Background

The North Eastern Africa Livestock Council (NEALCO), South Sudan national chapter was established in March 2017 with the main objective of initiating national drive to recruit national livestock associations as its members. It has the mandate to promote, coordinate, share information and advocate for enhanced trade in livestock and livestock products within North and Eastern Africa and outside the region. NEALCO members, i.e. national private operators and NEALCO national chapter members were trained for 4 days (17-20^th December 2018) in Adama, Ethiopia on feedlot establishment and management. The national chapter still faces a number of challenges such as:

(1) Limited experience in resource mobilization since it has few numbers of national livestock associations from which it draws membership as a result of inadequate advocacy and inefficient management,

(2) Limited capacity (financial, technical and organizational weakness) of livestock and livestock related associations in the country due to poor investment attraction strategies and poor skills in donor funds mobilization,

(3) Inadequate basics of Communication and documentation due to lack of an operating secretariat which can run day to day activities and

(4) Lack of financial resource mobilization capacity from donors or national budgets to ensure sustainability.

Therefore, to support the council, an experience sharing/ mentorship workshop of three days was undertaken between South Sudan NEALCO national chapter members and Kenya Livestock Marketing Council (KLMC) for mentorship training to address the above listed issues back at home. The training targeted five NEALCO executive members and two regulatory authority officials from 22^nd– 24^th March, 2021 in Naivasha, Kenya.

Training Objectives           

1. Effective management of associations;
2. Different strategies of resource mobilization and efficient/responsible fund resource utilization;
3. Basics of communication and documentation;
4. Any experiences from membership contribution and partnership;
5. Lessons of KLMC in the above areas;
6. Assist to develop a workplan for 2021 and detail activities on how to achieve them and mentor;
7. Way forward for South Sudan national NEALCO chapter.

Opening Remarks

The three day meeting was officially opened by Dr. Wamalwa Kinyanjui on behalf of the Director of IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD), Dr. S. J. Muchina Munyua. Trainees were reminded of the importance of learning from KLMC that operates in ASAL counties of Kenya. The council is able to raise resources from the national government, development partners, by responding to call for proposals as well as from organized trade fairs that attract very many investors. NELACO South Sudan should emulate this. All trainees were encouraged to concentrate and participate in any group work in order to fully benefit.

Training Focus

The training paid key emphasis and focus to the following areas.

• Governance/Management – Board of management, Staffing, Human resource & financial management policy, Transparency and accountability
• Resource Mobilization – Resource identification, Resource mobilization plan/strategy, Donor mapping
• Communication and Documentation
• Networking and Partnership – KLMC sharing experience, Success stories and lessons learnt, Membership (Subscription, Membership structure, Elections of delegates, board & grassroots’ members)
• Way Forward

Lesson for NEALCO South Sudan from KLMC on Resource Mobilization

• KLMC has built a network of partners and information – call for proposals are shared across the network.
• KLMC has developed marketing models that attract funding from different partners.
• KLMC grass root network attracts partners due to extensive outreach (covering 15 counties).
• KLMC’s track record has made partners and donors build confidence and trust in the organization.
• Over years, KLMC has been able to establish and maintain cordial working relation with both the County and National Governments.
• The program/project funding sometimes only covers staff and travel costs and does not provide organizational support.
• The membership fees collection requires a lot of effort, but minimal income and members demand is not commensurate with their contribution.
• Consortium is sometimes difficult to work with due to too many program politics.
• Investments are affected due to knowledge/experience and attitude of the organizational leaders.
• Lack of clear mission of the organization affects investment (either to be a value chain supporter/facilitator (supportive function) or to be part of the value chain (core function).

Recommendations

1. KLMC will remain open for further mentorship via electronic communication until end of 2021.
2. NEALCO South Sudan should strengthen their efforts in resource mobilization from national associations, individual members, government, development partners and national events such as trade fairs.
3. NEALCO South Sudan should restructure its governance organogram to strengthen operations.