As part of Policy Forum’s desire to learn from others and share its experiences through collaborative links with like-minded international institutions, the organisation participated in a workshop organized by Justice Africa in Juba, South Sudan to provide technical assistance to its local CSOs.

South Sudan is the world’s newest state, with a population estimated between 8 to 12 million people. The country attained independence on July 9, 2011 after several decades of devastating civil wars with its northern neighbour the Republic of Sudan. The civil wars have largely been attributed to scramble over resources, particularly oil. Thus, the country had for so long been deprived of development, including deprivation from economic growth, basic infrastructures such as roads, schools, and health facilities among others.

Given this context, CSOs in South Sudan have a great role to play to ensure that this new state takes off from the current situation of underdevelopment to a better one. Mostly important, is for these CSOs to ensure that public money is wisely spent to attain development. Unfortunately, civil society organizations in South Sudan lack these necessary skills to lobby and advocate for a more democratic, transparent, accountable and just society. Due to the limited oversight by and influence of civil society, parliamentary and other oversight institutions, there is considerable evidence that corruption and mismanagement of resources by public institutions continue to exist in South Sudan.

In light of the above situation, Justice Africa extended an invitation to PF to facilitate a series of sessions on budget tracking and advocacy skills following recommendation by the International Budget Partnership, who have partnered with the latter for several years on issues around budget work.

The workshop was held from 25th to 29th August 2014 at White Nile Hotel in Juba, South Sudan. Primarily, it aimed to strengthen the technical and organizational capacity of those civil society organizations that have shown interest in combating corruption, and to build a coherent ‘community of change’ of civil society representatives, critical parliamentarians and media professionals that can effectively lobby and advocate for a more transparent and accountable use of public and natural resources in South Sudan.

The workshop also witnessed the launching of a South Sudan civil society facilitator’s manual on public resources utilisation and community education materials. This manual is meant to be an instrument that will help CSOs especially those at the local level to attain the necessary skills that will help them in tracking the use of public resources.

PF will continue to foster such links with other CSOs within and outside the country so that the capacity of civic actors to meaningfully engage public officials in their respective constituencies is progressively enhanced. Training in budget tracking and advocacy can significantly help these CSOs to impact policy processes and ensure government’s efficient and effective allocation and use of public resources.