people in the first phase, and if additional funding is secured the project will be expanded to cover the 660,000 people living in the area.