126. The estimated prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in (North) Sudan was 0.67 percent (0.

5 for
males and 1.24 for females) among the population 15-49 years old in 2009. Sudan launched
its national policy in 2004 and the Government has shown strong commitment to the effort.
The main focus of the national HIV/AIDS control program (SNAP) has been on advocacy,
involvement of all sectors in the national response, testing, prevention, treatment and control
services for sexually transmitted diseases, and monitoring and evaluation. HIV treatment and
care services have been introduced in all the states, with 32 Anti-retroviral sites in the
country in 2009. The HIV/AIDS efforts have received assistance from the Global Fund, UN
agencies, and the private sector.
127. Health Facilities: Overall coverage with basic health facilities is poor. In 2009, there
were 365 hospitals and over 4,800 primary health care facilities in North Sudan. This works
out to one hospital to 90,000 people primary health care facility to 7,000 people. The health
system employed a total of 97,303 health workers in all Sudan comprising over 20 different
professions. However, according to the WHO criteria Sudan falls within the critical shortage
zone considering the density of physicians, nurses and midwives of 1.23 per 1,000 people).
There are substantial regional variations in the availability of health services. For instance,
Khartoum state has 65.5 general practitioners per 100,000 people, compared to 12.1 in
Kassala, 7.7 in North Kordofan and 3.6 in West Darfur state. Together, Khartoum and El-
Gezira states account for more than 50 percent of the public hospitals and private clinics, the
practicing physicians and medical technicians.
128. Health Expenditures: Total health expenditure amounted to 6.2 percent of the GDP
and US$122 per-capita for the year 2008, with 66.8 percent of total expenditure on health
out-of-pocket, exposing many to catastrophic health expenditures. This compares with an
average of 41 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and 47 percent in the low-income group ¹0.
Also, health spending is skewed towards curative and hospitals care, and most of the
allocation is for salaries. As a consequence, primary and first-referral care, particularly in the
poorer states, suffers from lack of resources¹¹,
129. The states have become dominant in health expenditures, with he states accounting for
63 percent of all federal and state expenditures. Not surprisingly, there are significant
variations between states in the levels of spending (total and per capita). States that receive
high per capita levels of federal transfers (Blue Nile) or mobilize significant amounts of own
revenues (Khartoum, Red Sea) tend to spend more per capita on health services. The recent
public expenditure tracking
survey (PETS) of the health sector found that some states generate revenue from the sector in
the form of various facility level fees. It found significant disparities among the studied
regarding the retention or transfer of fees to state and local governments. The PETS study
noted that there was scope to allocate more resources to service delivery levels in several
states. It made a number of recommendations towards improving service delivery in health
facilities, including the harmonization of systems of allocation of resources across states at
all levels and types of facilities,
___________________________________
9. Human Resources for Health (HRH), Strategic Work Plan for Sudan, (2008-2012)
10. http://healthsystems2020.healthsystemsdatabase.org accessed on 13 September, 2009
11. National Health Account preliminary report, 2010
12. World Bank (2011): Sudan, Public Expenditure Tracking Survey of the Health Sector.
The study is the first of its kind in Sudan, looking at the operations and management of
resources at primary care facilities in Sudan.
strengthening the management and monitoring of inputs from state and local governments to
facilities; provision of incentives to attract/retain staff in rural communities, harmonize the
administration of user fees across states and increase the share retained by the facilities while
ensuring that user fees do hinder access to services by vulnerable groups.

Strategy, Priorities and Actions

130. The main objective of the health sector strategy is to increase utilization and strengthen
quality of primary and first-referral healthcare services. The strategy aims to increase basic
health service coverage from the current estimated 50 percent to 75 percent of the
population; improve equity in health service coverage, access, and outcomes, in particular
through reducing geographic, urban/rural, gender and socioeconomic inequalities. The
overall coverage targets should be achieved by larger improvements in service delivery to
under-served populations. The achievement of these objectives will involve financing
reforms, strengthening of institutional capacity particularly in more deprived states, policy
and strategy development in key areas, infrastructure investment and human resource
investment.
131. The strategy worked out by the Federal Ministry of Health rests on four pillars i.e.
control of communicable diseases, improved maternal and child health and nutrition, human
resource development and an improved health care management system based on
decentralization, extended coverage and accessibility. This programme will have a distinct
rural bias with incentives such as housing, generous hardship allowances and better benefits
to attract trained health personnel to rural areas. It will concentrate on a broadened primary
health care concept that is accessible, focused on the poor and vulnerable, gender sensitive
and environment friendly with adoption of health area policy and community involvement
and empowerment.
132. Health services that address the main causes of child and maternal morbidity and
mortality will be given priority. Actions will focus on improved access to quality first-
referral services, expanded and integrated management of childhood illnesses, expansion of
immunization programmes including against measles and vitamin A supplementation
campaigns targeting under-five children. Other actions will focus on the organization of the
safe motherhood initiative that essentially targets village midwives, training for all practicing
midwives, increasing their numbers and providing safe delivery kits, and prevention of
harmful practices, including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
133. The programme accords a high priority to control of high burden communicable
diseases. and for emerging non-communicable diseases Specifically and for the control of
communicable diseases, the health programme plans to implement various initiatives to
address these diseases such as, Roll Back Malaria and Directly Observed Therapy Short
Course (TB DOTS) in endemic areas including provision of essential drugs for prompt case
management and mosquito nets impregnated with insecticide particularly for pregnant
women and children under 5 years. For HIV/AIDS the national strategy targets those most at
risk and includes provision of materials for blood transfusion, health and educational
material for safe sex, drugs to reduce mother to child transmission and community awareness
programmes. The main areas of interventions include for the implementation of the health
program include:
• Healthcare financing: based on the result of the National Health Accounts Survey a clear
health financing policy will be developed with the aim of substantially increasing public
spending and reducing regional inequalities by targeting the more deprived regions. A
substantial effort will be put in strengthening financial management at the central and state
public spending has increased by about 4 percentage points to 12 percent, and as a share of
GDP it has more than doubled to 2.7 percent. However, these are still low levels. With the
decentralization since the 2005 CPA, education spending has increased at the state level and,
in 2009, 83 percent of public education spending took place at state level. Teacher training
has fallen behind; the result has been the deterioration in the quality of teachers, with an
estimated 50 percent of primary school teachers unqualified. While pre-schools and basic
schools have student-teacher ratios of around 33, there is a very wide variation among states.
The Darfur states have high student teacher ratios, with West Darfur at 65.7, nearly double
the national average. Overcrowded classrooms and untrained teachers make for poor
education. The dearth of trained teachers was aggravated by significant waves of brain drain
to Gulf countries.
115. Household out-of-pocket payments cover a large share of school running costs, in
particular for basic education, implying that basic education is not always free in practice.
Moreover, education accounts for a larger share of consumption for poor rural households
than non-poor rural households with implications for equity in access to education.
116. Education opportunities for vulnerable groups, nomads and IDPs remain a significant
challenge due to their non-sedentary lifestyle. Northern Sudan is host to 4.3 million IDPs
located in the three Darfur states and Khartoum state, equivalent to nearly 14 percent of the
total population. Nomads account for about 9.1 percent of the total population in Northern
Sudan. In 2008/09, 8.7 percent of basic schools in northern Sudan were nomadic and 1.6
percent was IDP schools (these schools are typically much larger than nomadic schools).

Strategy and Priorities for Basic Education

117. The main education priorities are the following with special focus on those areas that
were particularly affected by civil strife, drought and/or desertification (lagging regions).

• Bridging the gap between States in enrolment and thereby raising the average
enrolment and increasing the completion rate in primary school from 57 percent in
2009 to 70 percent in 2011, with further improvements in subsequent years;
• Bridging the enrolment gap between boys and girls that persist in some states so as to
eliminate gender disparities in access to education at the basic level and achieve
gender
equality;
• Improving the literacy rate of those between ages 15-24 through programmes
targeting
school dropouts especially those between 9 and 14 years of age; and
• The preparation of a medium sector education sector strategy to bring focus to these
priorities as well as on the quality of education, and help to develop concrete actions
and targets.
118. The above priorities will be implemented with the concentration of the expansion of
primary education in disadvantaged States. This programme would entail the building of an
estimated 2519 classrooms, training of 14000 teachers and improving the school
environment by providing every child and teacher with educational aids books as well as
school furniture. In recognition of the large size of the country and the effect this has on
attendance, the programme calls for the establishment of boarding schools for pupils from
distant areas within each State. In
_________________________
UNHCR 2010; The Joint Assessment Mission (2005).
national and international fund raising and advocacy efforts are in place to mobilize the
required funding for the sector. The Nile Trans-boundary Environmental Project (NTEP) has
prepared a draft paper on River Nile environment safeguarding for monitoring the Nile water
quality.
140. Community Action for Total Sanitation (CATS) approach for community-based
sanitation promotion is currently under implementation to scale-up sanitation interventions.
The signing of Khartoum Declaration by 6 federal ministers reflects their commitment to the
promotion of community-based sanitation and to a clear institutional setup for sanitation
within the governmental structure.

Priorities and Actions

141. To improve the water supply situation, the basic goal of the Government is to increase
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation need by 20 percent and 25 percent
respectively in the coming 5 years (2010-2015). To achieve these strategic objectives, the
Government will undertake the following actions:
• Maintain a consumption rate of 90 liters per capita per day (L/C/D) for urban centers,
and 20 L/C/D for rural areas.
• Construct 15 new small capacity water supply plants at designated rural towns.
• Rehabilitate deteriorating water supply sources with emphasis on replacement of
obsolete and low efficiency systems.
• Rehabilitate and extend 15 aging water supply stations at country level.
• Construct new water treatment plant in urban areas.
• Introduce simple low cost technologies particularly in the rural areas followed by
development of new water supply sources.
• Promote the provision and use of latrines of rural areas.
• Improve hygiene education/public awareness by integrating sanitation and hygiene
education with water supply interventions and improved collaboration between water
and sanitation agencies and ministries of education and health.
142. Higher priority is currently given to capacity building and community empowerment
training programs of sector partners at federal, state, locality and community level.
Community participation and cost-sharing approaches to water management are being put in
place to phase out emergency type interventions. The WASH information system is being
strengthened to improve reporting, planning and informed decision-making.

