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The mud of Malakal, the capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, is notorious for swallowing vehicles. Every rainy season, water sits on the unpaved roads and is churned into deep pools of shoe-caking goo, slowing traffic to a crawl and creating a public health hazard.

IRD and the Malakal local government have hired 500 workers—making it one of the largest employers in town—to construct a network of drainage ditches, culverts, and footbridges in downtown Malakal so that water will flow quickly off the road and transportation moves smoothly.

“We are rehabilitating the drainages, culverts, some pavement works, and we are also involved in sanitation,” explains IRD construction supervisor Gache Bucheko Aliongo.

Even the before the project has been completed, the benefits are already apparent. “The drainage system has taken off the water, the cars are moving, the people are moving without carrying their shoes in their hands,” says William Kur Ajang Danj, Director General at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure. “The public is pleased with the project.”

Beyond the physical benefits, an important aspect of the project has been involving local Sudanese organizations in the planning and implementation. IRD has trained staff from GMK and Fashoda Youth Forum in financial and grants management, proposal development, and other organizational skills so they are now able to manage projects on their own.

“What we have with the partnership model of IRD is really capacity-building,” says John Lwong, executive direction of Fashoda Youth Forum. “Because financially we will be equipped, our capacity will be fully built, and later on, if any donor comes, we will have a record that we have managed a budget before. We really appreciate the trust that IRD has given us.”

Now Malakal has homegrown expertise to keep the traffic-stopping mud at bay. “The community-based organizations will get other smaller organizations and help them to create small cells of people who can do things,” explains Bucheko Aliongo, “Not only in Malakal, but in towns outside, to help sanitation and build infrastructure.”