More than 20 years of civil war have obliterated most of Southern Sudan’s infrastructure. As thousands of people have returned home, they have found no clinics, no schools, and few government services of any kind, leading to staggeringly high rates of illiteracy and disease.

International Relief & Development (IRD) is improving this situation for 50,000 people. With funding from the Sudan Basic Services Fund, the Community Health and Education Services for Southern Sudan (CHESS) project is increasing access to basic health and education services in Duk County, Jonglei State, less than 200 miles from the Ethiopian border. During the 18-month project, IRD will construct four health clinics, one primary health center, and three schools, as well as improving water and sanitation facilities for any existing clinics and schools.

In collaboration, with the John Dau Sudan Foundation, IRD is training 20 community health workers, 70 home health providers, 20 mid-wives, five nurses in voluntary testing and counseling, and 10 clinic management staff. County-wide health education and vaccination campaigns are also underway, including a mass deworming campaign for school-aged children.

IRD is training 70 teachers and organizing seven alternative education centers and women’s literacy groups. IRD is also establishing demonstration gardens at the clinics and schools where they work to teach diversified crop and vegetable production and improved nutrition.

Finally, to enable communities to continue the work after the project itself has ended, IRD is working closely with the local county and state authorities, including traditional leaders and chiefs, teaching them to plan and deliver health and education services on their own. Through the establishment of local health and education steering committees, IRD is working to strengthen community ownership and responsibility, in addition to rural service delivery awareness.

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