6.5 Social Safety Net Programs: Protecting the Vulnerable Poor

143. The primary social protection mechanism in Sudan is Zakat, which is an Islamic
measure for wealth distribution and building of productive capabilities, and is playing an
important role as a source of social assistance for the poor. Total Zakat resources have
increased from SDG 13.5 billion in 2001 to SDG 27.1 billion in 2005. Most of the resources
are allocated to the poor, the indigent, road farers and insolvent, who received 68 percent of
the Zakat spending in 2005. Out of the total spent on the poor in 2005, an amount equivalent
to 19 percent went to education, health and water services. The Government, through the
Ministry of Social Welfare, has programs to support vulnerable groups including the extreme
poor, the homeless, the orphans and poor pensioners. The
levels through technical assistance and training. Ways to reach universal coverage and
expand collective prepaid mechanisms will be explored to ensure that healthcare is never
denied for economic, social or ethnic reasons.
• Increases in public funding: Expanding service delivery will involve significant
increases in public funding for recurrent costs, investments in new facilities and
small-scale rehabilitation and re-equipping of the health system. The health
development programme based on this strategy assumes that public expenditures,
both current and development will be significantly increased as part of budgeting that
has a clear pro-poor bias. The management and monitoring of inputs provided by the
stats and local governments should me strengthened, with more resources focused on
service delivery. Systems for resource allocation by states and local government to
facilities and the levying and administration of user fees should be harmonized across
states. Donor funding will also be actively sought, particularly for health services
delivery in the rural areas.
• Technical assistance and capacity building: Priority areas are policy development,
planning/regulation/supervision, financial management, human resources strategy,
pharmaceutical policy and regulation, and health information systems. In particular,
support is needed for strengthening capacity, particularly with technical assistance to
the neediest states.
• Investment in infrastructure: investment in infrastructure will be guided by
development of a comprehensive plan. The focus will be on the most deprived areas
and the target is to increase in service coverage. The strategy also aims to encourage
more investments and participation of the private sector in the provision of health
care.
• Investment in human resources: This component focuses on skilled primary
healthcare (PHC) workers with an average of three years training to increase the PHC
workforce by about 25 percent. Incentives will be provided for most PHC training
program graduates to be posted in areas of need, for the re-allocation of a number of
existing staff, and for an intense program of in-service training. Incentives should be
provided to attract/retain qualified staff as well as efforts to strengthen human
resource management in rural facilities.
• Partnerships: Expanding and improving service delivery will also involve
strengthened partnership with international and national NGOs, particularly for the
expansion of services to under-served areas.

6.4 Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation for Better Life

Key Challenges
134. Safe drinking water is a basic necessity for good health. Unsafe water can be a
significant cause of diseases such as trachoma, cholera, typhoid and schistosomiasis.
Drinking water can also contain hazardous physical, chemical and radiological contaminants
with harmful effects on human health. In addition to its association with disease, access to
drinking water is particularly important for the women and children, particularly in rural
areas, who bear the responsibility for fetching water, often for long distances.
135. Sudan is an arid to semi arid country with an average annual rainfall of 350 mm/y. The
available water resources in the country comprise 31.5 billion cubic meters from different
sources including River Nile, seasonal streams and groundwater. With a total population of
40 million
in 2007 and the national strategy on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in 2008. The adoption
of a quota system in the general election law of 2008 guaranteed 25 percent of the total
number of seats in the legislatures for women.
104. Gender gaps in enrollment in primary education have persisted but there have been
considerable improvements over the last five years. The establishment of the directorate of
girls education has helped in narrowing the gap. With respect to secondary education, gender
parity is more or less achieved, but the general level of enrollment in secondary education is
very low for both boys and girls, and there are considerable disparities among the states in
the enrollment in secondary education as well as gender disparities. In some states, the
enrollment of girls has surpassed that of boys and vice versa. One area with significant and
widespread gender disparities is secondary technical education, with a predominance of
boys. At the tertiary level, the enrollment of women is higher than that of men.
105. Progress has been made on political empowerment of women but economic
empowerment remains a hurdle. The female labor force participation rate is les than a third
of males and gender disparities are substantial in formal employment, particularly at the
upper echelons as well as the representation in legislative bodies. However, the expansion
education and other social services is changing the pattern of female labour force
participation and employment. The numbers of women in formal employment is growing in
the low and middle ranks. Since independence, Sudanese women have been active in public
life. Participation of women in the political process has recently become significant with
women members comprising 28 percent of the parliament elected in 2010 in Northern
Sudan.
Challenges and Priorities
106. Sudan has made significant progress towards the gender empowerment related MDGs.
It is on track to meet those MDGs on closing the disparities on educational enrollment.
However, the regional disparities in access to education by girls as well as boys will remain a
challenge for Sudan. Furthermore, there will still be a large number of girls as well as boys
that may not be in school, or have dropped out of schools because the schools are not easily
accessible by being too far from home. The MDG indicator of formal employment by
women is not likely to be met. Progress on this indicator will depend on the ability of the
economy to create formal sector jobs. Consequently, the priorities for progress in the
empowerment of women include:
• Ensuring that the gains made over the last five years are maintained, with close
monitoring of progress and taking corrective measures to deal with slippages in
implementation. This includes continued and vigorous implementation of the actions
for CGBV and on FGM, expanding activities to all the states.
• Monitoring gender related developments and producing gender-aggregated statistics
for monitoring labor market and employment developments;
 • Promotion of economic opportunities for women, for example, access to formal
employment in the private sector;
• Investments in educational infrastructure to improve to put schools within easy reach
of girls in the community, particularly in the underserved states;
• Promotion of non-formal adult education classes targeted to women;
• Promoting vocational and technical secondary education for girls;
this respect at least four boarding schools are planned for each State in Northern Sudan.
Along the same lines and also in recognition of local conditions, the programmes call for the
provision of one nutritious meal each day for some 34 million primary school students.
119. To increase access and quality of education will require increased numbers of high
quality teachers. This in turn will require an increase numbers and enhanced quality of
teacher training institutes and other associated facilities. Incentives urgent to halt and reverse
the brain drain and retain the good teachers in the system. Moreover, incentives are needed
to make it attractive for teachers to work in rural areas. These incentives could include
additional financial compensation and assistance for housing and transport. Without these
incentives, emphasis on spreading primary education and reducing the distance to school in
neglected rural communities would not materialize.
120. The stagnant enrolment in technical secondary schools may indicate a strong preference
for academic secondary schools. It raises questions about whether the skills acquired from
this subsector are preparing students adequately for higher technical education or providing
them the skills that match the labor market requirements. A reform this subsector to provide
it with the appropriate focus and structure to meet its goals and in particular to determine
whether these schools are secondary schools with provision to acquire technical skills, or
vocational training centers that impart professional technical skills t meet the demand of the
industrial sector for skilled labor.

Strategy and Priorities for Tertiary Education

121. Although tertiary education targets are not included in the MDGs, high quality and
relevant tertiary education is crucial for shared growth and sustained poverty reduction
strategy. From 1990s, tertiary education has rapidly expanded in Sudan with the number of
universities going from 4 in 1990 to currently 30 public and 6 private universities, and 48
specialized degree granting colleges. In 1990, student intake was 6000 per annum; this risen
to an annual intake of 160,000 with a student population exceeding 500,000, equivalent to an
enrolment rate of 10 percent of the relevant population. Over half the students are females.
Expansion has not been accompanied by matching financial resources and the quality of
tertiary education has been deteriorating.
122. The main challenge facing the tertiary education sector is to improve the quality of
education. The National Council of Higher Education in the Ministry of Higher Education
and Research, which is responsible for setting policies and regulating the system of tertiary
education, has set up a commission for quality assurance. This will monitor and evaluate
quality of education and set standards. The Council has promoted the establishment of
internal quality monitoring and evaluation units in some universities and a pilot program to
apply the standards it developed before these standards are generalized. Another challenge to
the tertiary education is to have a definitive policy towards technical education that
recognizes the importance for technical knowledge and skills for growth and diversification
and makes technical education an attractive option for students. Furthermore, as public
universities are poorly funded by the federal and state governments and the universities are
increasingly relying on cost-sharing with students for additional resources. While the cost-
sharing schemes take family income into account, there is a risk that the costs could be
excluding poor people from tertiary education.
Kordofan, South Kordofan, Blue Nile, Kassala and Red Sea, basic school enrollments has
grown rapidly since 2005. In most of the other states, basic enrollment growth slowed down
as these states were already close to enrolling all children in basic education.
110. The number of academic secondary schools increased significantly since 2004-05,
leading to smaller schools and lower student-teacher ratios. At this level, the average school
size has dropped from 269 students per school in 2004-05 to 212 students per school in
2008-09. The student-teacher ratio also dropped from 19 to 17 over the same period. The low
student-teacher ratio in secondary schools is likely a result of the greater use of specialized
subject teachers at this level. There was a strong expansion in the number of technical
secondary schools and teachers, but no growth in enrollments, according to available
statistics.
111. Private sector involvement in providing schooling is a long-standing practice in Sudan.
The private/non-government sector role is important for pre-school and secondary education.
However, government schools account for about 95 percent of enrollments in basic schools,
100 percent of enrollments in technical secondary, and almost 90 percent of enrollments in
higher education. In the pre-school sector, non-government schools-which include the
religious Khalwa schools as well as fee-charging private schools-enroll as many as 38
percent of all students. In academic secondary schools, non-government schools-including
Teacher Union tutorial classes- enroll 24 percent of all students
112. Transition rates between the cycles are very high: about 74 percent of basic school
completers continue in secondary education, and about 87 percent of secondary school
completers continue in higher education. Thus, relatively few complete a cycle without
continuing in the next cycle.

