 MoEST of Central Equatoria State in Juba |
Southern Sudan: towards a five-year strategic sector plan
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A participatory process for the preparation of a five-year strategic sector plan was launched early last November by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS). A team composed of representatives of various MoEST Directorates was set up and entrusted with plan preparation under the chairmanship of the Directorate of Planning and Budgeting. Development partners are informed and support the process.
MoEST and the development partners agreed that the limited financial resources and capacity for planning within MoEST and within the ministries of education in the ten states of Southern Sudan are immediate challenges which should be addressed. UNICEF agreed with IIEP on a two-phase cooperation in support of MoEST. During the first phase, which should last until mid-2011, IIEP would provide technical assistance for the formulation of the strategic plan, keeping in mind the need for a focus on conflict mitigation. This should enable MoEST to provide input requested by the Ministry of Finance for the preparation of the 2012-2014 GoSS medium-term expenditure framework. Meanwhile, MoEST, UNICEF and IIEP will discuss possible cooperation during a second phase whose purpose would be to develop capacity for educational planning and plan implementation and monitoring at MoEST and at state levels.
IIEP undertook a first mission to Juba, Southern Sudan, on 12-16 December 2010 in order to work with MoEST and meet with UNICEF, the Joint Donor Team and other development partners. The mission worked extensively with the plan preparation team and agreed on a road map for the preparation of the education sector plan.
At the end of the mission, it was agreed that immediate next steps will be for MoEST to:
- utilize the results of a Country Sector Review, finalized recently by the World Bank, in order to compile a comprehensive sector analysis;
- produce a coherent education policy document by integrating all existing official policy statements/documents; and
- identify major priority programmes to be included in the strategic plan 2012-2016. IIEP will provide support at a distance and will undertake a second mission to Juba as soon as practically possible after the referendum on the independence of Southern Sudan scheduled for 9 January 2011.
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