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Enhancing Social Stabilization and Cohesion through Supporting Agro Value Chain

Development Project in South Sudan

(Project Number 180209)

PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT

For the Period from April to September 2019

Project Executed by:

UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION

Project Funded by:

THE GOVERNMENT of JAPAN

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Project Details

Project number 180209

Project title Enhancing Social Stabilization and Cohesion through

Supporting Agro Value Chain Development Project in

South Sudan

Government Cooperating

Agency

Ministry of Trade Industry and East Africa Community

Affairs

Government Cooperating

Agency

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

Ministry of Health

South Sudan National Bureau of Standards

South Sudan Drug and Food Control Authority

National Public Health Laboratory

Executing Agency United Nations Industrial Development Organization

Donor Government of Japan

Donor Funds US$ 712,500

Project Starting Date April 2019

Duration and expected completion date

12 months (March 31, 2019)

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Table of Contents

Project Details ............................................................................................................................ 2

List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. 4

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. 4

Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 5

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 6

1.1 Project Context ............................................................................................................ 6

1.2 Current Status of IDPs ................................................................................................. 7

1.3 Country Social and Economic Profile .......................................................................... 8

1.4 Overview of Agriculture and Agro-processing Sector in South Sudan........................ 9

1.5 Groundnuts and Sesame Sub-Sectors in South Sudan .............................................. 10

1.6 Commodity Price ....................................................................................................... 12

2. Project Inception .............................................................................................................. 13

2.1 Identification of Project Beneficiaries ....................................................................... 13

2.2 Identification of Implementing Partners ................................................................... 14

2.3 Establishment of a Project Steering Committee (PSC) ............................................. 17

3. Project Strategy .................................................................................................................... 18

3.1 Output 1: Operationalize the Laboratories at SSNBS and DFCA ............................... 18

3.2 Output 2: Provide Income IDPs and Host community with an Income Generating

Opportunity .......................................................................................................................... 18

4. Project Implementation.................................................................................................... 19

4.1 Output 1: Basic facilities for agro-processing established ........................................ 19

4.2 Output 2: IDPs and host communities trained in agro-processing and

entrepreneurship development skills .................................................................................. 25

5. Challenges experienced during Implementation of the Project ...................................... 32

6. Donor and Project Visibility .............................................................................................. 33

7. Onward Project Implementation for October 2019 to March 2020 ................................ 33

Annexes .................................................................................................................................... 35

Annex 1: Minutes of the First Project Steering Committee (PSC) held on 4 July 2019 ........... 35

Annex 2 Training content for food safety and hygiene for officials of the Government of

South Sudan ............................................................................................................................. 39

Annex 3 Training content for food safety and hygiene for IDPs and host community

members .................................................................................................................................. 40

Annex 4: Article regarding the project activities in Don Bosco and the visit of the

Ambassador of Japan to South Sudan (14 September 2019) .................................................. 41

Annex 5 Status of progress on the project implementation ................................................... 42

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List of Tables

Table 1 Major IDPs concentrated counties as of June 2019 ...................................................... 8

Table 2 Summary economic status of South Sudan- 2017 ........................................................ 9

Table 3 Summary of commodity prices in South Sudan as of May 2019 ................................ 12

Table 4 Recommendations for SSNBS and DFCA ..................................................................... 23

Table 5 Summary of feedback on the training of food hygiene and safety ............................ 24

Table 6 Summary of feedback from the TOTs in the EDP training .......................................... 28

Table 7 Summary of feedback from the TOTs in the VSLA training ........................................ 30

List of Figures

Figure 1 Estimated IDPs per county as of March 2019 .............................................................. 7

Figure 2 Synopsis of sesame sector in South Sudan ................................................................ 10

Figure 3 Synopsis of groundnut sector in South Sudan ........................................................... 10

Figure 4 Value chain map for sesame in Juba, South Sudan ................................................... 11

Figure 5 Value chain map for groundnuts in Juba, South Sudan ............................................. 11

Figure 6 A sample of edible G/nut and Sesame oil currently in Juba Market- from UNIDO

survey ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 7 Composition of IDPs and HC members from the mobilized 6 groups as of September

2019 (Unit; persons) ................................................................................................................ 14

Figure 8 Some of equipment at SSNBS .................................................................................... 15

Figure 9 H.E Ambassador Mr. Seiji Okada witnessing the signing of MoU on 10 September

2019 ......................................................................................................................................... 16

Figure 10 H.E Ambassador Mr. Seiji Okada after closing the Food Safety and Hygiene

seminar for project beneficiaries of Mazerello Women Promotion Centre (MaWoC) ........... 17

Figure 11 Member of the Project Steering Committee after its Launch on 04th July 2019 ... 17

Figure 12 Project Business Strategy for Project Implementation ........................................... 19

Figure 13 Project Intervention for Output 2 ............................................................................ 19

Figure 14 Site-pictures for pre-construction at MaWoc on 13 Sept 2019 .............................. 20

Figure 15 Staff of DFCA and SSNBS at a 1 day workshop on Food Safety and Hygiene .......... 21

Figure 16 Some of equipment at SSNBS yet to be operationalized ........................................ 22

Figure 17 Beneficiaries at a session of food safety and hygiene ............................................. 26

Figure 18 A group member leading fellow beneficiaries in EDP training ................................ 27

Figure 19 A ToT carrying out an EDP training to group members ........................................... 27

Figure 20 A sample of savings kit to be provided to the 7 groups .......................................... 30

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Abbreviations

Agro Processing Training Centre APTC

Drug and Food Control Authority DFCA

Entrepreneurship Development Programme EDP

Government of Japan GoJ

Government of South Sudan GoSS

Host community HC

Internally Displaced Persons IDPs

International Organization for Migration IOM

Mazerello Women Promotion Centre MaWoC

Ministry of Trade, Industry and East Africa Community Affairs MTI &EAC

National Project Coordinator NPC

National Project Officer NPO

Project Steering Committee PSC

South Sudan National Bureau of Standards SSNBS

Technical Project Adviser TPA

United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR

United Nations Industrial Organization UNIDO

Village Savings and Loan Association VSLA

World Food Program WFP

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1. Introduction

1.1 Project Context

The project’s objective is to enhance self-reliance and resilience of IDPs and host communities

and to contribute to social stabilization and cohesion. It received funding of USD 712,500 from

the Government of Japan in March 2019, and effectively started implementation on 01st April

2019. The project focuses to work with at least 200 IDPs and their host community in Juba-

South Sudan, aiming to implement two outputs, i.e.

(i) Basic facilities for agro-processing established.

(ii) IDPs and host communities trained in agro processing and entrepreneurship

development skills.

This project has been established on the background of post conflict era of two civil conflicts

in South Sudan, i.e. December 2013 and July 2016, that have almost wiped out all gains the

country had built from its independence of July 2011. These two conflicts have led to at least

1.9 million South Sudanese to become Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and around 2.3

million South Sudanese to flee to neighboring countries, as reported by UNHCR in June 2019.

The country still remains vulnerable to instability and hence limiting opportunities for

investment. The general sentiments inside and outside South Sudan is “A wait and see

altitude”, of the outcome of the 12 November 2019, when South Sudan is expected to form

a new cabinet for the transitional government. This cabinet will include both the opposition

and current government, and will be formed on the back of some preconditions like

The number of states to be used in South Sudan and

To gazette and finance military cantonment prior to a unified army.

Due to this conflict, the country’s ability to produce and mobilize investments has been

depleted. This has affected around seven million people being pushed into food insecurity

with high levels of unemployment. The country is experiencing increased level of

unproductiveness in the agricultural sector, on which almost 90% of the population depend.

