Institutionalising WASH capacity development in South Sudan: moving from emergency response to development

South Sudan has experienced decades of civil war and gained independence in July 2011 and more recent outbreak of conflicts has been experienced in December, 2013 and July, 2016. The Water Policy (2007) has stipulated human resource development and capacity building as key issues of priority. The policy indicates the government’s intention to reverse the effects of decades of conflict and long term political and economic marginalisation in the south, where water sector strategies would be established for human resource development and training through technical collaboration with relevant institutions in other countries. WASH strategic framework (2011) was developed by Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) with a rationale to attract investment, formulate priority action plans and create capacity in the WASH sector at all levels. The framework has been the basis of the transformation from ad-hoc emergency relief interventions to a holistic, government-led planning and implementation of well targeted interventions.