| dc.description.abstract | One of the main problems the 8udan continues to
face after almost three decades of independence is equity
in socio-economic development. At independence while
certain parts of the country witnessed unprecedented
expansion in economic investments and social welfare
facilities, certain regions suffered utter neglect.
Southern Region is part of these areas whose development
appear irrevocably suppressed before the 1972 Addis Ababa
Agreement which brought peace after 17 years of civil
strife. Despite the peace the problems of underdevelopment
were hardly lessened; schools were few and overflowing, health
conditions remained deplorable as well· as communication
which also suffered during the civil war. These problems
were also intimately linked to the rampant poverty and
symptomatic to the general problems of underdevelopment
which in combination made solutions despairingly elusive.
Attempts by the rural communities in Southern Sudan to
uplift themselves from the quagmire of backwardness took
the form of a social movement known as "self-help".
Self-help·strategy is a means through which local communities
achieve some of the felt needs through a substantial
investment of labour, materials or cash. These needs could
range from access roads, schools, health centres to
cooperative stores and shops.
This thesis discusses the characteristics of
individuals and communities concerned with the provision
of what has been mentioned by respondents as schools, health
centres, roads and bridges, cooperative stores etc. Drawing
upon concepts from literature on self-help or Harambee
the study provides an analysis of contributions to self-help
projects and how they were influenced by such factors
as types of local institutions, experience in exile,
socio-economic attributes,agricultural potential and
ethnic affiliations. Various approaches were used to
conceptualize the phenomenon of self-help movement the
community development, centre-periphery and the class
hypothesis approaches. While the principal argument in
these approaches centred around the nature of Harambee,
the former approach argued that traditional :self-help
was a precursor to Harambee, whereas the latter two
approaches disassociated harambee from its traditional
context and disputed that it was an ad hoc response to the
needs of the community.
The data for this study has been collected from
Magwi People's Rural Council Area of Torit District
in Eastern Equatoria Province of the Sudan. A total
sample of 135 respondents were picked through random
sample technique from madi, and Acholi sections of the
area for the interview. They were subsequently interviewed
using a questionnaire. Additional data was collected from
documents and observation.
Evidence from this study shows a tremendous indigenous
effort and institutional capacity for project execution
as empirically shown by the local kampone work-group institutions.
There is a positive indication also of fusion between traditional
work-groups and the politico-administrative units.
Participation has thus been considerably boosted by such
factors as the new organisational techniques embodied in
rural-based institutional unit s, Influence on participation
was found to be brought by such factors as places of
exile, occupation, marital status and to some extent. sex.
Lack of vital complementary inputs and overarching ideology
on self-help movement were recognized as implicit in the
watering down of enthusiasm and participation in projects.
We stressed that in order to promote a significant
shift toward self-help activities a number of complementary
measures need to be taken:inputs such as cement, iron sheets,
nails, timber and others that cannot be obtained locally
should be made available by the government to enable local
communities to gain confidence and improve their implementing
capacity. This being the case it becomes necessary that for
the momentum to be kept, the principles of Harambee by
incorporated into the mainstream of the strategies formulated
at national level for achieving effective changes in the
rural areas | en |