The situation is further negated by low agricultural productivity combined with low

infrastructure which could support increasing access to market and inclusive finance.

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1.2 Current Status of IDPs

According to the Data Collection for Mobility Tracking Round 5, which was carried out by IOM in

March 2019 to identify possible changes in displacement and return dynamics in South Sudan, Juba

in Central Equatorial is one of the regions where hosts the highest number of IDPs (at 6% to

the country’s IDP population).

Figure 1 Estimated IDPs per county as of March 2019

Source: IOM

Overall, one-third of IDPs lives across the 94 displacement sites identified by IOM

Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) in Round 5, and the other two-thirds are living in host

community settings. The proportion of IDPs living in displacement sites was especially high in

Unity State and Central Equatoria (both hosting large UN Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites)

with 53% each.

The table below also describes the estimated IDPs in Juba; i.e. 81,504, behind Rubkona and

Awerial in Unity and Lakes States respectively.

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Table 1 Major IDPs concentrated counties as of June 2019

State name County name Estimated # of IDPs (Individual)

% of IDPs in Total

Unity Rubkona 127,437 9%

Lakes Awerial 110,680 8%

Central Equatorial Juba 81,504 6%

Western Bahr El Ghazal Wau 64,461 5%

Upper Nile Luakpiny (Nasir) 61,459 4%

Warrap Tonj North 59,082 4%

Western Bahr El Ghazal Jur River 58,877 4%

Unity Pariang (Ruweng) 35,674 3%

Jonglei Fangak 34,651 2%

Lakes Yirol East 33,305 2%

Upper Nile Malakal 32,122 2%

Others 720,937 51%

Total 1,420,189 100%

Source: IOM

1.3 Country Social and Economic Profile

1.3.1 Poverty and national economic situation

There is still a large number of gender exclusiveness with respect to education and food

insecurity that is almost at the same level. From the UNIDO brief profile of the beneficiaries

done in September 2019 during training, at least 65% of the girls drop out of school due to

preference to boys’ education to the girl’s with few resources. The survey also reflected a

heavy existence of forced marriage and raping of girls at 55% and 30% respectively, which

continually disadvantages the girl child in South Sudan.

It was also reflected from the respondents that food security and a lack of adequate capital

as key needs amongst beneficiaries estimated at 60%.

1.3.2 Economic development status of South Sudan

South Sudan’s economy has been in the decline since 2013 civil war. The country’s GDP as

reported by the World Bank in 2017 was USD2.9 billion (2017) from 17.27billion (2010). It has

been going through negative growth at 13.8% in 2017 and having almost 82% of the

population under poverty.

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Table 2 Summary economic status of South Sudan- 2017

Source: World Bank (2017)

The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS), signed

by the government, the opposition and civil society on September 12, 2018 in Addis Ababa is

seen as a fresh opportunity for South Sudanese to build durable peace in the country. The oil

production had declined to 120,000 barrels per day after the conflict from levels of 350,000

barrels prior to the recent civil war. This has somehow increased to 245,000 by mid-2019 (as

reported by East Africa newspaper 12-18 Oct’19), which is aligned to the relative fragile peace

the country is experiencing. It is estimated that 90% of the Government of South Sudan

(GoSS) revenue is provided by oil, and thus any dent in its production or market will negatively

impact its revenue bag. This also gives the validity for the GoSS to increase efforts of

diversifying its economy to sectors like agricultural and manufacturing.

It is anticipated that if peace holds after a successful formation of a transition government in

November 2019, South Sudan is likely to see a big increase of investment in humanitarian and

development activities especially in agricultural and manufacturing. These could be exploited

by some of the initiatives that UNIDO has started.

1.4 Overview of Agriculture and Agro-processing Sector in South Sudan

Agriculture is the backbone of the economy of South Sudan. The agricultural industry has

significant potential and around 90% of South Sudan's land is arable, with about 50%

considered prime agricultural land and not more than 4% of it is fully utilized under active

agricultural. The sector host almost 90% of the households and 66% employment (as per 2017

World Bank report). It is evident that about 80% of the population lives in rural areas

depending on agriculture, forestry and fisheries as a primary source of livelihood for a

majority of the households. Much of the rural sector activity is currently focused on low-input

low-output subsistence agriculture instead of production for markets. It is constrained by

lack of professionalized agro based skills, low access of improved seed and other input, access

to market infrastructure and market information, low application of modern technologies in

post-harvest/ processing and a low ability to access finance.

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There is little evidence of agro processing in South Sudan, which is mainly around donor

related support for organized farmer groups/cooperatives in regions like Gbduwe- Yambio

and Kajo Keji.

1.5 Groundnuts and Sesame Sub-Sectors in South Sudan

The following figures describe the synopsis of sesame and groundnuts sector, as well as the

value chain of sesame and groundnuts in South Sudan.

Figure 2 Synopsis of sesame sector in South Sudan

Figure 3 Synopsis of groundnut sector in South Sudan

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Figure 4 Value chain map for sesame in Juba, South Sudan

Figure 5 Value chain map for groundnuts in Juba, South Sudan

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1.6 Commodity Price

The report from the WFP-price monthly monitoring

reported a continuance devaluation of the SSP, which

in May 2019 was at SSP278 per one US dollar (informal

market) while it was SSP159 a year ago at the formal

market ( a spread of 75% over the official rate). As of

September 2019, the informal market rate was at

SSP310 per one US dollar.

In May 2019, the WFP also reported that the price of

groundnuts (G/Nuts) in Juba rose the highest to

SSP550/kg compared to SSP430/kg in March 2019

with the highest price for white sorghum was SSP

171/kg (in Mingakaman).

Table 3 Summary of commodity prices in South Sudan as of May 2019

Source: WFP

At the time the project carried out a market research in July 2019, for edible G/Nut and

sesame oil in Juba, the retail selling price for G/Nuts and Sesame per kg was at SSSP 450 and

SSP 550 respectively. The retail selling price for a processed 450 ml edible oil from G/Nut was

SSP500 while 250ml of sesame was SSP500 respectively.

This reflects great potential for value addition in the G/Nut and sesame sector, if there is

appropriate production supply and processing technology capacity, for retail price of G/Nuts

in Juba being of SSP400-500/kg.

Commodity Highest Price Lowest Price

Market Price (SSP)

Market Price (SSP)

White Sorghum (kg) Mingkaman 171 Yambio 54

Ground Nuts- Shelled (Kg) Juba 430 Wau 171

White Maize (Kg) Aweil 114 Kapoeta South

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Cooking Oil (liter) Bunj 1,000 Kapoeta South

195

Petrol (liter) Malakal 600 Juba 228

Diesel (liter) Malakal 500 Juba 218

Figure 6 A sample of edible G/nut and Sesame oil currently in Juba

Market- from UNIDO survey

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2. Project Inception

The project is focused on equipping IDPs and host communities with agro processing and

entrepreneurship skills. The support for these people in South Sudan is led by the Relief and

Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), IOM, UNHCR and other non-governmental agencies.

Output 2 will be supported institutionalized agro processing and training facilities with the

MTI&EAC in Output1.

