ABOUT KADI AUSTRALIA

KADI Australia Incorporated, a registered not-for profit, in both Australia and Africa founded by Mr. Ben L. Yengi, OAM, addresses the urgent needs of South Sudan in an efficient and practical way.

KADI is run and supported by volunteers from Australia and also maintains links to other Non-Government Organisations in Africa, Japan and the United States.

KADI recognises the benefits of engaging and collaborating with communities, as such it is focused on the development of projects in consultation with key stakeholders including local people, village elders and representatives of government and non-government organisations through a participatory process centred on:

• Facilitating and balancing the needs and wants of all involved in projects to achieve outcomes based on sustainable development and delivery.
• Building on the social capital that already exists within the community and between stakeholders.
• Striving for interaction rather than observation in order for a collective of people to champion or come to an agreement on a particular issue.
• Understanding the dynamic dimensions of and establishing a relationship with a community to achieve collective decision-making.
• Enhancing community capacity building to achieve on-ground outcomes.
• Generating acceptance and understanding between KADI, community and stakeholders through communication.
• Adopting practical and proven methods and tools for participatory processes.

ABOUT SOUTH SUDAN

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, at approximately 2.5 million square kilometres, and is bordered by 9 countries: the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Uganda and the Red Sea. South Sudan itself is approximately 640,000 square kilometres, and is the size of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Germany and Portugal combined.

Sudan has suffered through two major civil wars since its independence in the mid 1950's, between government forces and rebels. The two civil wars occurred from 1955/6 -1972 and 1983-2005, the second of which left approximately 2.5 million people dead and over 4 million displaced. The conflicts occurred between the Indigenous Sudanese of the South and the Arabic Muslim Government of the North.

Until very recently there was no hope of any lasting promise or relief, but the signing of a monumental agreement officially ended the war and inspired great movement for peace.

This agreement, also referred to as the CPA, was signed on the 9th January 2005, between the Government of the North and Sudan People's Liberation Army/People of the South. It allowed for a South Sudan Government to be established in the South and subsequently paved the way for a referendum in 2011 where the South Sudanese unanimously voted to separate from the North forming Africa's newest country - The Republic of South Sudan.

According to Southern Sudan's Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation (SSCCSE) South Sudan has an estimated population of approximately 8-9 million, comprised of around 65 ethnic groups, over 80% of which live in rural areas.

The overarching government of South Sudan is referred to as the: Government of South Sudan (GoSS), which is the highest level of authority. Under this sits the state-level governments (10 in total), and under this sits local level government at a county, district and village level.

Sudan's economy as a whole is dominated by oil revenue, which currently accounts for around 98% of the South's income and 60%-70% of the North's. Despite this, high levels of poverty can be seen in the South; accordingly the World Food Program estimates 9 in 10 people live on less than a dollar a day and over a third of the population are moderately or severely food insecure.