Photo Credit: Ala Kheir

Dear partners and colleagues,

The beginning of the year is an opportunity to take stock and look ahead. Reviewing 2014, we are proud to share with you some of our key achievements in this Digest, which were presented at the UNDP Annual Review with government, civil society and international partners. The month of Ramadan is upon us. Ramadan gives us all the opportunity to reflect, share experiences and show solidarity. With all the challenges we face in everyday life, it is often difficult to take a step back and reflect on the bigger ideas and hopes for the future that we all share. We are therefore very pleased to share with you a film that we have been working on for the past year, called “We Are All ”. This film showcases the richness of Sudan in its diversity, the shared sentiments and hopes for a more united future, working together as one. It has been filmed across the country, with no script and the sole aim of capturing people’s perceptions of their identity and their country. We really hope you enjoy it and that you will share it widely with your friends, family and partners to let a rather different more reflective image of Sudan take hold –an image very different from that which we so often see in the news. Also in this Digest we share with you our experience from celebrating peace week in West Kordofan, designing a new gamified platform for dialogue: Raik Shino, reflections from prominent Sudanese professionals on issues of gender, environment and humanitarian action as well as our own reflections on technology for peacebuilding and big data.

We wish you and your families a blessed and peaceful month of Ramadan and joyful Eid celebrations! Best wishes from Your UNDP Sudan Country Office Team

News

UNDP Sudan making strides in innovation: Our Sudan CO has recently piloted a number of innovative solutions to address development challenges in Sudan using a human centered design approach.

In April, our Sudan Country Office was the winner of the tech for citizen engagement challenge Raik Shino which was held at one of largest global gatherings of practitioners working in the area of technology for peace: The Build Peace Conference, co-hosted by UNDP-ACT Cyprus, in Nicosia on 25-26th April. For more information on our Raik Shino initiative visit: ow.ly/OnfYi.

In May we received the good news that we’ve received another grant from the Global Innovation Facility as participants in a cross-regional big data pilot. Within the pilot, six country offices will work with our innovation teams in Amman and Istanbul, UN Global Pulse and UN Volunteers to test the feasibility of using various new sources of data for development initiatives ranging from disaster risk management and socio economic monitoring to vulnerability analysis. You can read more about our thoughts on big data in our blog referenced below.

We are also proud to announce that the Sudan UNCT proposal on real-time indicator reporting system has won a $75,000 grant as a part of the UNDAF Design Innovation Facility. The proposal was jointly drafted by Coordination Support Office (CSO) and UNDP’s Information Management Unit. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you as we continue our innovation work.

Launch of the Community Security and Stabilization Programme: Have a look at our introductory video for our new C2SP initiative. With the generous support of Japan, C2SP aims to create stability, resilience and social cohesion in the southern . Therefore, we work with communities at risk where we support the creation of alternative livelihood opportunities for those most vulnerable to being drawn into the larger conflict in the region. Our focus on economic recovery and sustainable livelihoods is coupled with issues of small arms control, peacebuilding, and identifying opportunities for cross-border collaboration.

Building Capacities: Social Innovation Camp in Amman: Just this week, we participated in the Regional Social Innovation Camp held on June 13-15 on ‘Youth as Agents of Social Change’. The youth camp provided an excellent opportunity for encouraging youth civic engagement in their countries and the region as a whole. You can also follow the youth camp hashtag for more update: #inno4ahdr

Building Capacities: Sudan Human Rights Commission training on complaint procedures: The Sudan National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with UNDP organized on June 14-16 a training on complaint procedures and the mandate of the National Human Rights Institution in Human Rights Protection. The training reviewed the current technicalities pertaining to complaint procedures and explored the possibility of developing a fully-fledged, automated complaint system which is expected- once completed- to revolutionize the way complaints are received and managed in Sudan. Read more about the training here.

Building Capacities : National Integrated System of Monitoring and Evaluation for Foreign Development Aid Workshop

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in collaboration with the Development Programme organized a three day workshop June 14-16 with the aim of supporting the development of national capacities in the field of monitoring and evaluating foreign aid to Sudan.

