Italy is helpping Sudan.

Italian Aid to Sudan

For the period 2011-June 2013, Italian Aid to Sudan has reached approximately 20 million Euros corresponding to the total amount of funds allocated on more than 20 ongoing projects. Italy is also one of the main contributors to the budget of the E.U., the U.N. System and of several International Organizations and Agencies working in Sudan.

In the last two years the Italian Cooperation has selected, as its priority area of intervention, the North-East of Sudan, with particular emphasis on the States of Kassala, Red Sea and Gadaref. Indicators of poverty and unease for this areas are among the highest in the country and in Africa.

Since 2011, the Italian Cooperation is financing and managing a project in the health sector which is producing very positive results: “Contribution to the development of the human resources of the health system in Kassala, Port Sudan and Gedaref States” (worth 3 million Euros). The main activities carried out so far and ongoing are: rehabilitation and/or support of 20 Basic Health Units/Health Centers and 5 Rural Hospitals; support to the vocational training of around 3.000 direct beneficiaries, 1.600 Midwives, including Traditional Birth Attendants, plus nurses, laboratory technicians, community leaders,  Health assistants  and other staff; training of 300 Academy of Health Science’s students. This project started on 2011 and will end on December 2014; and it is considered very successful in terms of response to the needs of the local population and of appreciation by local and central Authorities. One further initiative – concerning “Poverty alleviation in Eastern Sudan” - is currently under scrutiny, with a further  Italian contribution of 1.5 Million Euros. 

In order to create synergies and ensure an effective use of its funds, the Italian Cooperation is concentrating its efforts in the above mentioned States of the North-East Sudan, even for most of the multilateral initiatives financed by Italy through UN Agencies, such as WFP, UNFPA, UNMAS, UNICEF, WB, UNHCR, UNIDO.

A large part of Italian multilateral projects concerns the humanitarian sector, but there are also initiatives aimed at enhancing economic cooperation and Sudanese skills and technologies, such as the project run by UNIDO which aims at promoting an environmental friendly technology for the disposal of waste from tanneries.

Italian NGOs have always been very active in Sudan. Currently, we have several NGOs engaged in Sudan with Italian public and private funding. VIS is active in vocational training and in the education sector; EMERGENCY (health sector) is currently engaged in the management of three facilities (the Salam Cardiological Hospital in Khartoum and two pediatric clinics in Port Sudan and Mayo); OVCI, in cooperation with the Ahfad University and Usratuna is assisting three centers (Rehabilitation Center, Vocational Training Center and Polyvalent Center) for disabled children located in the outskirts of Khartoum.

By Alula Berhe Kidani, 02/06/2013