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GREATER PIBOR ADMINISTRATIVE AREA (GPAA), PIBOR COUNTY: THE BACK TO LEARNING PROGRAM

RAPID ASSESSMENT MISSION

(Dates: Thursday February 5th To Thursday February 12th 2015)

Some of the demobilized child soldiers in Pibor County; the prime target of the Back to Learning Program

Mission Report Compiled By:

Johnson K. NDICHU,

Programs Coordinator,

Nile Hope.

Tel. +211 920010325/ +211 977481400/ +211 927117916

Email: jndichu@nilehope.org / gbpmi2005@yahoo.com

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Prologue ollowing the launch of the Back to Learning (BTL) Program and some maiden meetings with UNICEF,

Education Sector, Nile Hope Team, spearheaded by the Programs Coordinator, launched a Rapid

Assessment Mission in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), specifically Pibor and Gumuruk

Counties from Thursday February 5th To Thursday February 12th 2015.

The following individuals comprised the Mission Team:

i) Johnson K. Ndichu (Programs Coordinator)

ii) Ajang A. Awai (Jonglei State Coordinator)

iii) Baba Sebit Baba (GPAA Field Coordinator)

iv) Lazarus Kiir (Literacy and Peace-Building Project Manager);

v) Ujum Ter (Education Program Assistant)

The overarching objective of the Mission was to find out the general status of the various sectors

(Education, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Protection, Food Security and Livelihoods) especially in Pibor

County. Specifically, the Team sought to familiarize and find out the post-conflict status of education in

Pibor County in terms of infrastructure, teacher availability and compensation, state of school supplies

and furniture, state of School WASH, specific information from the demobilized soldiers as well as the

structure of the GPAA Education Department and availability of education data.

We also got to get a glimpse of who is doing what in GPAA and mainly Pibor County, that has seen

multiple agencies (INGOs and NGOs) migrate to the area for myriad responses

To a very large extent, the Mission can be rated as a success story. This is based on the number of

officials and agencies met with (including the 2 commissioners of Pibor and Gumuruk, Education

Director of Pibor County, RRC Officials, Minister of Health of the GPAA, UNICEF…among others) the

information accessed and found out, and more importantly, the useful insights we obtained and

observed from the local community (including from the demobilized soldiers), now slowly trooping back

after a period of calm in the area.

The good thing is that Nile Hope Team was complimented in the Mission, though this was not, per se, a

joint Mission, by staff from BRAC and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The respective

Reports will be cross-shared as a matter of good coordination practice.

It is hoped this report is an important instrument in providing useful program intelligence and insights into, and helping to, among others, inform the Back to Learning (BtL) Program in Pibor as well as other future interventions constructed for GPAA and Pibor County in particular.

Nile Hope, through the office of Programs Coordinator, wishes to thank all those who contributed - one way or the other - to make the Mission a success!

Regards,

Johnson K. NDICHU. Programs Coordinator

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The Rapid Schools Mapping Exercise The following schools were physically visited and the table below provides a summary of the general status of the schools:

1. Pibor Boys Primary School (also hosting Nile Hope-led ALP Centre) 2. Pibor Girls Primary School 3. Langachot Primary school 4. Kodako Primary School 5. School next to Kodako Primary School constructed by previous Pibor County Commissioner

(name not given as yet) 6. Pibor (Presbyterian Church) – hosting Nile Hope-led ALP Centre 7. X2 Muwaran Primary Schools in Kayi Payam across the river

These dilapidated classrooms at Kodako Primary School, ostensibly built by Plan International, represent the state of affairs of some of the educational infrastructure in Pibor County and illustrate the magnitude of the task ahead

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Summary School Status

No. Name of the School School Structure Access to Water WASH Facilities (esp. latrines)

School Occupied: Yes/No

01 Pibor Boys Primary School Temporary Yes (x 2 boreholes, 1 not functional)

Latrines found to be in poor state

No

02 Pibor Girls Primary School Temporary Yes Latrines found to be in poor state; shared between Pibor Boys and Pibor Girls Primary schools

Yes, by the military/armed forces; also are now using school furniture

03. Langachot Primary School 1 section of 5 classrooms falling apart; 1 block permanent

No No latrines No one found at the school

04 School next to Kodako Primary School, yet to allotted a name

Permanent Yes Yes, newly-built latrines Yes, by armed forces

05 Kodako Primary School Permanent Yes Latrines have collapsed; not in usable condition

Yes, by armed forces

06 Pibor (Presbyterian Church) – formerly hosting Nile Hope-led ALP Centre

Semi-permanent Yes Yes, presence of latrines No

07 X2 Muwaran Primary Schools in Kayi Payam across the river

Permanent Yes No latrines Occupied by returning residents

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Methodology Deployed During the Rapid Assessment Mission

