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UN PhotoFAO / SOUTH SUDAN BECHDOL
STORY: FAO / SOUTH SUDAN BECHDOL
TRT:4:08
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / TOPOSA
DATELINE: 2 JULY 2024, KAPOETA, SOUTH SUDAN
2 JULY 2024, RIWOTO, KAPOETA, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Aerial shot, Kapoeta region
2. Areal shot, Kapoeta
3. Wide shot, plane on tarmac, delegation exiting
4. Med shot, Bechdol and Minister Adigo shaking hands with local officials
5. Wide shot, water yard
6. Various shots, animals drinking
7. Wide shot, delegation arriving
8. Med shot, Bechdol and Bhebhe cutting the ribbon
9. Wide shot, water towers
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN:
“We've heard while we've been here the importance of having a fresh water supply for the people of this area. They no longer have to walk long distances 2 to 3 hours to a nearby stream, a nearby river to be able to have the kind of water that's needed, the high quality water that's needed, the safe water that's needed to drink, and to also have the most basic of hygiene services for themselves. This is a perfect example of how we collaborate with the government of South Sudan with important partners, resource partners like the African Development Bank, and bring the full capacity of FAO leadership to the people of South Sudan.”
11. Various shots, women gathering water
12. SOUNDBITE (Toposa) Marta Nakwee, farmer from Riwoto:
“Before, I had to go so far to get fresh water that it would take most of my day. I had to leave my children go hungry all day and they often fall sick. I don’t have that problem anymore.”
13. Wide shot, women carrying water canisters
14. Tracking shot, man walking
15. Tracking shot, cattle by road
2 JULY 2024, NAKOROGOMO BOMA, KAPOETA, SOUTH SUDAN
16. Pan right, haffir
17. Various shots, cattle drinking
18. Wide shot, delegation outside haffir
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Themba Bhebhe, Country Director, African Development Bank:
“We provided funding for FAO to upgrade this facility as we were told that it supports 10 000 cattle per season. And this is rain water, surface water, something that has come down. So, the way it is utilazied is is conservative, making sure that it is available to the community the whole year.”
2 JULY 2024, RIWOTO, KAPOETA, SOUTH SUDAN
20. Various shots, St Mary Magdalene’s primary school
21. Various shots, meal distribution
22. Wide shot, Bechdol and others tasting the meal
23. Various shots delegation walking through the vegetable garden
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN:
“FAO’s role was to come in alongside with a vegetable garden that was built about two years ago. And our contribution is to provide short cycle crops: Okra, eggplant and these types of crops really just help supplement the other daily meals that the WFP colleagues are providing to the students here.”
2 JULY 2024, KAPOETA TOWN, SOUTH SUDAN
25. Various shots, slaughterhouse
26. Various shots, meat market
27. Wide shot, people on Kapoeta street
Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Beth Bechdol is in South Sudan on a six-day mission in an effort to bring attention to the country and move the country to a growth trajectory, leveraging on its vast agricultural potential.
Her visit comes amid concerns of a deteriorating food security situation expected to be worsened by anticipated floods predicted to affect the country in September this year. However, the gap is slowly being filled through resilience building measures – such as, supporting local seed production, building infrastructures to improve acces to safe water, providing nutritious meals to school children – undertaken under the Rome-Based Agencies (RBAs) to move the country away from aid dependency to resilience.
She is accompanied by FAO Director of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen and Lifeng Li, FAO Director of the Land and Water Division.
Together with South Sudan’s Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Onyoti Adigo and the WFP Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Rukia Abdullahi, FAO Deputy Director-General Bechdol visited Kapoeta, a semi-arid region prone to droughts, where livestock are a key source of food, nutrition and livelihoods.
With funding from the African Development Bank, total of USD 44 million, FAO installed climate-sensitive water harvesting infrastructures (called haffirs locally) that provide water to women and communities. The haffirs bring approximately 460 million liters of water for livestock and household use during dry seasons. The Organization is also establishing 20 multi-purpose solar-powered boreholes and 40 hand pump boreholes. This will significantly help to reduce and mitigate conflict and tensions over access to water for livestock and households, reduce pastoralists' migration periods, and benefit more than 13 000 households.
During a handover ceremony of the borehole in Riwoto, Kapoeta North County, Bechdol said the project “is a perfect example of how we collaborate with the government of South Sudan and important resource partners, like the African Development Bank, to bring the full capacity of leadership to the people of South Sudan.”
The water yard is just outside the village of Riwoto, and its inhabitants say it is a huge relief for them to have it there.
“Before, I had to go so far to get fresh water that it would take most of my day. I had to leave my children go hungry all day and they often fell sick. I don’t have that problem anymore,” said Marta Nakwee, a farmer from Riwoto.
On the opposite side of the Kapoeta region, an FAO-rehabilitated haffir located in Nakorogomo Boma of Pwata Payam in Kapoeta South County, can store 30 million litres of water for use by animals and households, and for vegetable production during the dry season.
SOUNDBITE (English) Themba Bhebhe, Country Director, African Development Bank:
“We provided funding for FAO to upgrade this facility as we were told that it supports 10 000 cattle per season. And this is rain water, surface water, something that has come down. So, the way it is utilized is conservative, making sure that it is available to the community the whole year.”
The delegation also visited St Mary Magdalene’s primary school in Kapoeta, where WFP provides meals for over 1000 children, and FAO complements the school feeding program through vegetable gardens to enhance nutrition, which ultimately support communities to enroll their children in school and keep them there. DDG Bechdol highlighted that “FAO’s role was to come in alongside with a vegetable garden that was built about two years ago. And our contribution is to provide short cycle crops –Okra, eggplant. And, these types of crops really just help supplement the other daily meals that the WFP colleagues are providing to the students here.”
In Kapoeta town, Deputy Director-General Bechdol also inaugurated a slaughterhouse, with capacity to process some 20 cattle and 45 sheep or goats per day, one of very few such facilities in South Sudan. She also inaugurated an expanded meat market, with capacity to accommodate 25 butchers from the Butchers’ Association in Kapoeta.
South Sudan’s economy is predominantly based on oil, accounting for about 95 percent of exports and is a fundamental driver of the government's revenue. However, the country faces volatile economic growth with inflation pushing approximately 1.6 million people, or about 12 percent of the total population, into vulnerability. These are particularly the urban poor who earn in South Sudanese Pounds, but face prices indexed to USD. The lack of economic diversity in the rural areas, such as opportuni- ties in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises related to agriculture, forestry or fisheries, has driven many young people to migrate to urban areas in search of employment and other economic opportunities.
South Sudan has abundant natural resources – land, water, fish stocks and livestock. However, much of the potential for agricultural development is still untapped, with only 4 percent of arable land being cultivated.
Over the last 40 years, FAO has been implementing both humanitarian and development interventions in South Sudan to protect, save and restore livelihoods, reduce food insecurity and malnutrition, address climate change and improve the resilience of livelihoods and agrifood systems.
FAO's resilience work encompasses all aspects of agriculture, crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry, and natural resource management.
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