2.1 Identification of Project Beneficiaries

The project engaged and is still engaging with some agencies as IOM and UNHCR as they are

the lead UN agencies in the IDP and refugee sector. The project hence had to use a criteria

used to select appropriate IDP camp and their host community to work with. The criteria for

selection were;

a. Level of organization of the host community and to participate in the project

b. Level of stability of the IDPs within the host community

c. Access to land for the agro processing facility and agro-production and ability for its

management.

d. Ongoing activities of the IDPs within the host communities

e. UNDSS security clearance for UNIDO, i.e. to work within Juba- Zone One and its

neighborhood

Through IOM and its guidance, the project engaged Don Bosco church compound and through

UNHCR, the project accessed Mahad IDP collective site.

Don Bosco church compound (around 247 acres) is located in Gumbo and managed by a

Roman Catholic institution, the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB). In this compound, the Salesian

Brothers and Priests, the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco and Caritas Sisters with a Japanese

NGO, JCCP, assist the IDPs with shelter, medical care, sanitation, food and water and

education.

Mahad IDP collective site is located in Konyokonyo in Juba and hosts over 5,000 IDPs. The

IDPs reside in the compound of Mahad Juba Secondary School, which is next to the old

mosque.

Don Bosco was selected for the following reasons:

a. The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco had started engaging the IDPs in enterprise work

like confectionary and tailoring, as well as were currently working on agricultural

activities in 40 acres of farmland, inter alia, groundnut production and poultry.

b. Through the Salesian Sisters, Don Bosco could introduce the project Mazerello

Women Promotion Centre (MaWoC) to mobilize women, who could be the main

project beneficiaries.

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c. Don Bosco Brothers and Priests manage a vocational training center to provide the

youth with vocation training courses including carpentry, plumbing and motor vehicle

which could later be exploited, and more attractive to the youth.

As of September 2019, together with MaWoC, the project has mobilized 200 women and 30

youth into 7 groups. The project has trained 14 trainers of training (ToTs) towards starting

coaching and mentoring the 7 groups in entrepreneurship development programme (EDP)

and Village Savings Loan Association (VSLA) as well as facilitate them to start pilot processing

of groundnuts and sesame oil.

The number of the IDPs and host community (HC) members per each group is described in

the figure below. Among the 6 groups, the members of the host community occupies around

17%.

Figure 7 Composition of IDPs and HC members from the mobilized 6 groups as of September 2019

(Unit; persons)

2.2 Identification of Implementing Partners

The project identified the following partners to implement the project.

(i) Output 1: Ministry of Trade, Industry and East African Community Affairs (MTI&EAC)

and Ministry of Health

The project will provide support to South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) under

MTI&EAC and South Sudan Drug and Food Control Authority (DFCA) under Ministry of Health

to enhance their capacities for carrying out standards and quality testing of agro processed

food. This component is mainly implemented through SSNBS and DFCA whose laboratories

have been assessed and recommendations to address shortcoming discussed. In addition, the

project has trained 7 staff each from DFCA and SSNBS in standards and quality testing and

food safety and hygiene.

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Figure 8 Some of equipment at SSNBS

Balances

Alcolizer Refractometer/Polarimeter

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(iii) Output 2: Mazerello Women Promotion Centre (MaWoC)

The Mazerello Women Centre (MaWoC) managed by the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco was

selected as the implementation partner of Output 2. A formal Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) between the project and MaWoC was entered on 10 September 2019

witnessed by the Ambassador of Japan to South Sudan, H.E. Mr. Seiji Okada.

Figure 9 H.E Ambassador Mr. Seiji Okada witnessing the signing of MoU on 10 September 2019

The project works with the IDPs and host communities through the MaWoC with the full

communication and authority of the Head of the Local Payam (Rajaf). The Payam authorities

are aware of the activities of the project and liaise with the national security personnel to

legalize the training activities of the project.

The key staff of the MaWoC, whom the project works with are; Head of Agricultural and

Extension and Head of Cooperatives. It is expected that the continued good will support from

the Payam local authorities will facilitate in continued mobilizing of the community to serve

the planned installed processing plant for communal use. This approach is also good for

sustainability, as the host community and local authorities will be able to carry on with the

activities of the project once UNIDO completes the project implementation.

The next 3 months of October-December 2019, the project intends to keep the momentum

on all fronts, especially in Output 1 in relation to establishing the 2 facilities of agro processing;

a training center at an identified site at SSNBS and an oil processing plant for communal use

at the MaWoc in Don Bosco church compound.

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Figure 10 H.E Ambassador Mr. Seiji Okada after closing the Food Safety and Hygiene seminar for project beneficiaries of Mazerello Women Promotion Centre (MaWoC)

2.3 Establishment of a Project Steering Committee (PSC)

The project cuts across more than two institutional sectors. It was thus agreed with the

MTI&EAC to establish PSC, composed of key stakeholders from government, Embassy of

Japan and UNIDO.

Implementation of the project has eventually gained momentum on all key output

components. There has been significant progress in the last 3months since July’2019, when

the Project Steering Committee (PSC) was established and launched under the co –chair of

the Under Secretary of MTI&EAC- Hon Mou Mou.

Figure 11 Member of the Project Steering Committee after its Launch on 04th July 2019

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The role of the PSC is to oversee and provide guidance in the implementation of the project’s

two components, as well as quickly address in bottleneck that may exist between any

stakeholders during implementation. The PSC was launched on 04 July 2019 and is jointly co-

chaired between Undersecretary of MTI&EAC and UNIDO. The PSC was opened and chaired

by the Undersecretary of Ministry of Trade, Industry and East Africa Community Affairs

(MTI&EAC), the Hon Mou Mou.The minutes to the first PSC meeting are attached as Annex 1.

The next PSC meeting will take place in February 2020.

3. Project Strategy

3.1 Output 1: Operationalize the Laboratories at SSNBS and DFCA

The laboratories at SSNBS and DFCA will be operationalized for enhancing the capacity

building of the Government of South Sudan in testing food safety and quality standards for

agro processed foods through the training and the provision of minor equipment as well as

consumables.

3.2 Output 2: Provide Income IDPs and Host community with an Income Generating

Opportunity

The livelihood of IDPs and host community will be supported for strengthening social

cohesion of the IDPs and host communities by equipping them with skills and capacity of agro

processing and business entrepreneurship.

The project although is originating from a relief perspective, it is venturing in piloting to

establish economically viable enterprise for IDPs and their host community members towards

engaging in an economically viable project.

It is thus envisaged if their host community members are equipped with economic skills and

facilitated with a value addition processing plant as well as engage in a competitive value

chain like groundnuts and sesame, they would be able to earn some extra income.

The IDPs and their host community members will be able to access a ready market for their

produce and purchases at favorable prices. When the plant operationalizes and economically

becomes profitable, they will be able to have a share of the profits from the sales of processed

oil. This will be through percentage share for every kg sold for given percentage of profits.

The additional income from Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) per member, may also

add to additional capital for the members in procuring/supplying required raw material to the

plant.

The project business strategy and building blocks are described in the figures below;

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Figure 12 Project Business Strategy for Project Implementation

Figure 13 Project Intervention for Output 2

4. Project Implementation

4.1 Output 1: Basic facilities for agro-processing established

Output 1 has been implemented through 3 sub items of;

(i) Establishing an agro processing training center (APTC)

The project initiated discussions with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and East African

Community Affairs (MTI&EAC) over identifying a suitable land/a place for the establishment

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of a pilot food processing plant in the area of Food Processing Centers (FPCs) established in

the previous Japanese supplementary budget (JSB 2016) funded project; before the launch of

the PSC meeting. During the course of discussion with the MTI&EAC, both the project and the

MTI&EAC found that the locations of the FPCs were not so suitable for the pilot food

processing plant due to the security deterioration and the congestion around these areas.