Key challenges
113. The literacy rate in northern Sudan for both sexes in the age group 15-24 in 2008 was
77 percent, according to the NBHS (2009), and 84 percent for males and 71% for females. In
basic education drop outs have remained high. About 90 percent of children enroll in the first
grade of basic school but only about 57 percent of them remain in school by grade 8,
indicating a drop-out rate that averages 7 percent per grade. As a result, the primary
completion rate-a key indicator of progress towards universal primary completion-was only
57 percent in 2008/09. Retention at the secondary level, at 74 percent, is lower than in
primary education when adjusted for length of the cycles. A retention rate of 74 percent
corresponds to a dropout rate of 13 percent per year in the first two years of the cycle.
Student dropout is therefore a serious concern. A high rate of dropout could indicate that
students are not learning enough, i.e. that the quality of schooling is simply too low to justify
students' time and the direct cost in terms of parental contributions. More research is needed
to understand the causes and risk factors for dropout in North Sudan so that appropriate
measures to improve retention can be put in place.
114. With a gross enrollment rate of 77 percent, the number of those who have never
attended school is high. Out of the population of six million 10-17 year-olds in northern
Sudan, it is estimated that one in six, or close to one million, never attended school in 2010.
Of these out of school children, 62 percent are girls, and 84 percent are from rural areas. The
longer distances to schools in rural areas may pose more of a constraint to school attendance
for girls than for boys in addition to early marriage for girls and the lower value assigned to
girls education by parents in rural areas. The low levels of public expenditures in education
have resulted in physical deterioration of schools and facilities and limited geographical
spread. Since 2000 the share of education in total
 6 Developing Human Resources
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.1 Empowerment and Building the Capabilities of the People

Empowering the Poor to take advantage of opportunities
98. The strategy recognizes the role of investment in human development to build and
enhance the population capabilities through education and better health, emphasis on closing
the disparities in access to opportunities for self-improvement for women and the very poor,
and reducing the inequality in human development outcomes between states and regions.
The growth of the GDP will not necessarily lead to reductions in the levels of poverty due to
the low growth elasticity of poverty that characterizes Sudan economy. The poor's weak
capabilities in terms of human capital in the form of knowledge, information and health,
constrain their ability to take advantage of the opportunities offered by economic growth.
Access to education, health and nutrition services, as well as to physical and financial capital
such as land and credit will allow them to benefit from growth. Besides, accessible high
quality education and health services are essential elements of the foundation of an
innovative and productive labour force that underpins sustained economic growth.
99. The 2006 SHHS indicates large variations in the education and health outcomes between
the states; generally with the worst affected areas in southern and western states of the
country. School enrollment and child health also vary according to socioeconomic
conditions; most notably with mother's education level, confirming the well-known
observation of the positive impact of parent's human capital on children education and
health. Other factors found to be directly and positively linked with improvement in
education and health of children include infrastructure, such as water and sanitation, and
community social services, such as health clinic/centers and schools with good quality of
service and low cost of access.
100. Sudan's budget and planning framework does not permit a rigorous analysis of sectoral
expenditures. However, the analysis of the available budget data shows that Sudan's
expenditure on human development has historically been low spending in comparison with
other low-income countries. The result has been poor social indicators in comparison to
countries at its level of income. Sudan ranked 154 out of 169 countries in the 2010 Human
Development Index (HDI) while its income ranking was 134. The public expenditure review
(2007) shows that although pro-poor expenditures including those on the social sectors, have
been rising in recent years, the allocations are still low as a proportion of the overall
spending and of GDP in comparison to many low African countries. This low level of
expenditure is likely a legacy of the long years of conflict during which public resources
were drained by expenditures on security. With the onset of peace, part of the peace
dividends should come in the form of increased spending for improved access and quality of
social services, particularly in the areas that were affected by the conflicts. The following
recommendations of the PER is germane in this regard:
i) An increase in the absolute level of pro-poor spending by reallocating from non pro-poor
expenditure.
ii) An Increase the transfer to the states since the responsibility of service provision in
education and health lies with them, and within the states target the ones that are the worst
affected in terms of achievement in human development.
 5 Reintegration of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

87. The conflicts in Sudan and neighboring countries have created a large number of
internally displaced people (IDPs) and internationally displaced persons (refugees) fleeing
conflict from neighboring countries. Estimates of IDPs range from 2 million to 5 million,
with major concentration in the in the Darfur states, and significant presence in Khartoum
state and East Sudan. Sudan is host to over 200,000 refugees and asylum seeker from
neighboring countries, mainly Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Chad, Central Africa Republic and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These are concentrated in East Sudan. Both Darfur
and East Sudan have histories of internal conflict and also have large populations of poor
people. The Darfur states are among the poorest regions in Northern Sudan while the Eastern
states are in the mid range in terms of poverty in Northern Sudan (see Table 5). It is not the
presence of these displaced persons that rendered these regions poor but the continuing
presence in the temporary and dependent conditions will make the fight against poverty more
difficult in these regions.
88. Reintegration involves a systematic approach to end the temporary, uncertain and
dependent status of these displaced populations by providing permanent access to shelter and
sustainable livelihoods in new or existing communities, to economic and social opportunities
such as land, credit, market places, schools and heath facilities, and participation in civic
activities and decision-making in the communities. Integration programs cover several
sectors and activities such as health, education, water supply, agriculture, permanent shelter,
infrastructure, capacity building and formal and informal community dialogue. Integration
could involve the specification and agreement on the legal rights of the new settlers,
equivalent to those in the communities. For refugees, reintegration could involve sending
them back to their countries of origin or to a third country where they could have access to
the same legal rights and opportunities available to the residents in that country.

5.1 Reintegration for sustained peace and development

89. The systematic reintegration of displaced persons in a conflict-affected country is critical
for bringing the conflict to a peaceful and sustainable conclusion. Temporary, uncertain and
dependent status can result in the development of anti-social behaviors such collaboration
with or subservience to negative and anti-peace forces that could create threats to peace and
security and re-ignite the conflict, common crime and value-destroying activities such as
deforestation and unsanitary practices that undermine sustainable economic development and
welfare. Reintegration also helps to deal with the some of the legacies of the civil conflict
such as the deterioration of social capital, environmental degradation, destruction of physical
infrastructure, and exclusive governance. Effective reintegration is facilitated by efforts to
improve governance in the country, including giving the people the opportunity to participate
in decisions that affect their lives. A systematic and credible national reconciliation effort
that aims to bring diverse groups of people together and helps to consolidate national
economic and political aspirations, creates a supportive environment for reintegration. By
reintegrating IDPs into communities and permanent self- sustaining livelihoods and away
from dependence on relief assistance, largely funded by international relief agencies, the
costs of maintaining them will be eliminated and they will begin to make value adding
contributions to the national economy.
4.6 Capacity Development in the public sector
83. A capable state is a requirement for good governance and sustained development. The
public sector in Sudan needs to continuously upgrade its capacity to meet the challenges of
governance and development. Sudan has in place a number of important governance
institutions as discussed above. Without the technical capacity as well as political will for
implementation and follow-up, these institutions will not make a positive difference in the
lives of its citizens. The same goes for the existing and envisaged development programs.
With a new beginning and related new challenges, the need for developing its capacity to
build a strong foundation for development is compelling. Appropriately, Sudan has a
Ministry of Human Resources with the mandate to develop private sector capacity.
84. In coming years, Sudan will have to undertake policy and institutional reforms to
strengthen its governance and to grow and diversify its economy. These reforms need to be
accompanied by efforts to build related capacity for implementing and sustaining the
reforms, Human and institutional capacity building for a function and effective system of
decentralization is crucial as the deepening process of fiscal federalism will shift more
resources to states and local governments for development programs. Systems of planning
and budgeting, financial control and accountability will need to be developed and adequate
human resources trained and motivated to carry out functions that were previously the
preserve of the center.
85. Traditional capacity building programs have not been very successful in Sub-Saharan
African countries in part due to their ad-hoc nature, dependence on foreign experts, and
limited commitments and efforts on program sustainability. The basic requirements of a
capacity development program are that there has to be a strong motivation and commitment
by those whose capacity is being developed; it has to be linked to dealing with their every
day work challenges (relevance), and has to be designed by people the institutional
complexities of the job. The training itself should not be the reward; rather improved
effectiveness on the job should be the reward. To meet its own unique sets of capacity
challenges need to develop its strategy for capacity development that takes into account the
evolution of the institutions and policies, and the human development priorities in Sudan.
This strategy will then guide the development of programs in different areas.

4.7 Challenges and Priorities

86. The main challenges for improving governance are the capacity for implementation and
enforcement. Technical and institutional capacities are weak and the scarcity of financial
resources constrains the pace of adoption, implementation and effective enforcement of
governance measures. The Government must prioritize its actions. In the medium-term, the
main priorities are:
• Establish a national commission and a transparent process for the promotion of
national reconciliation and unity, with resources to carry out regular countrywide
consultations;
• Strengthen the capacities of the agencies for conflict resolution at federal, state and
locality levels, linking these efforts to the national reconciliation process for capacity
building and technical guidance;
• Review and revise existing land laws and policies including putting in place
mechanisms for the allocation of land and the resolution of land disputes at
community levels;
• Make operational the Human Rights Commission in consultation with the civil
society;
local government legislative councils are also paid by the state in the same manner. The
decisions made by these legislatures, including the budgets, have to be approved by the state
legislature.
73.The revenue sharing between the states and the localities is not transparent and local
governments do not know the amounts assigned to their locality. While the LGA assigns
some sources of revenues to local governments, the taxes are regulated and collected by the
state authorities. The opportunities for participation of the residents of the locality in the
decision making is very limited as in any case, the real decisions are made at the state levels.
Thus the congruence of the interventions of the local governments with the local priorities is
not ensured, contrary to the goals of decentralization.
74. Going forward, it would be essential to strengthen the autonomy and capacity of local
governments, make the revenue sharing mechanism more transparent and predictable, and
most importantly ensure the broad participation of the local population on the decision
making in local government. The population should elect the most powerful local
government official, the Commissioner. With regard to local participation, the success of
Community Development Fund (CDF) projects financed by the MDTF provides useful
lessons for local governance in Sudan. The CDF funds projects identified by communities as
their priorities. The role of the communities in the selection and implementation of these
projects and the collaboration with the local government authorities have contributed to
successful implementation and bode well for the sustainability of the projects. These CDF
supported programs have demonstrated that local governments can work effectively with
communities and citizen participation at all levels of the project participation enhances the
service delivery from the projects.