Interviews with key informants/opinion leaders

-GPAA/Pibor County Leadership, including the Commissioners of Pibor and Gumuruk

-RRC Officials

-Pibor County Education Director

-Discourse with local actors (INGOs/NGOs, the church…)

-Discourse with the local community

-Discourse with UNICEF both in Juba and in Pibor

Observation (e.g. in regard to the status of school infrastructure and WASH in schools)

Case Study profiling (former child soldier, case filed as an annex)

Reference to available Mission Assessment Reports1

The Programs Coordinator and the Team are pictured here in Pibor with one of their ‘heros’, a former child soldier, who’s eager to go back to school; to be precise grade 5 (please see Case Study as annex)

1 Notably, Early Recovery Fact Finding Missions to Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) Pochalla (May 28-29), Pibor (June 3-4) and Boma (July 15-16) Mission Report. Our Mission to Pibor can confirm the observation made by the aforementioned report with regard to education in the area (as at the time of the visit), namely: Most of (the) primary schools are non-operational and rely on volunteers …… The local population didn’t feel safe enough until recently to do the farming and the communities are currently suffering from food insecurity. We found the local community heavily dependent on game meat.

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Key Findings & Recommendations

General School Infrastructure

School buildings – A good number of schools, such as Kodako Primary School (and the adjacent

one right opposite and yet to be given a name), have relatively good school buildings and those that are

semi-permanent like Pibor Boys and Girls primary schools require some good measure of repair. Some

structures like those found at the Langachot Primary School, which has one phase in form of a

permanent structure, has the other semi-permanent structures falling apart and require immediate

reinstatement. With the onset of the Back to Learning (BtL) Program, it is paramount that partners put

emphasis on restoring the school buildings prior to the onset of the rains. Partners will also identify

locations where new transitional learning structures will be set up for the purpose of receiving and

admitting out-of-school children who are now being demobilized from war activities.

School furniture – Quite some good amount of furniture (metallic desks) especially for the Pibor Boys

and Pibor Girls Primary Schools was found littered in the school compounds and in use by the soldiers

albeit it requires repair. Reliable sources indicated to us that more was actually in the community and a

robust awareness campaign /advocacy is needed to help bring back the furniture to schools and have it

repaired to improve the learning environment.

General School WASH – Nearly all schools were found to have some access to clean drinking water

(except Langachot Primary School) but the areas around the water points were found to be filthy and

requiring urgent attention in ensuring proper sanitary environments. Information received indicated

that there were no active Water Management Committees; therefore, these require to be established,

trained and their roles properly defined and clarified.

School Governance – Information obtained from Pibor pointed to inexistence of, or indolence of school

governance structures like the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs)/School Management Committees

(SMCs). It is pertinent again that these structures be properly established, the members become trained

and their roles properly defined and clarified. Nile Hope shall be actively involved in PTA trainings via the

Back to Learning Program. Education data was found to be non-existent and was said to have been lost

during the series of conflict in Greater Pibor. In Gumuruk, the Commissioner indicated they have in place

a County Education Plan and he promised to share a copy.

School Occupation – At least 4 schools in Pibor were found to be occupied by armed forces and

returning residents; armed forces were found to occupy Pibor Girls Primary School, Kodako Primary

School and the school right opposite Kodako and yet to be allotted a name. Returning residents were

found to occupy the 2 schools across the river, that is, Muwaran Primary Schools in Kayi Payam.

Availability and Remuneration of Teachers – After some protracted conflict in Greater Pibor area, most

teachers left the area and have now only started trickling in following a period of relative calm in

Greater Pibor. Most of the teachers we talked to indicated they were actually on government payoll

albeit they had not received their remuneration for a period of time. Up to 26 of them were receiving

training at the time of the mission facilitated by Windle Trust. Partners may have to engage more

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volunteer teachers and actually have them trained to be able to cope with the new caseload of

demobilized children and youth.

School /Scholastic Supplies – The good news is that both the supplies for primary schools and the

Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) have now been prepositioned in Pibor and partners will be tasked

to distribute to the various schools based on available caseload.

Demobilized child soldiers/youth – This exercise was in high gear during our entire stay in Pibor and,

and as shown on the front/cover page of this report, there’s adequate caseload of children and youth

that need to be taken back to learning through the efforts of Nile Hope and partners. In particular, life

skills and psychosocial support will be pertinent to ensure emotional recovery and adjustment of the

former child soldiers. A well coordinated multi-sectoral response will be necessary for holistic response.