Moreover, the MTI&EAC proposed the project not to build the FPC but an agro-processing

training center (APTC) in their premises. The project decided to accept their proposal in order

to cater to their needs. The discussions over the location of the APTC have just been

conclusively completed in late September 2019, when land at the SSNBS laboratory center

was approved. The delay in concluding these discussions emanated from differences of

opinions over the nature of construction between MTI &EAC and UNIDO for the APTC.

(ii) Establishing a communal food processing workshop in Don Bosco

a) Site of the communal food processing workshop

The project completed discussions with MaWoC over establishing a small processing plant for

communal use in Don Bosco. The engineer surveyed the site proposed by MaWoc, where a

simple agro-processing workshop already exists, but still needs the upgrade and provision of

post-harvest equipment of g/nuts and oil extraction machinery. The engineer found it suitable

for the installation. The refurbishing is due to begin in November 2019. The project plans to

launch the first oil processed unit around December 2019 or January 2020.

b) Bidding for the construction

The project has started receiving bids from potential construction firms, and construction is

expected to begin in November 19, and probably completed in December 2019, if the

situation allows. MaWoC has assigned two staff for the management of the plant. One staff

for mainly operating and maintenance and the other to help with the business and market

linkage of the products as well as project management.

Figure 14 Site-pictures for pre-construction at MaWoc on 13 Sept 2019

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(iii) Enhancing the capacity of Government of South Sudan in agro processing, food

safety and quality testing standards

a) Training of Trainers (TOT) in agro-processing/food safety (11 September 2019)

Eighteen trainers of training drawn from government institutions participated in the TOT on

awareness raising on good practices for quality and safety of food. Participating institutions

included Ministry of Industry Trade and East African Community Affairs (MIT&EAC), Ministry

of Agriculture, Ministry of Health - South Sudan Drug & Food Control Authority (DFCA),

Ministry of Health – Public Health Laboratory (MOH-PHL), South Sudan National Bureau of

Standards (SSNBS), and University of Juba amongst others.

For part of the training course content provided to the prospective ToTs working with the

Government of South Sudan (GoSS), see Annex 2.

Figure 15 Staff of DFCA and SSNBS at a 1 day workshop on Food Safety and Hygiene

The proposed follow up actions to be done between October and December ’19 are:

Have the 18 trained TOTs to further selection criteria to a more willing and technical one

of around 12 ToTs.

Further support through intensive technical (food safety and quality) as well as teaching

and communication training to enhance their knowledge and skills.

Facilitate the 12 ToTs in developing a program to roll them out to project beneficiaries

and as well as start a country promotion program.

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b) Supporting the GoSS laboratory capacity in Standards and Quality Testing

This activity was undertaken between 23 to 28 September 2019 with two main institutions of

Drug and Food Control Authority (DFCA) and South Sudan National Bureau of Standards

(SSNBS). The main objective was to take inventory of what kind of standard and quality testing

infrastructure the GoSS had, and the level of operation they are being utilized with the

purpose of enhancing their effectiveness in South Sudan.

They all have an array of equipment, although mostly of it not fully operational.

Figure 16 Some of equipment at SSNBS yet to be operationalized

Among the key findings and recommendations from the technical assessment are:

Some equipment have missing parts that need to fix, in order to be able to carry out tests

for agro processed products.

There is need for both DFCA and SSNBS to strategize a future as to which lines of testing

to be undertaken, rather than trying work on everything in the sector. In this particular

aspect, SSNBS agreed to work along three(3) lines of

o Priority 1 Heavy metals analysis was selected and for

o Priority 2 Sugar analysis with HPLC.

o Priority 3 Aflatoxins

Recommendations from the technical assessment done to both DFCA and SSNBS laboratories

are summarized in Table 6 as below;

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Table 4 Recommendations for SSNBS and DFCA

SSNBS DFCA

1) Negotiate with all vendors of existing equipment to install properly all missing systems.

2) Liaise vendors of installed equipment to train staff, if possible with presence of an external expert to control proper installation.

3) Based on vendor training on spare parts, the basic chemicals need to be identified, purchased with guarantee to proper to operate.

4) Basic laboratory training: handling balances, pipettes, general lab organization and maintenance program.

5) Set-up a work matrix risk–based, what kind of parameter they like to analyze in the near future - possibly orienting on the here proposed Priorities 1 to 3.

6) Purchase the necessary chemicals and materials needed to run methods as given as an example under Priorities 1to 3 above.

7) Method training one-by-one with support of an external trainer should be performed considering, what is feasible in terms of material.

1) Complete the re-installation of the existing HPLC system.

2) Further training by the vendor, if possible (highly recommended!) with presence of an external expert to control proper installation and training.

3) Based on vendor training spare parts and basic chemicals need to be identified for purchasing to guarantee a proper running of all system for longer time resp. a funding by the local government is possible.

4) Basic laboratory training: handling balances, pipettes, general lab organization and maintenance program – could be done together with vendor training and external expert.

5) Set-up a work matrix risk–based, what kind of parameter they like to analyze in the near future - possibly orienting on the here proposed 2 methods.

6) Purchasing necessary chemicals and materials needed to run.

7) Method training one-by-one with support of an external trainer should be performed considering, what is feasible in terms of material.

The project for the period of October-December2019 will facilitate SSNBS to work out a plan

and budget towards filling the missing parts/equipment and operationalize coupled with

appropriate training required for both institutions.

The current skills of the staff at both institution need to enhance in order

to carry out required tests.

The last part of capacity building of the SSNBS and DFCA was through a

chromatography training which was attended by 9 staff.

The table below is the summary of the feedback from the 18 training participants on the

training on food hygiene and safety.

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Table 5 Summary of feedback on the training of food hygiene and safety

Questions Strongly Agree

: Persons (%)

Agree

: Persons (%)

Don’t Agree

: Persons (%)

1. Level of Satisfaction:

1.1. You achieved your objectives in this training 11(61%) 7 (39%) 0 (0%)

1.2. The event was relevant to your needs 12 (67%) 6 (33%) 0 (0%)

1.3. You will apply what you learnt in your

organization and operations

9 (50%) 8 (44%) 1 (6%)

2. Events Details

2.1. The content of this workshop was adequate 7 (39%) 11 (61%) 0 (0%)

2.2. The training methods and tools used were

appropriate

10 (56%) 7 (39%) 1 (5%)

2.3. There was good participation and interaction

with the trainers(s)

12 (67%) 6 (33%) 0 (0%)

2.4. Supporting documents, hand-outs and material

provided were helpful

12 (67%) 5 (28%) 1 (5%)

2.5. The time allotted to the training was sufficient 4 (22%) 13 (72%) 1 (6%)

2.6. The meeting room and facilities were adequate 9 (50%) 8 (44%) 1 (6%)

3. Specific questions

3.1 This workshop increased your awareness of food

safety requirements for market access.

13 (72%) 5 (28%) 0 (0%)

3.2 This workshop helped you improve your knowledge regarding compliance with market access and

food safety requirements.

- Food safety Hygiene aspects 9 (50%) 9 (50%) 0 (0%)

- To differentiate and explain concepts food safety

management systems e.g. GAP, GHIP, HACCP etc

10 (56%)

8 (44%) 0 (0%)

3.3 This workshop helped you improve your capacities

facilitating a training as a trainer.

13 (72%) 4 (22%) 1 (6%)

4. Additional questions

4.1 How do you intend to apply what you learnt during this workshop/event in your organization and operations?

By developing a project proposal in food safety.

Training my fellow colleagues in the institution.

By conducting training to stakeholders in this aspect.

Train staff in my organization.