4.4 Combating Corruption

75. In the 2010, Corruption Perceptions Index provided by Transparency International,
Sudan ranks 172 out of the 178 countries in the survey. Whether this assessment is right or
wrong is not the important issue. The point is that there is perception out there that Sudan is
among the most corrupt countries in the world, an image that does not foster Sudan's efforts
to attract foreign direct investment, and obtain debt relief and concessional assistance.
Furthermore, in the Sudan Productivity and Investment Climate Survey (PICS) in 2008,
private firms in Sudan cited political instability, lack of transparency and economic
uncertainty as the top three constraints to growth. Strong commitment by the government to
address the reality and perceptions of lack of transparency is crucial for the growth and
poverty reduction agenda.
76. Transparency and accountability in the management of public affairs and private firms
are fundamental for good governance. These influences the reality and perceptions of lack of
transparency as in the absence of transparent and accountable institutions, lack of
transparency is likely to thrive, and besides, proper assessments based on facts cannot be
made and perceptions are like to differ, and most likely worse than reality. Sudan needs to
build open and participatory governance institutions to underpin its growth and poverty
reduction efforts.
77. Three mechanisms have been introduced to enhance transparency and accountability in
relation to state public finances and to work as preventive tools to combat corruption. The
Illicit and Suspected Enrichment Act of 1989 provides for an annual updating by the
government officials of the sources of any increases in their wealth. That Act established an
office of the public prosecutor to oversee the implementation of its provisions. The National
Audit Chamber Act of 2007 mandated the Chamber to review the financial performance of
the government including revenue collection and expenditures in comparison to the budget
approved by the national and
states legislations. The accounting procedures, standards and fiscal accountability are
regulated by many other laws and regulations like the Procurement Act of 2010. In 2011 a
new Act on combating money laundering and financing terrorism was adopted to supplement
the 2004 Act. A general committee comprises all related state departments has been
established to oversee the general implementation of the act. A technical financial unit was
also established to closely monitor the adherence of banks and other financial institutions to
the preventive and precautionary measures as illustrated by international cooperation
directives.

4.5 Effective service delivery

Public Financial Management
78. The provision of public services that meet the social and economic development needs of
the population is the principal goal of public financial management and an important
dimension of good governance and the legitimacy of government. The services that the
government provides in many areas infrastructure, human development, social protection,
are crucial for the economic growth and poverty reduction that Sudan is seeking, The
Government has a fiduciary responsibility to use public funds efficiently and effectively to
provide public services, hence the importance of the strong and institutional and technical
capacity for public financial management. The key institutions include:
• A policy framework that guides public resource allocation: This would include a
long- term vision such as that embedded in the Sudan's 25 year development plan, a
medium- term planning framework, such as the 5 year plan, and short-term policy
documents like an annual budget framework paper. A necessary ingredient of these
policy documents is that they reflect the aspirations and priorities e of the population,
evidenced the wide participation of the civil society including the private sector in the
preparation of the documents. Sudan is not strong on participation of the civil society
in government decisions. The PRSP process presents an opportunity for participation
in the elaboration of public policy and plans documents.
• Institutions for budget management: The Government needs strong institutions and
technical capacity for planning and budgeting, budget execution (financial controls,
procurement, monitoring and reporting, cash and treasury management, accounting
 and auditing); monitoring and evaluation and oversight. Results orientation,
participation, transparency and accountability are key principles that should be
embedded in these budget institutions at all levels of government. Capacities are
generally weak, particularly at sub-national levels of government, hence the necessity
for sustained capacity reinforcement efforts.
• Linking policy and budgets: Planning and budgeting instruments that can link
policies with budgets foster the achievement of policy objectives through the budget
process. The traditional annual budget process has been found unsuitable for such
linkages; rather a multi-year medium-term planning and budgeting processes have
been advocated for linking policy and budgets". Many developed and developing
countries have adopted the multi-year budgeting approach. It has been proposed to
Sudan but it has not yet been adopted. In any case, in the absence of a detailed
medium-term development policy framework, a medium- term planning and
budgeting framework will be premature. Now, with the interim PRSP

Most common approach is the well-known Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)

and the preparation of a full PRSP in sight, a solid ground for coherent and credible medium-
term planning and budgeting is in prospect and the groundwork for approach should begin.

Financial Controls
79. For Strengthening monitoring and financial controls, Government is introducing the
Government Financial Management System (GFMS), a computerized budgeting, accounting
and reporting application and implementation has started in the Ministry of Finance and
National economy, and will extended to the state governments. The implementation of the
GFMS will permit the timely preparation of budget preparation reports that can be made
available for public scrutiny.

Procurement
80. Procurement is an important function in public service delivery and good, efficient and
transparent procurement systems ensure value for money and effective service delivery.
Government procurement in Sudan is the responsibility of the Contracting and Purchasing
Department (CPD) at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy (MOFNE). The CPD is
also responsible for the orderly disposal of government assets. The legal framework for
procurement was revised in 2010 and subsequently the regulations and implementation
guidelines were prepared and issued MoFNE has both regulatory and management
responsibilities for procurement. The procurement process is decentralized; procurement
units in implementing agencies carry out the procurement in collaboration with CPD and in
accordance with the law and regulations. A representative of CPD serves on the committee
for the procurement and CPD also reviews the final decisions of the committee to ensure its
appropriateness. State and local governments carry out their procurements independently of
CPD using their own supervisory and oversight arrangements.
81. The main challenge in procurement is the limited capacity at MONFE and CPD as well
as the implementing units at central and decentralized governments. Given the importance of
procurement for good governance and public service delivery, investments in building
capacity and supporting systems is likely to have a high payoff if the right approaches are
taken. The Government, with the support of the World Bank, has engaged a team of experts
to help it develop its procurement systems and capacity and facilitate the implementation of
procurement operations under the new law. This team will help in the preparation of manuals
of procedures, revise bidding documents and provide training to procurement staff at federal,
state and local levels. Beyond this one-off capacity building exercise, the government should
aim to develop a cadre of procurement specialists in the public and private sectors in Sudan
and private firms to provide training as well as expertise in procurement regulations.
Oversight of Public Financial Management
82. The office of the Auditor General existed since the early days of the colonial era and has
a rich history and tradition of independence. Its oversight scope has recently been extended
to cover environmental and performance audits. This is one link in the PFM chain that is
working well. The Audit Chamber, headed by the Auditor General prepared audits of
government operations and with recommendations, submits the audits to the legislature, in
accordance with the law. The legislature discusses the reports and makes recommendations
to the Executive, which follows up with appropriate actions. The Assembly decided recently
to transfer the report on imported agricultural seeds to the Ministry of Justice for action. To
enhance its ability to perform its traditional financial audit functions and to cope with new
responsibilities for performance audits, the capacity of the Chamber needs to be
appropriately strengthened.
Property Rights
69. An environment of secure and enforceable rights to property is critical for enabling
private investment and productivity growth. In particular the lack of secure long-term land
rights is an obstacle to the commercialization and rapid growth of agriculture and livestock
activities, a key pillar of the growth strategy for Sudan. As land is an essential asset in the
livelihoods of the majority of Sudanese, as the population grows, the competition for tends to
raise the risks of communal land disputes and harm agricultural productivity, in the absence
of secure land rights. While the land law vests the ownership of land to the state, in practice
for most of rural lands, decisions on land use has been delegated to community leaders who
provide farmers with usufruct rights. This practice is an obstacle to investments in the land
and the commercialization and growth of agriculture. The federal, state and local
governments need to work together, in consultation with the civil society, for a land policy
that provides long-term rights to land, and put in place the institutions for enforcement of the
land rights and conflicts arising from land use and disputes.