The workshop focused on strengthening an integrated system for the evaluation and follow up on foreign aid projects within the Ministry of Finance and in the all Development Planning Units in different states.

The workshop further helped create a correlation between the different development strategies in the states, and in building measurable indicators within government agencies.

Policy Dialogue & Research

UNDP Innovation Facility Annual Review : In 2014, UNDP launched the Innovation Facility to support innovation in addressing development challenges across the globe. The Innovation Facility was made possible with the generous contribution of the Government of Denmark and co- investments from UNDP’s core resources. This review lays out why innovation is becoming increasingly important in international development and for UNDP. It describes UNDP’s approach to innovation as well as brief descriptions of the initiatives funded by the Innovation Facility in 2014.

Peace by Peace: Strengthening National Capacities for Peace in Sudan:

This article by Margunn Indreboe Alshaik & Yumiko Shinya provides deep insight into the work of the Joint Conflict Reduction Programme (JCRP) in introducing modern conflict resolution methods as complementary methods to customary practices through joint design and process accompaniment of local peace processes in the three areas of North Kordofan, Blue Nile and .

UNDP Sudan blog – Our Perspective – We have several blogs this month, the first is by Inaam Salih who attended this year’s Build Peace conference , and shares her thoughts on how technology in used to establishing alternative infrastructures for peace in all communities, specifically vulnerable ones. The approaches to peace that were shared during the conference unpacked and discussed centred on empowerment, behavioral change and impact. The Peace Conference was hosted by UNDP Cyprus and took place in the world’s last divided capital city Nicosia-Cyprus.

The second blog is by our Visiting Merkator Fellow Maximilian Stern entitled: Beyond Big Data. Stern pushes forward the argument that the biggest innovation may not lie in data capturing and processing – but in our new ability to make the data available to a broader audience by presenting the results of the analysis in appealing ways.

The third blog is by Caleb Njoroge Gichuhi the Communications Officer at The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA). Caleb visited Khartoum as a Keynote speaker of the UNDP Peace Ambassadors Forum. In his blog post, he speaks about his worries to travel to Sudan for the first time, the warm welcome he received in this beautiful country and his confidence in the Peace Ambassadors’ efforts to resolve conflict.

Faces from Sudan – Over the course of 2015, we caught up with a number of Sudanese experts and entrepreneurs whose work impacted Sudan’s efforts to reach the emerging sustainable development goals in different fields, climate change, Women empowerment and humanitarian relief.

Ismail Elgizouli: Is the first Sudanese national to be elected as head of the most important global scientific body on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),Mr. Ismail A.R. Elgizouli.

Balgis Badri: The prominent political and advocate for women issue was also interviewed by Faces from Sudan

Mustafa Hassan: Mustafa Hassan was recently announced by the Times Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people around the world.

Stories from the Field

The Man of Peace: Individuals have helped in bring about peace and reconciliation in West Kordufan by halting the killing of thousands when a dispute erupted between two tribes at the locality of Meriam in West Kordufan. In order to maintain peace in the region, Hamdoun Rahmatallah has refused to retaliate the killing of his five sons and chose to pardon the perpetrators and avoid the spark of war between two large tribes.

When the Future is Sweet as Honey: Meet Abdul-Aziz Mohammed our honey producer from Bindisi, Central who along with his family was forced to flee from the devastating war and seek refuge in an IDP camp in Mukjar. When the violence relatively subsided, Abdul-Aziz returned to his village hoping to revitalize his earlier farming and beekeeping business. Thanks to support received from the NGO Triangle Génération Humanitaire, in collaboration with UNDP on ways to improve the quality of the honey as well as promote of market access, he was able to increase sales and profit up to 300% compared with previous years.

UNDP Sudan Gama'a Avenue,House 7,Block 5, P.O. Box 913 Khartoum - Sudan Phone: (+249) 1 87120000

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