PICTORIAL/GALLERY

If the Programs Coordinator were a compassionate examiner, he would score the general WASH situation (especially the ‘Sanitation and Hygiene subject’ in Pibor County a ‘D-.’ This dilapidate latrine at the Kodako Primary school represents the general sanitation in schools in Pibor County and raises serious safety and protection concerns for children

Sunday Service, 8th February, 2015: Pibor County – “THOU SHALL WORK TOGETHER THROUGH THE BACK TO LEARNING PROGRAM AND ENSURE CHILDREN AND YOUTH REJOIN SCHOOL IN THE GPAA.” This is the message I preached to the Pibor Congregation on Sunday, 8th February, at the Presbyterian Church, Pibor County

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Latrines such as these ones found at the Kodako Primary School2 in Pibor represent a safety and health hazard among children and need to be immediately de-commissioned and new ones put up

The Programs Coordinator, who was the Chief of the Rapid Assessment Mission, incidentally, also became the Chef of the Mission

2 This is one of the schools that have been found to be occupied by soldiers in Pibor County

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This picture represents a dilapidated structure at the Kodako Primary school and tells it all about the state of some of the school infrastructure in Pibor County, also pointing to the magnitude of the task ahead!

Nile Hope has also managed to map the general WASH situation in schools; on this picture, Nile Hope’s Ajang Awai is pictured with Pibor County’s Hand Pump Mechanic adjacent to Pibor Girls Primary School and holding one of the boreholes now not functioning. Sanitation and hygiene around the boreholes have been found to be wanting and requiring immediate attention

Langanyot Primary School, reportedly established by Plan International, has literally collapsed and requires urgent rehabilitation as schools will reopen soon and child soldiers continue to be demobilized

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Hygiene and sanitation around water points in Pibor has been found to be poor and requiring immediate attention to prevent water contamination; information received is such that Village Water Committees are not existing to oversee the operations of the water boreholes

School furniture, as seen here at Pibor Boys Primary School, has been found to have been vandalized and scattered especially around areas occupied by the soldiers; there’s need for a robust and sustained awareness campaign to have the furniture back to school and then have it repaired

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Some of the demobilized child soldiers in Pibor County; the prime target of the Back to Learning Program

Nile Hope’s Programs Coordinator walks towards an incomplete TLS at Pibor Boys Primary School; with the rains anticipated a few months from now, such structures need to be completed and readied for learning; otherwise, they will just crumble down!

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The Case for Gumuruk

Nile Hope Team was honoured to meet with H.E. The Commissioner of Gumuruk3 together with

the Senior Education Inspector, Mr. Sande John Konyi, and pertinent information was shared

during the meeting.

Geography: - Gumuruk was described as the HQ of Kubal County and has 5 payams, namely:

Gumuruk Payam (hosts the County HQ);

Vulvet Payam;

Manyabor Payam;

Lothila Payam;

Lemeliangole Payam.

The County is new and structures are nascent and in process of being formalized.

The commissioner estimated the County population - prior to the onset of the present conflict - at

between 40,000 – 50,000.

Livelihoods – Mainly cattle-keeping with some farming

Key needs identified during the meeting/mission (perhaps in order of priority):- Water,

food and shelter. There was loud emphasis on the serious unavailability of water in the

area; this was corroborated by site visits as no borehole/water point was found during the

visit; the few ones available were said to all broken down. The Commissioner explained

that the residents were using contaminated raw water from the river that was in the edge

of drying up. He also explained that the County had no budget for borehole drilling. The

Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) was said to be helping with water filtering, but there was

apprehension the river could dry up soon.

Active agencies in the area were said to include: Zoa (livelihoods), Episcopal Church

(education and health), CAD (education and child protection), and Kizito (but said not to

be active since 2014, but were supporting agriculture before)

Education – The following schools exist and most of them were visited during the

mission:

i) Gumuruk Primary school – said to be the oldest, now not active; no trained

teachers, no proper classrooms, no water, school using Arabic pattern.

Meanwhile, the County has tried to recruit 16 ex-secondary school leavers,

but the problem is their incentives. The school is presently occupied by the

army and has been transferred to Gumuruk Nursery and Primary

School/church compound and is running in dilapidated tents. The

Commissioner explained there were plans to move out the soldiers as soon

some shelter material is provided to them. The school has no latrines and no

access to water; the classrooms need to be rehabilitated;

ii) Clement Katinya4 (CK) Nursery and Primary School – This was started by

the Gumuruk County Government in October 2014, many children were

mobilized especially for lower levels, including nursery. During 2015, they

will start class 1 and the nursery section will continue. Nonetheless, there are

3 The Commissioner clarified that Gumuruk is actually the HQ of Kubal County 4 Named after the academic, Clement Katinya, said to be the first man from Gumuruk to finish university education.

