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Lucy JuwaAfter attending a CV writing workshop and a computer training course, Skills invited Lucy to a leadership training course. “It lasted for two weeks,” she recalls. “Afterwards, Skills organised an attachment for me with the Eastern Bank Women’s Association, a small women’s group in Southern Sudan. I mobilised the women there, and they came up with their own work plan for income generating activities. I was able to use my training to pass on my knowledge, to help them transform their lives.” She’s clear about the importance of Skills’ role in the future. “The training they are doing is helping a lot of our people,” she comments. “Because of the war, a lot of the people who are inside Sudan have never even seen a blackboard. But through the training, they will be able to gain something. And if they can gain something, they will then be able to pass it on to other people, just as I have.”
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Michael RobertoIn March 2006, Michael, the Director of Planning at the Ministry of Agriculture, went on a management training course facilitated by Skills for senior and middle level managers in the Government of Southern Sudan. “Before the course,” he says, “ I could see that there were a number of areas that I was doing without the knowledge, skills or right attitude. After the training, I felt that my skills in management were increased, and I was able to change my attitude to the clients or customers of the Ministry.”
For Michael, “the level of commitment and the competence of the trainers was impressive. In Southern Sudan now there are very few of the facilities that make a human feel comfortable – there is the heat and no fans, there is no air conditioning, there is no good accommodation. Despite all this, the trainers used by Skills are ready and able to work in these very difficult conditions.” -
Queen Lawrence MakaleleIn 2005, Skills helped Queen go on a computer course. “After the course,” she says, “I got a job straight away, working as a translator and producer with the Sudan Radio Service. Before then, I had a diploma in translation, but I had to handwrite all my translating. Now my training from Skills has made me somebody – I don’t have to ask anybody to come and help me with my computer, I can do it all by myself.”
“The good thing about Skills,” she adds, “is that it’s not me alone that will benefit from this programme. I know many people who have been trained by Skills who are now working in Sudan and they are helping Sudan to come up. In the future I hope that they encourage Sudanese women, because if they involve women in the development of the country, then I think it will be easy for Southern Sudan to come up faster.”
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Martin DramaniAfter a career that has taken him from Khartoum to Kampala, and from Aberdeen to Juba, Martin still values the work attachment that Skills organised for him. “It’s because of my work experience that I was successful in my Masters and my other jobs,” Martin adds. “The attachment showed me all about the importance of community development and how to organise multiple projects. I would never had gotten the chances in my life if it hadn’t been for Skills.”
Martin now works for the UNDP in Juba as a project cycle management analyst, technical back-stopping for over 50 NGOs that have been contracted to implement UNDP’s programme in Sudan. “Skills has an essential role to play in the future,” he says. “They are giving people an opportunity, acting as a bridge between people and organisations, so that they can develop for the benefit of Southern Sudan.” -
Hawa-El-TomAs the secretary to the Minister for Labour and Public Service, Hawa plays an important role, organising his diary, arranging his meetings and ensuring that he is able to focus on his ministerial duties. In 2006, Skills paid for her to attend a computing course in Nairobi. “After the course, I have become good – no, better than good, instead of good, I have become better. And I expect that I can become excellent,” she adds.
She is full of praise for Skills. “For those of us who were here during the war,” she explains, “there weren’t any courses and there wasn’t any improvement in our work. Skills is helping lots of us who were here during the war – people are improving because of them.”
Asked if she had a message for potential funders, Hawa said, “I would invite them to give as much as they can, so that we can learn a lot, because we are so far behind.” -
Richard MullaIn the 1990s, Skills helped Richard – then a refugee in the UK – get an attachment with an immigration law firm in London. “It was useful,” he says. “I became more expert in immigration law and worked with the community in the UK, helping them with their immigration cases”. In 2005, Richard returned to Juba, where he runs a legal practice, is a Member of Parliament and has participated in a number of Skills’ workshops.
He’s clear about why Skills is needed in post-war Southern Sudan. “In 1972, at the time of the Addis Ababa Agreement, we really didn’t have enough qualified people,” he states, “In fact, our offices were badly run. Now many people in government are not qualified in what they do and they lack the necessary experience. That’s why Skills has to be taken seriously. We have a government now and we have to manage it, manage it properly – you cannot do that without proper, appropriate skills.”
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Eunice CleroAfter attending one of Skills’ training of trainers course, Eunice worked with Southern Sudanese women in refugee camps in Uganda. “Before the course, I was not confident in my training skills,” she says. “After the training, I feel I can do it – and I did it even better than before.”
“I trained women in the camps about how to be strong in their work, about the importance of being confidence in their work,” she adds. “They responded well. They said, ‘Before this I thought I could not do it. Now I know I can’.”
Eunice wants to go back to Southern Sudan, to help women there. “Our women were lost during the war,” she states. “They had no school, they just had their homes. They didn’t know what they were going to be doing. So we need to be with them, telling them what they can do, to let them to be themselves, to be strong.” -
Abraham BiarAbraham first came into contact with Skills in 1998, although it wasn’t until four years later that his work attachment with a legal firm in Nairobi began where he gained an invaluable insight into governance and human rights law, including the rights of the child.
“Skills gave me a chance,” he recalls. “They helped me to prepare lectures and how to write a CV, so I could market myself to organisations. Without their support, it would have been very difficult.”
Abraham is now a Senior Legal Counsel at the Ministry of Legal Affairs in Juba, focusing on training and good governance. “By the end of 2007, we hope to have 200 legal professionals in the ministry,” he states. “But we will need Skills to help us with, for example, English language courses. Of the fifty lawyers we have already, you see, only twenty are able to express themselves in English. If Skills can help us in that area, really, it can be good.”