4.3 Decentralization
70. Sudan has been a federation for several years, and in 2005, the CPA divided the country
into 25 states. With the independence of the South, Sudan is now a federation of 15 states,
with three levels of Government - the federal, state and localities (local government), with
elected legislatures at each level and elected state governors. Each state has its own
constitution while Local Government Act (LGA) provides the legal framework for the local
governments. The federal and state constitutions as well as LGA stress the principle of
autonomy of the different levels of government and the need for mutual respect of this
autonomy. A High Council on Governance, headed by the President and consisting of
selected federal ministers, the 15 state governors and 3 experts nominated by the President,
monitors progress in decentralization and resolves issues arising between states such as
border disputes. The key challenges of a functioning decentralization in Sudan include the
lack of technical and institutional capacity at all levels, the inadequacy of financial resources
at the state and local government governments to meet the constitutionally assigned
responsibilities, and the lack of real autonomy and participation of the population at the local
government level.
71. Revenue sharing at the federal level is the principal source of funds for sub-national
governments. A Fiscal and Financial Allocation and Monitoring Commission (FFAMC) has
the mandate to set criteria for sharing resources between the three levels of government; the
horizontal allocation of resources among the 15 states; and the monitoring of deposits of
national revenues into the National Revenue Fund, the transfer of funds to sub-national
levels and the uses of these funds. However, no mandated revenue sharing allocation
mechanism between the three levels of government is place and the sharing is decided each
year, with the federal government deciding how much goes to the states and the states
deciding the shares of the localities. This introduces significant uncertainty in the budget
planning at sub-national levels of government. Work is underway in designing the revenue
transfer mechanisms including the revenue sharing formula and the institutional framework
for an effective fiscal decentralization.
72. Local governments in Sudan are responsible for the delivery of key social services such
as education and health and through the popular committees, play a critical role in security,
development and dispute resolution in the locality. However, local governments have very
limited autonomy and participation of the citizens to be effective in carrying out their
mandates. The Governor appoints the political head of the locality, the commissioner, and
the state government appoints and pays staffs of the locality from the share of revenue of the
locality. The members of the
is responsible for children-related policies, plans and programmes and coordination with the
other levels of government in the field of child welfare. It also collects statistics, runs
seminars, trains personnel and prepares periodic reports for regional and international
organizations. On the protection of children's rights and welfare, the Labour Code of 1997
prohibits the employment of children less than 16 years of age in dangerous or strenuous
activities and sets the working hours for children. The Armed Forces Act of 2007 prohibits
the recruitment of any person under-18 years of age into the armed forces.
66. Freedom of belief and religious practice: The Sudan is a multiracial, multicultural and
multi-religious country. Muslims make up the majority of inhabitants but Christianity and
customary beliefs have a considerable number of followers. The Constitution does not
prescribe an official State religion, asserting that the Sudan is an all-embracing homeland
where religions and cultures are sources of strength, harmony and inspiration, that cultural
diversity is the basis of national cohesion and may not be used to create division, and that all
the indigenous languages of the Sudan are national languages that must be developed and
promoted. Thus, the Constitution guarantees to every individual the right of freedom of
conscience and religious creed, and the manifestation and dissemination of religion or creed
through worship, teaching or practice, and the performance of religious ceremonies or rites.
It also provides that no person shall be coerced into adopting a creed in which he/she does
not believe or into engaging in ceremonies or acts of worship without voluntary consent.
Further, the assumption of high State office is predicated on citizenship not faith or ethnicity.
Documents of proof, such as identity cards and passports, contain no details of religion, nor
is any statement of religion required to access to State-provided services.
67. Freedom of expression and the press: Freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom
that is closely related to freedom of belief and is one of the features constituting a modern
democratic State. The Constitution accordingly attaches particular importance to this
freedom, guaranteeing to every citizen the right to express views freely, to receive and
disseminate information, and to access the press, without prejudice to security, safety or
public morals. The Constitution sought to establish the general principles of freedom of the
press, while the Press and Publications Act of 2009 regulates freedom of expression through
the press and guarantees broad freedoms of expression and access to information. Under the
Act, oversight of the press is entrusted to an independent council that has responsibility for
granting licenses to the press and considering complaints from persons damaged by the
publication of press articles. In practice, 50 newspapers are published in the Sudan, covering
a wide range of areas. Twenty seven of these papers are politically oriented, often privately
owned but aligned to the positions of the different political formations. The other papers
cover sports, society events, economic affairs, entertainment and advocacy. Sudan has 6
Internet service provider companies as well as 8 television and 17 radio stations. Although
media operators are privately owned, the state remains dominant in the media, a situation
that has to change for greater openness essential to meet its aspirations for an open and
democratic society.
68. War crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and slavery: The Criminal Act 1991
was also amended in 2009 to cover war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity as
internationally defined and thus stretches the national jurisdiction over such crimes. The
Constitution and various Sudanese legislations prohibit the subjection of any person to
torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Hard labour is not included as a
punishment in Sudanese laws and the Criminal Code of 1991 and the National Security Act
of 2009 provide that detainees under investigation must be treated in a manner conducive to
the preservation of their dignity, must not be subjected to any physical or mental harm and
must receive suitable medical care.
61. Sudan now has two main institutions dealing broadly with the issue of human rights: the
Advisory Council on Human Rights (ACHR) and the proposed Human Rights Commission
(HRC). In addition, the Human Rights and Public Duties Committee of the National
Assembly provides legislative oversight over the human rights performance of the executive
authorities. The ACHR, created in 1992, provides advice to the State on human rights;
carries out research and studies; disseminates the human rights culture across the different
media; provides training for State and civil society personnel on human rights standards and
principles; reviews national legislation to harmonize it with international human rights
instruments, coordinates human rights matters with international human rights institutions
and prepares periodic reports to international human rights treaty mechanisms. The ACHR
also handles complaints about human rights violations from individuals and organizations in
Sudan. The INC provided for the creation of HRC to monitor application of the Bill of
Rights and receive complaints on violations of rights and freedoms. The Human Rights
Commission Act, which regulates its activity, was promulgated in 2009. The 15 members of
the HRC, to be selected from independent, competent, non-partisan and impartial citizens,
will be appointed in the near future to commence their duties.
62. The State has established a number of mechanisms for the promotion of human rights in
the context of law enforcement, including, for example, the Ministry of Interior's
Coordinating Council on Human Rights and International Law, community police stations
and family and child protection units. In addition, the National Security and Intelligence
Service established a detainee affairs department and a medical unit in order to improve
conditions of confinement. The enquiries and complaints office was also established to
receive queries and complaints from citizens directly.
63. Women's rights: The INC grants women equal rights with men, without discrimination,
stating as it does that "any reference to the masculine also includes the feminine". Moreover,
in the Bill of Rights provides that: "The State shall guarantee the equal right of men and
women to the enjoyment of all civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights." The
Constitution also incorporates the principle of equal pay for equal work and affirms positive
discrimination in favor of women. The principle of equal pay for equal work was reaffirmed
in the Public Service Act of 2007. The Nationality Act promulgated in 1994 and amended in
2005, accorded women the right to pass on their nationality to their children. Provisions for
the special protection for women during armed conflict were included in the 2009
amendment of the Criminal Code of 1991 and the Armed Forces Act of 2007.
64. In addition to the legal reforms, Sudan has taken a number of actions to advance the
rights and role of women including a quota system included in the Electoral Act of 2008 that
guarantees a minimum of 25 per cent of parliamentary seats for women. Representation of
women stood at 28.3 per cent in the elections held in 2010. Actions taken to advance to
address issues relevant for women include the adoption of a national plan to combat violence
against women in 2005, and the adoption of a national strategy for the elimination of female
circumcision. The Violence against Women and Children Unit was established in 2005 in the
Ministry of Justice to monitor the implementation of the national plan to combat violence
against women. Similar units have been established in the three states of Darfur and in a
number of the other states in the Sudan.
65. Children's rights: The Constitution makes education is a right for every citizen and
requires the State to guarantee access to education, without discrimination as to religion,
race, ethnicity, gender or disability. Since 2004, the Sudan has experienced significant
progress with the provision of education for all, particularly at the basic level, reflecting the
constitutional mandate. The National Council for Child Welfare, established in 1991, and
chaired by the President of the Republic, with State governors and federal ministers
concerned with children's issues as members,
are responsible for adjudicating conflicts between the state governments and central/state
governments. Each locality is expected to have a popular committee responsible for conflict
resolution at the local level. A broad process of national reconciliation could enhance these
efforts, with the national reconciliation body providing support and capacity building to the
popular committees at the local levels
52. National reconciliation is an essential for building peace, security and national unity, and
restoring trust for national institutions and between individuals. The open, participatory and
frank discussions of the issues facing the country, particularly those related to peace, security
and national unity, and the grievances of different communities, help to get a good feel for
the views of the population and raise awareness on national issues. Discussions and dialogue
throughout the country, particularly targeting hitherto neglected areas and populations, can
be helpful in formulating inclusive national political, economic and social policies. Sudan
has started a process of national reconciliation with the Governor's forum on national
reconciliation held in 2009. However, the Government will consider and institutionalized
national effort, driven by credible people not holding public offices, that will help to
sensitize the people on the importance of national reconciliation and keep conflict resolution
in the national spotlight.

4.2 The rule of law and human rights

53. The INC envisages Sudan as democratic, decentralized, multicultural, multilingual,
multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious country. It establishes the principle of
democracy and decentralization, the respect and promotion of human dignity, and to justice,
equality, the advancement of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to multi-partism.
It also guarantees rights and fundamental freedoms, with a Bill of Rights as a covenant
among Sudanese people and between them and their governments at every level, embodying
a commitment to respect and promote the human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined
in the Constitution, and thus the cornerstone of social justice, equality and democracy in the
Sudan. The Constitution requires the State to protect, promote, guarantee and implement the
Bill and specifies that while legislation shall regulate application of the rights and freedoms
enshrined in the Bill of Rights, it shall not detract or derogate from any of those rights.
Further it prohibits their suspension, even in a state of emergency, treating them as laws that
can be neither be undermined nor amended by legislative institutions without the matter
being put to a referendum of the people.
54. The Constitutional Court: The Constitutional Court, independent of the legislature and
the executive and separate from the national judiciary was established as the guardian and
protector of the Constitution and has jurisdiction to protect human rights and fundamental
freedoms. The Constitutional Court has laid down constitutional principles and rules and has
been guided by international human rights principles in interpreting a number of provisions
of the Constitution, which are binding on national courts at the various levels of litigation.

Political institutions
55. The INC provides for a national legislature composed of an elected National Assembly,
and the Council of States, composed of two representatives from each state elected by the
state legislative councils. Each state likewise has a legislative council composed of members
elected in accordance with the provisions of the State constitution and the law.
56. Right to participate in political life: The conduct of free and fair elections is among the
political institutions in the CPA and the INC and the right to vote in such elections as an
inherent
right of all Sudanese citizens. In 2007 the Parties Act provided for the establishment of a
multi- party system and in 2008, the Electoral Act was adopted for the conduct of elections
in the different states of the Sudan. Subsequently, the National Election Commission was
established; and the chairman and its members were selected by the consensus of all political
parties, to secure its independence. With the independence of the South, the Commission
will be reorganized along the same procedures.
57. Elections: The Commission conducted the presidential and general elections, the
referendum on self-determination in the South, and the special elections of South Kordofan.
The April 2010 elections, the first multiparty elections in Sudan in 20 years, were held at the
national, state and local levels, with the seats of President of the Republic, state governors
the national and state legislative council fully contested. A quota of 25 per cent of legislative
seats was reserved for women. In addition, women contested other seats. The elections drew
a wide turnout from all segments of society, including women, displaced persons, refugees,
prison inmates and hospital inpatients. These elections were conducted in peaceful and
secure atmosphere; closely observed by national and international observers. Administrative
and logistical difficulties encountered in the electoral process were dealt with in accordance
with the law.

Justice and law enforcement

58. The National Judiciary: The apex institution of the judiciary is the National Supreme
Court, national courts of appeal and all other national courts, which together represent the
main national mechanism for the protection of human rights. The INC provides for the
independence from the legislature and the executive, with financial and administrative
autonomy. The establishment of the National Judicial Service Commission in 2005 was as an
important landmark towards the establishment of an independent judicial system in the
country. The Commission, headed by the Chief Justice, is responsible for financial and
professional issues, and determines the terms and conditions of service, and immunities of
the judges. It is also entitled to appoint and discipline judges.
59. The adoption of the Administrative Justice Act of 2005 was a unique step that widened
access to justice, empowering ordinary people to challenge government's acts before courts
and to seek redress. The Constitutional Court on the other hand, makes it possible for
citizens to challenge laws adopted by the Parliament on constitutional grounds and seek the
protection of their rights as being enshrined in the INC. The Public Grievances Chamber was
also set up as an independent body mandated to consider complaints relating to grievances
suffered by citizens in relation to state institutions after exhausting all means of litigation.