Use and apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the training.

By identifying the gaps in food safety and train the target group.

25

4.2 Comments and suggestions for future

workshops/events

The time frame need to be extended.

Stakeholders from NGOs need to be involved.

Let there be practical training i.e. visit to a food processing site.

Study tour to neighboring countries will be ideal for practical experience.

Field visits and practical hand on jobs.

More trainings should be done more often.

Those trained on TOT should be given an opportunity to give presentation in future.

4.3 What additional workshop/training would you be

interested in having in the future?

HACCP

Food processing and more details in Hygiene system.

Water safety.

Standardization

Chemicals safety.

Public Health training.

Nutrition trainings

4.4 Additional comments/suggestions, if any The training was well organized and well facilitated. Keep it up.

Well done.

The trainer is very experienced and is passionate of her work. Good work.

The training was very helpful .thank you very much.

4.2 Output 2: IDPs and host communities trained in agro-processing and

entrepreneurship development skills

Output 2 has been implemented through following activities;

(i) Introduce agro-processing/food safety (10 September 2019)

Over 100 IDPs & Host Community (HC) project beneficiaries were trained on basic food safety

and hygiene practices. The occasion was opened by the Rajaf Payam- Executive Director

Joseph Loro. The event was closed by His Excellency the Ambassador of Japan to South Sudan,

HE Mr. Seiji Okada. For the key topics that IDPs received orientation upon, see Annex 3.

26

Figure 17 Beneficiaries at a session of food safety and hygiene

(ii) Training of Trainers (TOTs) in Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP);

The project strategy was to select and train the trainers of training (ToTs) from the community

who were fairly literate and could communicate in Juba Arabic. These 14 ToTs underwent a

training for 8 days and later facilitated to carryout training to their 7 groups (2 ToTs per group)

over a period of 7 days in September-October 2019. For this TOT, a manual was printed in

English.

According to the baseline/profile survey of the ToTs, which will help to continuously engage

and evaluate their performance in liaison with the baseline/profile survey of beneficiary to be

rolled out in November 2019, the majority of the women beneficiaries are illiterate, unable

to read or write, young mothers, widows and head their households. Thus training of

beneficiaries by trainers under the supervision of an international EDP Expert and staff took

up adult learning approach full of graphic power point.

The women are mostly traumatized with low self-esteem by the time the project started. As

the project started getting implemented, they slowly regained self-confidence and joy, as one

lady stated at the time of the visit of the Ambassador of Japan on 10 September 2019. The

lady by the names of Apio Jenifer, her own words “If I know how to make oil, I will get more

money and be more economically empowered” when asked by the 13 September 2019-Dawn

newspaper journalist to comment about the relevance of the project.

The capacity building around the beneficiaries was there for challenging from one of semi-

literate to one of illiterate, who were highly traumatized. The project recommends for future

project design around IDPs to have a sub component of psychosocial support for at least 6

months, to address the underlying issues of the communities.

All the 14 ToTs have signed up to Terms of Reference (ToR) to work for the project until March

2020 and will be supervised by the UNIDO project officers assisted by the MaWoC staff. They

27

have also been provided with short monitoring reporting framework amongst their groups to

confirm adoptions of EDP and business progress as well as Village Saving and Loan Association

(VSLA) activities.

(iii) Training for IDPs and host community members in Entrepreneurship Development

Program (EDP);

The EDP training for 200 beneficiaries was conducted by the 14 ToTs under the supervision of

the international EDP expert and National Project Officer in the end of September’19. At the

end of the training, the beneficiaries developed six different business plans (one per group)

around the groundnuts and sesame value chain. They were guided how to register and

operate as micro enterprises composed of 33-37 members related to groundnuts and sesame

enterprises.

In addition, an operational feasibility plan was drafted for the IDPs groups which were used

as a basis on business plan preparations. This will be finalized in November 2019 prior to

installation of the plant.

Figure 18 A group member leading fellow beneficiaries in EDP training

Figure 19 A ToT carrying out an EDP training to group members

28

Some of the challenges and lessons learned to implement the EDP program are as follows;

IDP/HC members rely on casual daily wages for their survival hence occupying them for

more than a day’s activities, implies they demanded for transport allowance which was

not planned for. Sometimes, some training had to be postponed by a few days to clear

pending payments.

High level of illiteracy among the IDP/HC or beneficiaries, needing translation in to local

Arabic and other languages. This was on the back of being very sensitive to their

traumatized background. This sometimes led to a slow approach, and a lot adult learning.

The heavy intensive training for the period of September –October 2019, was a marathon

in nature for EDP ToT and EDP IDP/HC training resulting to fatigue for trainees and is now

following the VSLA. This led to some fatigue to the trainees.

There are number of activities that will need to be completed in the remaining 6 months of

project implementation while also addressing some of the challenges experienced in the

first, 6 months.

Following table is a summary of feedback from the trainees of Training of Trainers (TOT) in

the EDP trainings.

Table 6 Summary of feedback from the TOTs in the EDP training

Questions Responses

1. Summary of the most important things learnt during the training

How to scan environment for business opportunities

Creativity

Qualities of a good entrepreneur

How to train others on EDP

How to start and manage the business

How to develop a business plan based on business idea

How to be a good leader

Business skills

Collaborating with others

2. Please rate the training in terms of its impact and

usefulness in the following areas.

Strongly Agree

Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

- Useful in your daily work 100% 0% 0% 0%

- Increasing your willingness to train and mentor others 93% 7% 0% 0%

- Increasing your ability to train and mentor mentors 93% 7% 0% 0%

3. Do you think you will have the opportunity to utilize

the training skills you’ve practiced and/or acquired

during this workshop within the next three months?

YES NO

100% 0%

3a If yes, please briefly describe when and how you might apply these skills.

To my family

To IDPs and Host Communities in my

community

29

In my community

To my business

In Church

To myself

Outside the Country

Questions Excellent Very Good

Good Poor Very Poor

4. How do you rate the training overall? 13 (93%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

5. Please indicate your impressions of the items listed

below

Strongly Agree

Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

5.1 The training met my expectations. 86% 14% 0% 0%

5.2 I will be able to apply competences acquired 100% 0% 0% 0%

5.3 The training objectives for each topic were identified

and followed.

93% 7% 0% 0%

5.4 The content was well organized and easy to follow. 93% 7% 0% 0%

5.5 The materials distributed were relevant and useful. 100% 0% 0% 0%

5.6 Master Trainer was competent 93% 7% 0% 0%

5.7 The quality of instruction was good during

workshop(s) 86% 14% 0% 0%

5.8 The trainer met the training objectives of the training 100% 0% 0% 0%

5.9 Class participation and interaction were encouraged. 93% 7% 0% 0%

5.10 Adequate time was provided for questions and

discussion. 100% 0% 0% 0%

6 What are the measures would you recommend to improve the quality of training?

Allocating enough time for the training

Provision of enough food

Provision of per diem

Organize EDP training in another place apart from Don Bosco

Transport Allowances or Per diem should be provided on time

Provision of enough materials

(iv) Training in Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA);

The project is using the VSLA as an entrance point of working with IDPs and host community.

The VSLA was highlighted as the most attractive to mobilize them and action point for social

cohesion. The approach starts with self-identification facilitated by the trained ToTs. The

group focuses on mobilizing their own capital through internal savings and loans among

trusted peers.