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no structures and the nursery happens under tree, but the compound has fence

made of local material. There is no access to clean drinking water and no

latrine facilities. There is also no school furniture both for teachers and

children as there are no school supplies. The school has 5 (untrained, S4)

teachers, all males who have not been paid to date. NCA provided some 2

tents in 2014; the Government has plans to expand the school. UNICEF has

promised to support as well with a big tent and school supplies;

iii) St Peter Primary School – This is run by the Episcopal Church and runs from

Grade 1 to 5;

iv) The Gumuruk County Government has plans to establish Gumuruk Girls

Primary School to encourage girl-child education as enrolment of girls was

described as ‘very poor because of culture.’

v) The County Government has plans to establish 2-3 primary schools in each

payam. For some of the schools to be established, the ground has been

cleared, but there some key issues including:

Availability of teachers; there were initial thoughts by the

Commissioner to hire trained teachers from East Africa or

Eastern Equatoria but payment may be a daunting. The

County has formal Education Plan that can be shared. The

County has plans to start a Vocational Training Centre.

Nile Hope may extend the ALP Program to Gumuruk

subject to funding. Episcopal church were running an adult

education program and CAD is implementing the Back to

Learning Program. The commissioner confirmed that

learners are available except there were some limiting

factors to access and enrolment;

PTA structures are weak and require support and

strengthening;

Some schools happen under trees, there are no facilities; the

option is normally to attach them to churches in the

respective payams, sometimes they use existing church

facilities;

Schools may not open on time due to water shortage; may

be in May when water may become available;

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Annex 1

The Back to Learning Program, Pibor County, Greater Pibor Administrative

Area (GPAA)

THE HERO: 15-Year Old James Gain, Former Child Soldier since 2012

AMES Gain is a 15 year-old boy who was born in Boma County, but now – since leaving the armed

forces – stays with a relative in Pibor County.

James, who now wants to go back to school and join grade 5, aspires to become a Pastor. He studied

up to grade four at the Faith Learning Centre in Boma and thereafter became (forcibly) recruited

as a child soldier in 2012 and stayed on up and until he left in April 2014.

He describes her parents as ‘farmers’ who are currently

doing some farming, also for sale, in Boma growing “maize,

sorghum and groundnuts,” and “have no cows.”

James has 8 other siblings; 4 other brothers, 1 in school and

3 “just at home.” He also has 4 sisters, 1 married and 3 in

school (grades 4, 6 and 7 respectively) and stays with the

married sister in Pibor County/Town.

James describes the life as a child soldier as “difficult and

without food.”

Instructively, James wants to join one of his brothers,

currently working in Uganda as a ‘writer’ and continue with

the school there “as soon as possible” because, as he puts it,

“education in Pibor is poor (and) there are no teachers.”

Obviously, he’s unaware of the Government’s and partners’

concerted efforts to put education in Pibor back as a

prominent and urgent agenda, including via the Back to

Program Program.

Nile Hope’s Programs Coordinator and Jonglei State Coordinator are seen pictured here with James at the newly-built school (name to be given yet) opposite and adjacent to Kodako Primary School in Pibor

James represents many more children in Pibor, and across South Sudan in general, with about the

same story and who need to, immediately, benefit from the Back to Learning Program. As the

Programs Coordinator put it during the church service at the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS)

in Pibor County/Town, this (that is, school) is the rightful place for James and his fellow former

child soldiers!

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Annex 2

Counties Coordinates:

1. Pibor County:

Latitude: N 06° 48` 12.68"

Longitude: E 033° 07` 53.33"

Altitude: 455.9m

2. Gumuruk County???

Latitude: N 06° 38` 6.40"

Longitude: E 03° 54` 43.21"

Altitude: 473.3m

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Annex 3: Mailing List Generated During the Mission

No. Name of Official Sex:

Male/Female

Designation Contacts: Tel. No./s & Email

1. Kiri James Male Senior Inspector, MOEST/AES Tel. 0926512409/ Email: kiri_james@ymail.com

2. Akot M. Adikir Male H.E. The County Commissioner,

Pibor

Tel. 0923483172/ +8821655543794

3. Hon. James Chacha Konyi Male Administrator of Health, GPAA Tel. No. 0928159820/ Email: piborchd@yahoo.com

4. Hon. Commissioner,

Gumuruk County

Male H.E. The County Commissioner,

Pibor

Tel. No. +8821655543794

5. Mr. Sande John Konyi Male Senior Education Inspector,

Gumuruk

Tel. No.

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Annex 4: ACTORS’ PROFILE / PIBOR COUNTY

No. Agency Name Sector/s of Intervention

01 International Aid Services (IAS)

02 Save the Children

03 MSF Nutrition and Health

04 Intersos Education

05 Windle Trust Education/Teacher Training

06 Community Aid for Development (CAD) Education/protection

07 Nile Hope Education/protection

08 Humane Development Council (HDC) Protection/vulnerable persons shelter

09 SALT Food security and livelihoods (+ peace-building)

10 UNIDO (UN) Food security and livelihoods

11 UNICEF WASH, Education