Human rights
60. The Republic of Sudan, including all levels of government, is committed to complying
fully with its obligations under the international human rights treaties to which it is a party.
These include the international covenants on civil political, economic, social and cultural
rights, and the international conventions on the elimination of all forms of racial
discrimination and the rights of child. In this context Sudan has included related human
rights provisions in its constitutional and legal framework. These include the creation,
character and responsibilities of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), provisions on the
rights and protection of women and children, freedom of beliefs and religious practice and
the protection of the freedom of expression and the press.
right of all Sudanese citizens. In 2007 the Parties Act provided for the establishment of a
multi- party system and in 2008, the Electoral Act was adopted for the conduct of elections
in the different states of the Sudan. Subsequently, the National Election Commission was
established; and the chairman and its members were selected by the consensus of all political
parties, to secure its independence. With the independence of the South, the Commission
will be reorganized along the same procedures.
57. Elections: The Commission conducted the presidential and general elections, the
referendum on self-determination in the South, and the special elections of South Kordofan.
The April 2010 elections, the first multiparty elections in Sudan in 20 years, were held at the
national, state and local levels, with the seats of President of the Republic, state governors
the national and state legislative council fully contested. A quota of 25 per cent of legislative
seats was reserved for women. In addition, women contested other seats. The elections drew
a wide turnout from all segments of society, including women, displaced persons, refugees,
prison inmates and hospital inpatients. These elections were conducted in peaceful and
secure atmosphere; closely observed by national and international observers. Administrative
and logistical difficulties encountered in the electoral process were dealt with in accordance
with the law.

Justice and law enforcement

58. The National Judiciary: The apex institution of the judiciary is the National Supreme
Court, national courts of appeal and all other national courts, which together represent the
main national mechanism for the protection of human rights. The INC provides for the
independence from the legislature and the executive, with financial and administrative
autonomy. The establishment of the National Judicial Service Commission in 2005 was as an
important landmark towards the establishment of an independent judicial system in the
country. The Commission, headed by the Chief Justice, is responsible for financial and
professional issues, and determines the terms and conditions of service, and immunities of
the judges. It is also entitled to appoint and discipline judges.
59. The adoption of the Administrative Justice Act of 2005 was a unique step that widened
access to justice, empowering ordinary people to challenge government's acts before courts
and to seek redress. The Constitutional Court on the other hand, makes it possible for
citizens to challenge laws adopted by the Parliament on constitutional grounds and seek the
protection of their rights as being enshrined in the INC. The Public Grievances Chamber was
also set up as an independent body mandated to consider complaints relating to grievances
suffered by citizens in relation to state institutions after exhausting all means of litigation.

Human rights
60. The Republic of Sudan, including all levels of government, is committed to complying
fully with its obligations under the international human rights treaties to which it is a party.
These include the international covenants on civil political, economic, social and cultural
rights, and the international conventions on the elimination of all forms of racial
discrimination and the rights of child. In this context Sudan has included related human
rights provisions in its constitutional and legal framework. These include the creation,
character and responsibilities of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), provisions on the
rights and protection of women and children, freedom of beliefs and religious practice and
the protection of the freedom of expression and the press.
 4 Strengthening Governance and Institutional Capacity
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

47. To achieve sustained growth, with employment creation and poverty reduction, and
avoid the gyrations of the past economic performance, the new Sudan will put priority on
building a strong, inclusive, transparent and effective state and the institutional capacity to
govern and deliver public services to the population. Important elements of this good
governance include effective public financial management (PFM) and decentralization,
peace and security, fighting corruption, promoting human rights, and improving justice and
law enforcement. Further, there is empirical evidence that poor governance and poverty as
causes of civil wars. Although the separation of the North and South Sudan has presumably
reduced the risks of conflict in the sub-region, civil conflict remains a reality, for example in
Darfur. Thus, continuing vigilance and an orientation to resolving existing and latent
conflicts in a peaceful manner will remain essential for peace and stability.

4.1 Peace, security and national unity

48. Peace, security and national unity are fundamental underpinnings of sustained
economic development and national prosperity. These, as well as rapid economic growth and
poverty reduction, are the main policy objectives of the Government of Sudan. Sustained
peace, security and national unity will enable the Sudanese to put their energies on economic
growth and poverty reduction while general prosperity from rapid economic growth will
buttress peace, security and national unity. Given the history and legacy of conflict in Sudan,
targeted actions on sources of conflict are essential for fostering peace, security and national
unity as well as building the foundations for economic growth and rapid poverty reduction.
Peace and security in Sudan will also bolster regional cooperation in economic and
diplomatic fields, facilitating conflict prevention in the region and strengthening the
foundations for accelerating economic progress.
49. Inclusive governance will be needed to sustain the peace and security. An overarching
element of inclusive governance is to have governance institutions that emphasize
participation, decentralization, transparency and accountability. A commitment to address
the sources and triggers of conflicts and the mechanisms to resolve internal and sub-regional
conflicts in a peaceful manner will diffuse small conflicts and prevent them from growing
into major violent and armed confrontations. Improving the delivery of public services,
opening up opportunities to a wide range of people in the country, and organizing open and
participatory consultation on issues of national reconciliation will help to mitigate the
perceptions of unfairness and build trust and legitimacy of governance institutions. Given
that Sudan is continuing to operate on the Interim National Constitution (INC), a framework
that was specifically designed to address the North/South issues. The preparation of a
constitution for North Sudan as a nation would provide the opportunity for strengthening the
basis for decentralized and inclusive governance.
50. Restructuring the security services to build to a new security forces for building peace
and security and conflict prevention rather than for war and orient the security services to
operating effectively in an open and participatory political process. This restructuring may
involve the demobilization and reintegration of soldiers into productive civilian lives.

Conflict Resolution and National reconciliation

51. With a large and diverse population, conflicts are bound to arise from time to time. It will
be useful to develop the capacity for conflict resolution, which can be called up to resolve
disputes between different communities. The High Council for Decentralization and the
Constitutional Court
 • External debt burden and limited access to external aide and foreign financing:
The GoS needs to vigorously pursue its efforts to have sanctions lifted and the
international development community to provide debt relief to Sudan.

Major Opportunities
45. The list of challenges seems to be long but there are opportunities available to Sudan for
tackling those challenges and achieving shared growth and poverty reduction. These include:
• Natural Resources: Sudan is endowed with natural resources including fertile land
and water resources to develop vibrant farming and livestock production and related
geoprocessing industries. Sudan has significant irrigation infrastructure and its
agriculture is not wholly dependent on rain-fed agriculture. It also has a mix of small
and large mechanized agriculture; the large farms could provide the nucleus for
improving the productivity of small farms and facilitate the marketing of produce.
Sudan has oil and gold, products that are high demand globally, with the potential for
generating surplus that can be used for creating additional national wealth.
• Sudan is in the neighbourhoods of wealthy countries to the north: This provides a
strong market for the products of Sudan as well as foreign direct investment and
project financing. For instance, livestock is a major export from Sudan to the Middle-
Eastern neighbours. Sudan can take proactive action to secure and grow its livestock
exports. Sudan could even develop some tourism attractions and facilities targeted at
tourists from the wealthy Middle-East countries.
• Foreign Direct Investments (FDI): With the discovery and production of oil, Sudan
enjoyed healthy inflows of FDI mostly from Asia and the Middle-East and targeted at
the oil sector. This opening up provides an opportunity for Sudan to seek FDI from
these growing economies for other sectors.
• Momentum for change and development since the CPA: Change has come to
Sudan, particularly since the adoption of the CPA. Internally, there has been progress
in building the foundation for sustained development with rapid improvements in
education, the decentralization of government and improvements in infrastructure.
The rapid growth of school enrolment in recent years, particularly in conflict affected
regions, is a sign that the people of Sudan are eager to move on to working to
improve their lives. While the secession of the South can be regarded as setback, it
removes a major uncertainty as to the future of Sudan and reduces the risks of future
internal conflicts. North Sudan can now move forward at its own pace, utilizing its
own enormous capabilities and focusing on the prosperity of its over 30 million
people. Sudan's relations with the international community have improved, with
 better prospects for the removal of sanctions, and the provision of debt relief and
concessional financing. The GoS needs to work with determination to take advantage
of these openings.
• Learning and partnerships: There is a great deal of knowledge and experience
globally on many of the challenges that Sudan faces -post conflict socio-economic
recovery including national reconciliation and reintegration of displaced people,
economic restructuring and reform, partnership with external development agencies.
Sudan can learn from the accumulated experience of development partners and relief
agencies. Besides, they are countries in Africa that have gone through the process and
could share their experiences with Sudan.
aim to close these gaps so that all Sudanese have the opportunity to contribute to and share in
the benefits of growth.
• Employment creation: Unemployment is estimated to be about 20 percent. Educated
young people are finding difficult to obtain jobs; a situation that raises security risks.
Creating employment requires the growth and diversification of the non-oil economy,
not only in terms of sectors of economic activities but also in terms of locations in the
country. Good jobs are needed in the lagging areas emerging from conflict.. New
discoveries and production of oil will not have much direct impact on job creation.
The oil sectors and the emerging gold extraction will absorb the top cream of the
labour force with their high salaries and benefits but have limited impact on overall
unemployment. Employment creation will therefore need to come from
manufacturing, services and agriculture. Increasing investments and productivity in
these sectors will enable Sudanese firms to grow, be competitive in global markets,
export and create jobs.
• The economy needs to become more diverse: The economy has become dependent
on petroleum production and exports. The non-oil sectors are still strong but most of
their dynamism is derived from the inflows of oil revenues. Non-oil exports now
account for about 5 percent of exports. Productivity in agriculture, the main
contributor of non-oil exports and production remains low. Diversification of the
economy, including a strong and productive agricultural sector is critical for shared
growth and poverty reduction.
• Human capital, technical and institutional capacities need to be continuously
developed and reinforced. Access to quality education and healthcare males and
females builds an informed and healthy society and is crucial for enabling more and
more citizens to take advantage of the opportunities presented by a growing economy,
escape the trap of poverty, and add more value to the economy. Creating employment
requires that the education and knowledge systems produce the skills that employers
need to be innovative and to raise productivity. The knowledge base, a critical
ingredient of sustained economic growth, is built on high quality primary and
secondary education, and relevant and high quality education at universities, technical
institutes and other tertiary institutions. For the public sector, institutional reforms
with focus on the promotion of knowledge, innovation, results, efficiency and
effectiveness are essential for positive contributions of public actions to socio-
economic progress. Planned and coordinated learning opportunities should be
provided to public employees to enhance their knowledge. For the private sector,
professional associations should be organized to promote technical and managerial
knowledge and provide linkages to the global knowledge system. Foreign direct
investment also provides linkages to the global knowledge system.
• Institutional and Structural Reforms: Over the last decade, Sudan has carried out
significant reforms to stabilize the economy, improve transparency and accountability
of public financial management and safeguard public finances. It needs to carry out
structural and institutional reforms to enable shared growth and diversification of the
economy. The public services, including the public finance system, need to be
reformed for the efficient and effective delivery of priority social and economic
services that are essential for economic growth and improving welfare. The budget
needs be aligned to the development objectives and related priorities and the
established budget institutions should be reformed to ensure this alignment. The
regulatory environment for private sector development, the financial sector, the
education sector and knowledge infrastructure and the labour laws need to be
reformed to support a growing and diversifying economy.
2.5 Food Poverty:
37. The food deprivation refers to the proportion of the population whose dietary energy
consumption is below the minimum dietary energy requirements (MDER) which is defined
in Sudan at 1751 kcl. The HHBS (2009) was used to estimate food deprivation. The
proportion of the population below the minimum level of dietary consumption in northern
Sudan is estimated at 31.5 percent. This amounts to about 13 million people that are food
deprived. The proportions of the urban and rural populations that are food deprived are 31
percent and 34 percent respectively. Across the Northern states the level of food deprived
varies significantly by region, estimated at 44 percent in Red Sea, and 15 percent in Gezira
and River Nile.
38. Food deprivation is higher in female-headed households (37 percent) than in male-
headed households (31 percent) due to better education and higher income in male-headed
households. Also the survey showed that the rate of food deprivation differed by household
size ranging from 5 percent for household of one or two members to 49 percent for
households with more than 9 members. The survey identified income as the most important
determining factor for food- deprivation. Twenty percent of the poor population was food
deprived compared to almost nil in the higher income category. Expenditure on food
constituted a large share of household consumption in Sudan; accounting for 61.4 percent.
The food ratio decreased with income, the lowest income quintile spent 71.5 percent
compared to 57 percent in the highest income.
39. A manifestation of the food poverty is the underweight prevalence among children in
Sudan. The underweight prevalence is the percentage of children under five years of age
whose weigh for age is less than minus two standard deviations from the median for the
international reference population age 0-59 months. According to SHHS, in 2006, 29.6
percent of children under five in North Sudan were found to be underweight, with 7.2
percent severely underweight. This means in lay terms that almost 30 percent of children
have weights that are very low for their age. There is considerable variation among states in
underweight prevalence between states, from 21.7 percent in Khartoum state to 38.1 percent
in West Darfur. The highest prevalence is in the Darfur region, North Kordofan and Blue
Nile, among the poorest regions/states in the country. In addition, the proportion of children
who were stunted (low height for age or chronically malnourished) was 31.3 percent with 9.5
percent severely stunted. Around 13.7 percent of children under-five suffered from acute
malnutrition, evidenced by low weight for height (wasting), with 3.4 percent with severe
acute malnutrition.