The project has been able to mobilize at least 7 groups from 200 females and 30 youth (males

and females). The project has been able to carry out a training for 14 VSLA ToTs who are

carrying out trainings to 230 beneficiaries, with 2 ToTs per group. The training of ToTs was for

30

5 days, and will enable them to later train the beneficiaries for 3 days per group. This will be

supported by coaching and supervision both from the ToTs and project’s staff. The training of

project beneficiaries to adopt Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) has begun in

October 2019. This will later be followed by actual savings for the first- two months later

followed up with internal loans.

Figure 20 A sample of savings kit to be provided to the 7 groups

This will be supported by monitoring and coaching of the beneficiaries, providing technical

backstopping to the ToTs by the project. In addition, a training manual has been developed

for the ToT which they can use while training and coaching the members.

The training program for VSLA is summarily following stages as below:

1. Group Formation and setting of General Assembly.

2. Sharing the VSLA concepts; along Savings, Loan, Interest and Welfare.

3. Questioning what kind of leadership to be sought. This will also be aligned to support EDP-

agro processing business plan. Some of the positions to be promoted include;

Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer.

4. Facilitate election of leaders and setting up of Internal rules

Following table is a summary of feedback from the trainees of Training of Trainers (TOT) in

the VSLA trainings.

Table 7 Summary of feedback from the TOTs in the VSLA training

Questions Strongly Agree

: Persons (%)

Agree

: Persons (%)

Don’t Agree

: Persons (%)

1. Level of Satisfaction:

1.1. You achieved your objectives in this training 12(86%) 1 (7%) 1(7%)

1.2. The event was relevant to your needs 12 (86%) 2 (14%) 0 (0%)

1.3. You will apply what you learnt in your

organization and operations

14 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

2. Events Details

2.1. The content of this workshop was adequate 10 (71%) 4 (29%) 0 (0%)

31

2.2. The training methods and tools used were

appropriate

13 (93%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%)

2.3. There was good participation and interaction

with the trainers(s)

13 (93%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%)

2.4. Supporting documents, hand-outs and material

provided were helpful

13 (67%) 1 (28%) 0 (0%)

2.5. The time allotted to the training was sufficient 7 (50%) 5 (36%) 2 (14%)

2.6. The meeting room and facilities were adequate 9 (63%) 5 (36%) 1 (1%)

3. Specific questions

3.1 This workshop increased your awareness on VSLA 14 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

3.2 This workshop helped you improve your knowledge regarding compliance with market access and

food safety requirements.

- How VSLA works 14 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

- How to facilitate groups to develop their by laws 13 (93%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%)

3.3 This workshop helped you improve your capacities

facilitating a training as a trainer.

14 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

4. Additional questions

4.1 How do you intend to apply what you learnt during this workshop/event in your organization and operations?

Increase awareness on VSLA, improve knowledge on how VSLA works and how to facilitate groups develop bylaws.

Reviews of VSLA groups.

By conducting training to stakeholders in this aspect.

Train other members of the group and community on how to save together and reduce poverty

Start up a business.

4.2 Comments and suggestions for future

workshops/events

Training on computer packages ie Microsoft excel and power point.

Increase time for training, good food, inter VSLA exposure visits.

Increase time for the workshop.

Expand the training to other states.

Allowances should be paid immediately.

More workshops.

Exposure visit for ToTs to see how other ToTs do their work.

4.3 What additional workshop/training would you be

interested in having in the future?

Ground nut oil processing training, leadership, conflict transformation and trust building at group level

English course, gender training.

Designing and tailoring, salon

32

4.4 Additional comments/suggestions, if any Provide computer training for ToTs.

VSLA tours to existing VSLA and learn from experience.

Improve on services (allowance & food)

Workshops to be held in other places

Thanks for the training and happy to be a ToT

Improve on quality of food.

Timely payment of allowance and ToT facilitation fee.

Generally the whole VSLA training was considered as well undertaken by the ToT beneficiaries

and relevant to them. The best scores were around VSLA relevance to their lives.

The level of satisfaction was rated as strongly satisfactorily and all of them accepted they will

apply what they were trained. There are needs of improvement especially around time for

training. The trainees feel there was too much to be learnt in a very short time. This was due

to delayed start, and hence also calls for continued monitoring and supervision to ensure

desired outputs are achieved in the remaining project period. However, the Trainees

confirmed they are now much better facilitators/trainers and their knowledge of VSLA has

greatly improved. There was no sign of disagreement with the trainees with respect to

capacity building in training of VSLA, and the project hopes this will be reflected when ToTs

engage the beneficiaries here after.

5. Challenges experienced during Implementation of the Project

(i) Client vulnerability with respect to food security and hunger; as mentioned earlier,

the survey carried out on the beneficiaries reflected almost 60% have a need to address

food security and capital. This need overwhelmed the project when the project was

notified that beneficiaries required some daily lunch facilitation allowance when they

attended the training. As mothers they were expected to bring in daily income/food

for the home, and thus suggested the project covers for it. These unplanned logistical

demands from trainees, destabilized the normal planning schedule the project had

planned. Some trainings had to be re-scheduled and sometimes the project team had

to spend time in counselling trainees not to abandon the training and urged them to

patiently wait for processing of this facilitation.

(ii) Highly controlled photographic media; the country has a non-written law of not taking

photos freely. However, in some instances, permission is required from national

security service. It becomes challenging to capture real time photo events, if not within

the training event. The project is currently sourcing for a professional photographer

with license to carry out this activity in South Sudan. He/She will also be able to make

life time video and story for the project.

(iii) Fragility and insecurity in the target community (peri-Juba); under UNDSS procedures,

the project needs always to ask for both UNDSS security clearance followed by the

33

clearance from the national security. The national security officers should be deployed

to the training venue. This is a routine that sometimes causes the project

inconvenience to support their logistics.

6. Donor and Project Visibility

The project worked in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Juba for most of the

events with number of consultation meetings. At all events that the project has carried out,

the Government of Japan as the donor was recognized as illustrated below:

(i) Launching of the first Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting; Mr. Nobuhiro

Kikuchi- Head of Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Japan in Juba on 4 July

2019.

(ii) Ambassador’s visit to the training venue; on 10 September 2019, H.E Ambassador Mr.

Seiji Okada honored the training of the IDPs and host community in food safety and

hygiene.

In both occasions, the events were received media publicity in Dawn newspaper dated 13

September 2019, which is one of the main newspapers in South Sudan.

In the upcoming period, the project plans to hold a graduation ceremony for 14 ToTs and 230

females and youth. The second planned occasion will be during the launch of communal food

processing workshop/plant at Don Bosco for the groups of the IDPs and host community

members likely to be held in between December 2019 and January 2020. On both occasions,

the project intends to have a strong presence of the media and the Government of Japan, and

this will create an ongoing altitude of the great development impact provided by financing

from the Government of Japan. Some of the other products that the project intends to use, in

addition to local publication, are flyers, brochures, T-shirts and caps with description and reflection of

the funding of the Government of Japan. For the article in the Dawn newspaper mentioned above,

see Annex 4.

7. Onward Project Implementation for October 2019 to March 2020

The project continues to utilize the momentum, which has gained till September in order to

complete the remaining activities. The project strategically will need to focus more on the

installation of the agro processing infrastructure for the agro-processing training center

(APTC) and a communal food processing workshop/plant.

This will need to be closely monitored in three months phases, in order to address any bottle

necks before time. Thus for the period of October- December 2019, the project would need

to follow up on the following:

(i) Output 1;

a. Construction of the APTC at the SSNBS to start before the end of November and

complete before the end of December 2019. The project will also need to agree with

SSNBS on the management and operation of the APTC.

