Child-led Community Development in South-Sudan

Here is a summary of a case study by Violet Mugisa and Grazyna Bonati about an interesting ‘Child-to-Child’ programme in South Sudan…

Children in a local primary school in Dirra Village in South Sudan have become community leaders and an inspiration to adults and children alike.

It all started in September 2005, with the aid of the Plan-Sudan team. The team helped the children learn how to run projects and take action to improve conditions in their school. The children were empowered and enthused by their ability to make change, and gained the help and respect of their community.

The primary school faced a number of challenges: a broken electricity generator was one of them. However, with their new problem-solving skills the children soon came up with a project to overcome this problem! They suggested some solutions and collected subscriptions from children and their parents to help raise the 90,000 Sudanese Dinars (approximately US$375) it would take to repair the generator. They are now able to work at night and have their own School Generator Committee of ten children.

But change didn’t stop there! The Water Committee helped source clean water for the school and the Seat and Desk Committee raised enough money to buy beautiful new desks and chairs for all of the classrooms. To find out more about how the children gained the support of their community, click here.

With thanks to one of our young writers, Kendal Archer for this summary!