2.6 Unemployment
40. The low growth of employment, rising unemployment and low levels of productivity are
at the core of high and persistent levels of poverty in Sudan. As noted in Section 1.2, total
employment in Northern Sudan grew at 0.9 percent per annum between 1993 and 2008. With
the labor force growing at an estimated 1.3 percent per annum over the same period,
unemployment has increased from 11.1 percent in 1993 to 16.8 percent in 2008.
Unemployment rates have been higher in the rural areas compared to urban areas, at 19.8
percent and 12.1 percent respectively in 2008, and also higher for females than males, at 24.7
percent compared to 13.9 percent. Labor participation rates are very low, which might
indicate that many unemployed people are discouraged from
__________________________________________________________________________
See Republic of Sudan, Ministry of Welfare & Social Security, National Population General
Secretariat: Sudan Millennium Development Goals Progress Report 2010, pages 18-20.
 3 The Poverty Reduction Strategy: Core Elements and Pillars
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

42. Sudan is facing significant challenges to sustained growth and poverty reduction in the
short and medium-term. These are associated with the loss of access to oil wealth, with the
secession of the South, the imperative of ending conflicts and building peace in the new
country, and reengaging fully with the international development community to gain access
to financial and technical assistance. With the secession of South Sudan in July 2011,
Northern Sudan (the new. Sudan) urgently needs to refocus its efforts on building now
smaller territory into a united and economically prosperous country, at peace internally and
with neighbouring countries. Efforts to foster national reconciliation, integrate the internally
displaced people (IDPs) and refugees into viable communities and sustainable livelihood,
and adopt inclusive governance institutions, will be essential for building peace, security and
shared economic growth. For post-secession Sudan, tackling unemployment and poverty
should be the top priorities and essential for avoiding the cycle of civil war and conflict that
has plagued the country for several years.
43. For the last decade, the economy of Sudan grew rapidly, due in part to the growing oil
production and exports as well as the prudent macroeconomic management. The new Sudan
faces a future with limited oil resources and thus must find other factors to drive the growth
of the economy. The effects of the secession on South Sudan would be largely through the
fiscal and external accounts. With roughly 75 percent of the GONU oil revenues generated
from southern oil production, the oil revenues to the Government and the foreign exchange
receipts from oil will be severely reduced. This will be a challenge for the management of
the budget, the exchange rate and the external balance. Painful, unpopular but necessary
fiscal and external balance adjustments will have to be made to sustain the macroeconomic
stability essential for reviving and sustaining growth. Sudan will have to engage its
significant human and non-oil natural resources to build a prosperous future for its citizens.

3.1 Challenges and Opportunities for Shared Growth and Poverty

Reduction
Key Challenges
44. The Sudan economy faces a number of challenges to sustained rapid growth and
increasing prosperity. The following are key among them include:
• Overcoming the legacies of long years of internal violent conflicts: the related
challenges include bringing durable peace throughout the country; providing broad
 opportunities for socio-economic recovery in all parts of the country; halting
environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity; stabilizing the population by a
determined effort to reintegrate all the displaced persons into sustainable livelihoods
in viable and stable communities, with full rights and privileges; restructuring the
security services, possibly involving the demobilization and reintegration of soldiers
into productive civilian lives; a concerted effort at national reconciliation including
resolution of outstanding grievances; and open, decentralized and inclusive
governance. Sudan shares borders with countries that have been prone to conflict and
it is in its interest for it to be a strong advocate for peace in the region and peaceful
resolution of internal and regional conflicts.
• The wide disparities in economic development and access to opportunities: There
are disparities between Sudanese, by gender and regions in the country. Public
policies should
1.4 Institutional arrangements and IPRSP Committee structure
27. For the preparation of an IPRSP, two Ministerial Decrees were issued establishing to
committees with the aim of eventually leading to a full PRSP:
• Oversight Committee: This ministerial committee chaired by the Minister of
Finance was established on December 18 2010 to oversee the preparation and
implementation of the IPRSP, follow-up on the Technical Committees work, and
approve the Sudan IPRSP final draft and ensure its submission to the Council of
Ministers. The committee is comprised o the Ministers of Finance and National
Economy, Welfare and Social Security, Agriculture and Forestry Livestock, Health,
Basic Education, Labour, Information, and Irrigation; the Secretary-General of the
Supreme Council of Decentralized Governance; the Governor of the Bank of Sudan;
and the Chairperson of the IPRSP Technical Committee. Following the completion of
the IPRSP, the Oversight Committee will transition into an oversight committee for
the implementation of the IPRSP and the preparation of the full PRSP.
• Technical Committee: This was established on 20 September 2010 to prepare the
IPRS based on the 2009 Household Survey. The technical committee represents all
poverty related line ministries (agriculture, health, education, social welfare) as well
as the National Council for Strategic Planning and the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The preparation of the document was led by Ministry of Finance & National
Economy to ensure policy coherence and consultation and to provide technical and
logistical support. Following the completion of the IPRSP, the Technical into a
technical committee for monitoring the implementation the IPRSP. The Committee
should be the nucleus for building up the Steering Committee do the full PRSP.
28.Consultation Process: The preparation of the document involved extensive consultations
t promote national consensus on the country's development strategy, based on a dee
understanding of the citizens' expectation and priorities. Consultations were held with
citizens an authorities in the various states of the country, with the private sector and
representatives of the civil society, and with the donor community. Initial drafts were
circulated to all these group seeking comments and reactions. These consultations were
meant to ensure that all participant had the opportunity to have their voices heard and
incorporated in the IPRSP process. The final document will have to be endorsed by the
Council of Ministers and legislature to become effective The Council of Ministers will
provide overall policy guidance, political support and oversight to the implementation of the
strategy.
29. Monitoring of the IPRSP: The monitoring of the IPRSP will involve following up with
line ministries and other implementing to find out the extent that the strategic directions an
operational recommendations of the PRSP and being fed into the government's policy,
planning an budgeting systems and the related implementation and results. The Technical
Committee for the IPRSP will be responsible for the monitoring, and will need to lease with
thematic teams established for the PRSP.

Employment and Productivity

20. Employment: The low growth of employment, increasing unemployment and low levels
of productivity remain at the core of high and persistent levels of poverty in the Sudan.
Agriculture continues to be the main source of employment for the majority of the labour
force, particularly those in the rural areas. In 2009, according to NBHS, 34 percent of the
total labour force and 50 percent of the rural labour force were engaged in agriculture.
According to the 2008 Population Census, the total number of employed persons in Sudan
amounted to 9.8 million, with around 72 percent of them located in rural and nomadic areas.
21. For Northern Sudan, total employment increased from 5.9 million in 1993 to 6.7 millions
in 2008, a growth rate of less than one percent (0.9) during this period. With labour force
growth of 1.3 percent, from about 6.6 million in 1993 to 8.0 million in 2008, the number of
unemployed persons increased considerably from 0.7 million in 1993 to 1.4 million in 2008,
with a corresponding rise of the unemployment rate rose from 11.1 percent to 16.8 percent.
In 2008, unemployment rates were higher for rural areas compared to urban areas, at 19.8
percent compared to 12.1 percent, and also for females than males, at 24.7 percent compared
to 13.9 percent. This pattern held over all age groups. The Census data for northern Sudan
showed that the number of unemployed seeking work for the first time increased from 0.6
million in 1993 to 0.94 million in 2008. The age group 20-24 accounted for 18.5 percent of
those seeking work for the first time in 2008, indicating the flow of large number of college
graduates that had followed from the massive expansion of high education institutions in the
1990's.
22. Productivity: Productivity growth is the driver of economic growth, diversification, the
creation of productive employment and income growth. Sudan has rich agricultural resources
but productivity is very low in the farming and livestock sub-sectors. According to recent
calculations by FAO, yields from most of the major crops have been declining over time.
Some estimates indicate that yields in agriculture in Sudan range from one tenth to one fifth
of the yields obtained from research stations.' On manufacturing, measures of total factor
productivity indicate that the TFP in Sudan is low compared to some neighbouring countries
- Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Manufacturing and service firms have high labour costs and
capital intensity, and low exports. Access to finance, infrastructure and taxation were found
to be holding back the productivity of manufacturing firms.?