34

b. Construction of the communal food processing workshop/plant at MaWoC to start in

November and complete before mid-December 2019. This will also follow 3-4 weeks of

coaching the beneficiaries on its operation, maintenance and management. The

project is tasked to develop a market development plan for the planned processed oil

products.

c. Complete the training of trainers (ToTs) for SSNBS and DFCA, and roll them out with

the support of a promotion program to the project as well as the country.

d. Facilitate SSNBS and DFCA to operationalize their testing laboratories along key

strategic areas.

(ii) Output 2;

a. Complete the training of VSLA to the women and youth and this will make a total

number of 230 beneficiaries against 150 originally targeted.

b. Complete equipping the groups with the startup kit for their operation as EDP/VSLA

active groups. This will include post-harvest handling and VSLA equipment for each

group.

c. Continue to coach and provide technical back stopping to the 14 trained trainers who

later work with 7 groups in operationalizing of EDP and VSLA. The first 3 months will

also be key, as that is when they start saving, obey their own set by laws and later start

to lend each other. The aspect of trust and cohesiveness will be tested then.

All activities will be fully given promotional and donor visibility throughout the

implementation. Among the key events planned will be the graduation ceremony for all the

training beneficiaries under Output 2 in December 2019 and launch of a communal food

processing workshop/plant.

For the progress of whole project activities, see Annex 5.

35

Annexes

Annex 1: Minutes of the First Project Steering Committee (PSC) held on 4 July 2019

Project Title: Enhancing Social Stabilization and Cohesion through Agro Value

Chain Development in South Sudan

Report of Launching of the Project Steering Committee (PSC)

No. 01

Date: 4th July 2019

Time: 10:30am-1:00pm

Venue: Juba Grand Hotel, South Sudan

Published on 11th July 2019

36

1. Opening of the meeting

This Project Steering Committee (PSC) launch and meeting was convened in Juba Grand Hotel,

Juba, South Sudan on 4th July 2019, and was opened by the Undersecretary of Ministry of

Trade, Industry and East Africa Community Affairs (MTI&EAC), the Hon Mou Mou. Each

participant introduced himself/herself stating the institution they were coming from and

position. Participants were drawn from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs

(MTIEAC), Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), South Sudan National Bureau of

Standards (SSNBS), South Sudan Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, media and

Embassy of Japan. The list of participants is hereto attached as Annex D.

2. Remarks by Undersecretary of EAC Affairs and official Launching of the Committee

The Hon. Mou Mou, the Undersecretary for East Africa Community Affairs, MTIEAC thanked

the members from different institutions for attending the meeting. He thanked the

Government of Japan for providing funding and UNIDO for the execution of the project. He

informed the participants that this meeting was an opportunity to reflect on the agricultural

potential of the Republic of South Sudan. He underscored the importance of agro processing

in the country with the potential to be exporting to other regions. He informed the meeting

that many South Sudanese had been concerned when the country was negotiating for the

membership of EAC as there was going to be nothing to be exported to the region, but now a

project of this nature and the assistance of Japan to South Sudan, will see South Sudan

realised its agricultural potential through increased value addition processing. “This project is

going to create many opportunities to our many people as many people especially women

and youth will gained business skills that will be great for our country”, he is quoted to have

said.

The Hon. Mou thanked UNIDO for helping South Sudan to industrialize so we can develop our

country. He underscored the importance that the IDPS will get skills under this project so that

they can have business skills that they can use when they go back to their places.

Furthermore, he informed the meeting that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs

will ensure the realisation of the Agro-processing Plant as outlined in the project document.

He then declared the meeting opened and officially launched the Project Steering Committee

(PSC).

3. Welcoming Remarks from the Project Technical Advisor

Mr. Hannington Sebaduka, the Technical Project Advisor gave opening remarks on behalf of

the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Project Team. He thanked

the Hon. Mou Mou, the Undersecretary of EAC who was officiating the launch and Hon.

Mr.Nobuhiro Kikuchi, the First Counsellor and Head of Development Cooperation at the

Embassy of Japan in South Sudan for gracing the occasion of today launching of the Project

Steering Committee. He also thanked all the other participants for attending the meeting. Mr.

37

Sebaduka also up dated the meeting about the project and the roles of Project Steering

Committee.

4. Remark by the Representative of

Embassy of Japan

Mr. Nobuhiro Kikuchi the Head of

Development Cooperation at the Embassy

of Japan in South Sudan thanked the Hon.

Mou and all the participants for attending.

He outlined the priority areas of

Government of Japan in South Sudan that

include Peace Building, Humanitarian

Assistance and Development Assistant. In

the Development Assistance, Government

of Japan through the Embassy in Juba

focuses on agriculture because Japan see a

great potential of agriculture in this

country. He mentioned that

Figure 1 Mr Hiro and Hon MoU Mou attending the launch of the PSC on 04 July 2019

this project is focusing on agro processing

and agribusiness in South Sudan. Mr.

Kikuchi stated that this project would be

helping to enhance and improve food and

agro products production.

He informed the members of PSC that this project in collaboration with UNIDO and MITEAC

will greatly contribute to the capacity building among the micro and small sized farmers to

gain knowledge and skills for the value adding agro-processing and business-oriented

market access so that they can enable to enhance their lives. He thanked the participants

and informed them the willingness of the Embassy to work closely with all the members of

the Project Steering Committee.

38

5. Presentation of the Project Work plan by Technical Advisor

Mr. Hannignton Sebaduka introduced the project outline and work plan on behalf of the United

Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Project Team. The details of the

presentation are attached in Annex B.

In relation to output component 1; the participants agreed to form a four-technical

person subcommittee to define the features and scope of the agro-processing Training

Centre and how it will be managed in liaison with UNIDO in addition to availing of space

for its operation. The committee will have to come with their recommendations within

one month. The members of the sub-committee to work on the Agro-processing

Training Centre are as follows:

1. Directorate of Industry, MTIEAC - Chair

2. SSNBS - Secretary

3. MAFS – Cooperatives member

4. Chamber – member

Output component 2; the activities were accepted, as presented. The representatives

from Directorate of cooperatives, also confirmed they will work with the project in

reference to their registration and any other capacity building could be discussed. The

Secretary General of Chambers of Commerce, also accepted to work with the project

in reference to MSEs program with the IDPs, and they have a number of trainings that

could be utilised by the formed enterprises.

6. Presentation from South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS)

Mr. Majak Deng Kuol, the Acting Executive Director gave the presentation to meeting. He

outlined the mandates and roles of SSNBS. He said that SSNBS has laboratory and Department

of Standards Development. He informed the meeting that SSNBS will be working with UNIDO

to ensure the standards for edible oils and testing regimes are in place with some help of

UNIDO. A copy of the SSNBS presentation is attached in Annex C.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Nobuhiro Kikuchi said that quality control is a key to build confidence

on the products, as the project looks towards value added products for the market. He said he would

share experience in Japan on how the work on the quality issues over the last fifty years in the next

PSC and would encourage the project to strengthen the quality aspect for the agro processed

products.

39

Annex 2 Training content for food safety and hygiene for officials of the Government of South Sudan

40

Annex 3 Training content for food safety and hygiene for IDPs and host community members

41

Annex 4: Article regarding the project activities in Don Bosco and the visit of the Ambassador of Japan to South Sudan (14 September 2019)

42

Annex 5 Status of progress on the project implementation

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3

1.1 Conduct a Training of Trainers (TOT)

in agro-processing.

1.1.1

Select and train ToTs who will support other

beneficiaries in supplying and processing of the

goods produced to the plant 50%

The ToTs have been selected. They have

received the initial training, with full training

to follow after the installation of the

processing plant.

