Background

The project aims at re-establishing and strengthening the UNDP presence in Abyei ensuring its capacity to support both the development and implementation of early recovery interventions in Abyei. The three main outputs of the project are:

• Abyei Recovery Framework developed through local participatory and consensus building to achieve sustainable recovery and development plans with all stakeholders.

• Basic services and infrastructure restored/improved to enhance sustainable peace, return and reintegration.

• Conflict transformation through trust and confidence building among different ethnic groups living in the area built and sustained to prevent and mitigate conflicts.


Snapshots of the project's major achievements

Since its establishment the project has made significant progress in its support to education, peace building and conflict mitigation and support to returns.

In education the project completed the construction of two primary schools in Mijak and Maker and completed the rehabilitation of two schools in Rumamir and Abathok. Schools construction and rehabilitation are intended to assist the effective reintegration of the returnees into the community in anticipation of the influx of returnees into the area ahead of the Abyei Referendum. The constructed schools were able to cater for the increase in the number of pupils in the area.

At the request of the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission /Humanitarian Aid Commission (SSRRC/HAC) office in Abyei, the project supported the construction of a returnee Reception Center in Abyei. The center is managed by the SSRRC.HAC and is serving as the first point of contact between the returnees, aid Agencies and the Abyei Area Administration when they arrive in Abyei. It enables Agencies providing support to verify and coordinate the provision of support to the returning population. So far it has facilitated the return of around 40,000 returnees into the area.

UNDP in collaboration with UNMIS supported the Civil Administration to organize two peace building conferences between the Missiriyas and Dinkas traditional leaders in Abyei on 5 December 2008 and 1 July 2009. From 10-15 December 2009, UNDP in collaboration with UNMIS further supported the Abyei Area Administration to organize a series of community meeting between Misseriya representatives of the Nomadic tribes and the Dinka- Ngok community to discuss issues of peaceful coexistence, security and migration in the area.

The migration conferences marked the first time that the leaderships of both communities were meeting after the May 2008 incident in Abyei. These conferences were major steps towards restoration of a lasting peace between the two communities in the area, more so as they restored a traditional good practice and enhanced community empowerment.

The project further provided support to the Abyei Area Administration to embark on peace building initiatives in the area. Visits to neighboring communities ahead of the Permanent Court Arbitration rulings, seasonal nomadic migration and the Referendum were supported.