Disparities in Development
23. Sudan's growth process has been unbalanced, with the majority of its manufacturing
firms and irrigated land concentrated in the centre with a huge disparity in development
indicators between the best and worst performing regions in Sudan. Outcomes from the
NBHS 2009 for a number of individual MDG-related indicators confirm that the major
challenge facing Sudan's progress towards the MDGs is the massive inequality in outcomes
and access to services (Table 4). Overall, there appears to be little evidence of aggregate
improvements in social indicators such as poverty and educational enrolment. The
significant development disparities between urban and

_______________________________________
1.Government of Sudan (2011); High Committee for Studying the Present Status of
Agriculture and Articulate a Future Vision and Action Plan for Agricultural Revival (in
collaboration with FAO): Executive Programme for Agricultural Revival;
2 World Bank (2009), Sudan Investment Climate Assessment
experienced two regime transitions, extreme political repression and predatory economic
measures in favour of the ruling party and against traditional entrepreneurs. Expansionary
fiscal policy, rising interest rates and overvalued currency drained the country's resources
during the 1980s and early 1990s. Arrears accumulated, relations with creditors worsened
and the country plunged into external debt distress.
11. After successful stabilization in the mid-1990s, Sudan maintained a strong track record
for macroeconomic management that resulted in a low and stable single-digit inflation rates
and a steady exchange rate. Real GDP growth rate averaged nearly 8 percent during the nine-
year period ending in 2009 (see Table 1) and per capita income increased from US$776 in
2004 to US$1,570.4 in 2009. Oil was discovered in Sudan in 1978 but the petroleum sector
became a major contributor to the economy in 2000 when it accounted for 6.8 percent of
GDP compared to 1.5 percent in 1999. The expansion of the petroleum sector, to 15 percent
of the GDP in 2009, contributed to the rapid growth of the economy after 2000. Apart from
the direct impact, the growing receipts from petroleum exports and the related sharp
increases in government revenues and expenditures and inflows of foreign direct investments
(FDI) stimulated other sectors in the economy. Construction and the service sectors boomed
and by 2009 the service sector contributed 40 percent of GDP, surpassing agriculture as the
leading sector in the economy. Trade, hotels and restaurants have flourished, mainly in the
country's capital (Khartoum), generating about one-fifth of the GDP during 2004-2009.

Macroeconomic and Structural Reforms

12. For over a decade, Sudan has implemented economic policy reforms to maintain
economic stability and promote growth and poverty reduction. Since 1999, these reforms
have been implemented under successive International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff
monitored programs (SMP). These reforms have focused on the following areas:
• The exchange regime with the process of moving from a fixed exchange rate policy
to a managed float regime;
• Tax policies and revenue administration with a view to enhance non-oil revenues,
including the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and the streamlining and
reductions in tax exemptions,
• Public financial management focusing on budget execution including financial
controls, implementing effective cash management and fiscal reporting, transparency
of budget operations and improvements in budget classification;
• Reforms of customs services;
 • The management of oil revenues to mitigate the impact of oil price volatility on
macroeconomic stability. To this effect, the Oil Revenue Stabilization Account
(ORSA) was established for holding excess oil revenues;
• Improvements in the transparency of oil operations, with audits of the operations of
the Sudan Petroleum Company (SPC) by the Auditor-General;
• Financial sector reforms including currency unification and issuance of new currency,
restructuring and privatization of commercial banks and steps to improve capital
adequacy and strengthening banking regulation and supervision; and
2010, of which US$31 billion is in arrears, is unsustainable. A resolution to the debt problem
will improve prospects for sustained growth and poverty reduction. It is extremely unlikely
for Sudan to achieve a sustainable external debt position without generous debt relief within
the framework of available international initiatives, including HIPCS initiative. Sudan in
anxious for dialogue with international financial institutions (IFIs) and other creditors with
the aim of establishing wide support for arrears clearance and debt relief.

The CPA, MDGs, and Sudan

5. The comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) - signed in 2005 between the Government of
Sudan and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - had put an end to the civil war
and opened unprecedented opportunities for peace, development, and prosperity. The CPA
and the adoption of the Interim National Constitution (INC) in 2005 provided the
frameworks for the alignment of resources toward broad-based, sustained development and
poverty reduction. The Constitution and the CPA recognized that the realization of the
MDGs was a prerequisite for achieving socio-economic stability in Sudan. In 2006, a
Strategic Advisory Council was established to develop a 25 year development plan for Sudan
and the resulting National Strategic Plan (2007- 2031) included strong references and
commitments to the MDGs. Furthermore, Sudan also has launched a Five-Year Development
Plan (2012-2016) to serve as a growth oriented strategy with a primary focus on sustainable
development and poverty reduction in the medium-term.
6. The CPA's oil wealth sharing provided for a roughly 50:50 sharing of revenues from oil
produced in the Southern Sudan between the two parts of the country. The self-determination
referendum for South Sudan, provided for in the CPA, was held in January 2011 and over 98
percent of votes cast was in favour of the secession of South Sudan. This became effective
on July 9, 2011. During the transition period, the authorities of the North and the South
entered into negotiations on a number of post-referendum issues, namely oil wealth sharing,
debt apportionment, currency, citizenship, borders, and the status of Abyei area. The
transition period planned to be six months has already lapsed but the negotiations have not
been concluded.
7. The preparation of the IPRSP was initiated after the South's self-determination referendum
but before the actual separation of the South. The analysis of historical macroeconomic
performance and references to past policies refers to all Sudan. While national accounts data
available are for all Sudan, demographic data and estimates of measures of poverty and
social indicators are available for North Sudan, permitting the analysis and profiling of
poverty in North Sudan alone For post 2010, the use of Sudan in the document is for the new
nation that has emerged from the former North Sudan,

Objective of the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP)

8. The next two years will be a difficult transition and adjustment period for Sudan. The
immense political change by the separation of North and South Sudan underscores the urgent
need for the North to use the IPRSP initiative as one of the instruments to begin to elaborate
a vision and new direction for its governance, socio-economic development and poverty
reduction efforts. The IPRSP will support complement existing planning and budgeting
instruments, including the 3-Year Salvation Economic Program (2012-2014) and the 5-Year
Development Plan (2012-2016), by strengthening the prioritization of actions and targeting
poverty. The 3-Year Salvation Economic Program (SEP) is an emergency plan to deal with
the adjustment to new political and economic realities following the decision of the South to
secede. The IPRSP will help to fine tune the
 Overview: Context and Objectives
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.1 Introduction
1. Sudan has had one of the highest growth rates amongst Sub-Saharan African countries and
a rapidly rising per capita income, with per capita GDP of US$1,500. Nonetheless, the
country's human development outcomes remain weak. Sudan ranks 154 out of 169 countries
in UNDP's 2010 Human Development Index, especially relative to the fact that income per
capita GDP exceeded $1,500 or roughly 25 percent higher than the Sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA) average. In 2009, Sudan was the third largest producer of crude oil in SSA, behind
Nigeria and Angola, although Sudan's production was only about 30 percent of Angola's.
Despite the rising per capita income, the incidence of poverty is high, with 46.5 percent of
the population is below the poverty line. There is also significant variation in the incidence
of poverty between urban and rural areas as well as between states in the Federation. The
incidence of poverty in Khartoum state is 26.0 percent and 69.4 percent in North Darfur.
2. The road to sustainable broad-based development in Sudan has been hampered by a
number of country-specific challenges that render Sudan's experience unique from other
post- conflict countries in the region. Since its independence in 1956, Sudan has been mired
in several conflicts, with the exception of 1972-1983; the period after the Addis Ababa Peace
Agreement was signed. These conflicts have led to huge loss of life and have severely
debilitated the country's capacity for development. Development projects in areas affected by
armed conflict were often undermined by insecurity and weak and disintegrating socio-
economic fabric of communities. Exodus or influx of IDPs created environments not
conducive for meaningful development initiatives. International isolation, the Darfur
conflict, and the tenuous North-South relationship diverted attention from the development
agenda and its impact on bringing peace and security. In recent years, most of the civil
conflicts, including the rebellion in Southern Sudan have been resolved. But armed conflict
continues in Darfur, with risks of conflict emerging in some other areas. These past and
ongoing conflicts pose challenges for governance, human development, and poverty
reduction in Sudan.
3. The people and Government of Sudan will need to build institutions for peace and
development and shift resources and attention from war to investing in the future. With the
three peace agreements and ongoing efforts for a lasting and comprehensive peace agreement
in Darfur, Sudan has its greatest opportunity in a generation to concentrate on improving the
lives of Sudanese and consolidate and sustain peace. Support from the international
development community, particularly drawing from the accumulated international
experience on post-conflict recovery and peace building, will enhance the prospects for
sustained peace and economic developments. As building peace and security creates
additional expenditure obligations such as financing the reintegration of displaced persons
and new institutions associated with the peace agreements, the financial support from the
international community will be crucial.
4. Sudan's debt problems can be traced back to the 1960s when the country embarked on
large-scale industrialization, financed in part by foreign borrowing on non-concessional
terms, and accompanied by government heavy regulation of the economy. The resulting
heavy debt burden has shaped the evolution of the country's economy and its performance
over the past 20 years. The arrears to International Development Association (IDA), the
African Development Bank (AfDB) and other development agencies have prevented normal
relations with these agencies and constrained access to concessional financing. Sudan's
external debt, which amounted to US$37 billion at end-