The Nile communities in Sudan face considerable challenges including poverty, instability, rapid population growth and environmental degradation. At the official level, the long dialogue among the Basin countries to create a regional partnership to facilitate the common pursuit of sustainable development and management of Nile waters has resulted in adopting the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The shared vision component of the NBI proposes "to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources".

However, much is left to be done at the civil society and community level. One of the major concerns of Friends of the Nile in Sudan (the FONS network which is establishing the Sudan National Discourse Forum) is that there is little or no involvement of many communities in the NBI-related development activities. FONS believes that in the absence of participation by most of the stakeholders, Nile-related decisions could have high social and environmental costs in the future. To prevent this from happening, FONS is setting up a Sudan Nile Discourse Forum (SNDF) to provide a mechanism for community participation in Nile decision making.

Objectives

There are four areas where the SNDF is actively engaged

Bringing together different Nile stakeholders and developing common areas of understanding around the Nile-related issues;

Building the capacities of the Nile communities and establishing an alliance for change which could influence Nile policies at the local, national and regional levels;

Lobbying for better living conditions for Nile community members; and

Working at linking the NBD with ongoing NBI activities.

The goal of the SNDF is to provide Nile civil society communities with the knowledge, capacities, capabilities and access needed to improve their lives, better their communities and influence their own destinies.

Contacts:

Sudan NDF, House No. 82, Block 68
Arkawit, Khartoum, sudan
Tel: +249 (0) 183523604
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