1.2.1

Pre- qualification and selection of site for processing

plant. This includes determination of the kind of

plant, location, management and operation of plant.100%

As per the request of the GoSS, an agro-

processing training center will be

constructed instead of a pilot food

processing plant in the premises of SSNBS.

1.2.2

Contracting of service provider and constructing.

40%

The service providers are being contacted

through procurement. The delay was due to

delay in being allotted land by the GoSS,

that was done in Sept'19.Construction due

to begin in Nov/Dec'19.

1.2.3

Handover of the training center to SSNBS/MTI&EAC.50%

MTI&EAC will be responsible for the

operation and management of the center.

The project will ensure the sustainable use

of the facility.

1.3.1

Confirm the kind and location of processing plant

required for the beneficiaries.

100%

This is completed.

1.3.2

Confirm the management, operational skills and

supporting markets with the beneficiaries.

100%

The host community will pay a great role in

hosting this facility. A Joint Management

structure between host community and IDPs

will be encouraged.

1.3.3

Construction and handover of the communal food

processing workshop.

30%

Construction is due to begin and end in

Nov/Dec'19.

1.4.1

Selecting the institutions for building skills and

technology for standards and testing of Foods

100%

This is completed and they are DFCA and

SSNBS.

1.4.2

MoU signed with Institution(s) in setting standards

and testing, with attached profile of Technical Needs

for capacity building.70%

The staff needs profile survey has been

undertaken. It will not be necessary to have

an MoU with a Government Institution, but

the project will have an agreed action plan

for Oct/Nov 19.

1.4.3

Building the technical capacity through Training and

Technically Equipping the institutions50%

This is on schedule, and we have 7 ToTs

trained from DFCA and SSNBS each. These

will under go a further selection to remain

with 12, who will implement the program.

1.4.4

Increasing awareness of installed quality standards

and testing required to be certified for the markets

for the different agro processed products50%

This process has been began. The pending

activities will be determined during the

process of finalizing 12 ToTs from DFCA and

SSNBS.

Remarks2019

Output 1; Basic facilities for agro-processing established.

Activities Detailed Activities STATUS2018

Implementation Schedule

1.2 Construct a pilot food processing

plant in the area of Food Processing

Center (FPC). -> Construct an agro-

processing training center (APTC) at

SSNBS (MTI&EAC).

1.3 Construct a communal processing

workshop in a host community.

1.4 Enhance capacities of selected

institutions dealing with quality and

testing of food products.

43

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3

2.1 Conduct a brief value chain

assessment to verify the scope.

Confirming the value chain for

engagement

2.1.1

A brief value chain desk review

80%

This was done utilizing the studies from JICA

and studies from UNIDO completed project.

It will continuously become updated as oil

processing gets launched.

2.2 Train IDPs and host communities

members in agro processing skills as well

as entrepreneurship in collaboration

with the JSB 2016 project for South

Sudan and other UNIDO ongoing projects

2.2.1

Profile & select project beneficiaries (IDPs and host

communities). The priority will be based on IDPs

within the collection centers of Juba, already formed

by key prospective partners

100%

This is completed, and it was done with

assistance with IOM and UNHCR. The groups

are 7 and members are 230.

2.2.2

Confirm the business model for the groups to access

the market of the installed communal processing

plant.

50%

The draft is being done. This needs to be in

line with the kind of plant to be installed in

Nov/Dec'19

2.2.3

Determine Technical Needs Assessment (TNA)

package for the groups in value addition processing,

quality and test management and market linkage50%

The first part was completed and the next is

to follow when the 12 ToT from DFCA &

SSNB are in place.

2.2.4

Build and train link farmers with appropriate skills

for quality products to be received from beneficiaries 50%

The IDPs received initial training on food

safety and hygiene in agro processing. The

second part of training, will be linked to the

installation of the plant.

2.2.6

Assess the business technical and financial needs for

beneficiaries and determine the appropriate EDP

they require to act as viable MSMEs 100%

This is completed.

2.2.7

Train the beneficiaries with basic entrepreneurship

and agribusiness100%

This is completed.

2.3 Provide necessary basic

materials/tools /equipment the trained

IDPs and host community members for

agro-processing.

2.3.1

Develop a package for viable MSEs and trained IDPs/

host community. 50%

A list has been done, and sourcing for them

is on going. To be completed by Dec'19

2.4.1

Facilitate formalizing and registering of MSMEs

within the trained beneficiaries.50%

2.4.3

Establish and operationalize coach/mentors for the

registered MSEs.70%

A coach and mentoring program for EDP and

VSLA is ongoing with 14 ToTs

2.4.4

Facilitate linkage to appropriate financial

institutions to the progressive MSMEs, for

prospective growth.60%

Ongoing market backward and forward

market linkages are ongoing. The installation

of the plant, will trigger the last part of

market linkages for prospective processed

products

2.4.6

Contract a Village Savings and Loans Association

(VSLA) specialist and Institution Development

specialist. This will foster cohesion and increased

collaboration within the groups, in addition to

increasing their economic viability.

100%

This is completed.

2.4.7

Implement intra group cohesion (Institution

Development) through training and implementing

VSLA product. Both capacity building are an all year

coaching process.

70%

Ongoing training for VSLA, and full

participation will be confirmed when the

start saving in Nov/Dec 19 period.

Remarks2018 2019

2.4 Mentor the trained IDPs and Host

Community members in processing

agricultural produce at the pilot food

processing workshop and a communal

processing workshop as well as in the

start up of micro and small processing

business.

Activities Detailed Activities

Implementation Schedule

STATUS

Output 2: IDPs and Host Communities trained in agro processing and entrepreneurship

44

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3

3.1.1

Contract National Project Officer (NPO) 100%This was replaced with a National Project

Officer who was recruited

3.1.2

Carryout a baseline for the project 50%

A frame work is in place, and the ToTs will

lead the exercise. A draft to be delivered in

Nov'Dec'19

3.1.3

Draw and effect a project monitoring framework70%

This is ongoing.

3.1.4 Determining Scope of Work, mobilizing key

stakeholders & launching Project Steering

Committee (PSC).100%

This is completed

3.1.5

Create Promotional Materials; This would involve

participating in sector platform engagements, and

use an approach of encouraging the beneficiaries to

tell their story

30%

Sourcing for suppliers is ongoing. First batch

to be delivered in Nov'19. There were no

tangible results to include in the promotion

materials then

3.2.1

Recruit an International Evaluation Expert.

3.2.2

Prepare and conduct the terminal self-evaluation.

3.2.4

Wrap-up and Handover

3.3.1

Launch of the Agro-processing Training Centre30%

Planning to receive bids from constructors

3.3.2

Organize a graduation ceremony/graduation

ceremonies50%

Plans are on going and to be done before

end of Nov'19

3.3.3

Guide a national/local agency UNIDO PR manuals 100%

This is completed

3.3.4

Recruit a professional photographer based in Juba. 70%Planned to have finalized contracted

photographer by end of Oct'19

Remarks2018 2019

Activities Detailed Activities

Implementation Schedule

STATUS

3.0 Project Management

3.1 Monitoring

3.2 Conduct a terminal self-evaluation to

draw lessons learned3.2.3

Prepare the Terminal Report

3.3 Conduct donor and project visibility

activities.

3.3.5

A Quarterly promotion program about the centre

and its role in quality standards and agro processing

skills enrichment

To be conducted.

30%

The centre, pilot plant and completion of

the 12 ToTs from GoSS have to be completed

to start the promotion program