JUBA, June 29, 2021—While conflict and other shocks have taken a profound toll on South Sudan, workers and businesses have been extraordinarily resilient, and there are opportunities for recovery, according to a new World Bank jobs assessment.
With a focus on the self-employed and household business activities, the report, Jobs, Recovery and Peace Building in Urban South Sudan, notes that while farming and markets have declined, local products continue to compete with imports in the markets.
Analyzing urban jobs data, including self-employment and household activities, the assessment found that with support, market-linked agriculture could recover. Additionally, in surveys conducted for the assessment, young workers show that they have a more positive view of work in agriculture than they sometimes get credit for.
“Agriculture is a big employer in towns, with high potential for more productivity and for linkages up and down the value chain – jobs like making tools, transporting goods, and processing crops. Providing inputs remains relevant to restoring production,” said Husam Abudagga, World Bank Country Manager for South Sudan. “As stability progresses, cash grants for farmers and processors make sense. Farmer cooperatives are potential partners, and aggregators deserve attention as actors that can re-link markets.”
The report also shows that workers who run their own small activities, market traders, and businesses agree on the most important obstacles to making a living. One of their biggest concerns is poor access to funding. After years of conflict, many have lost assets, and find it hard to take the risks that come even with small investments. Low consumer demand poses another obstacle, as displacement, inflation, and salary arrears have eroded purchasing power in the markets. Finally, bad and dangerous roads pose a serious obstacle to returning to the market.
“Sometimes you may have some crops you need to sell but where will you get people who have money?” a farmer living in Wau said in 2019. “Now there are people who want some products but there is no money. So, these are the effects of the conflict.”
What policies can the government put in place, and what investments can development partners make to address these obstacles and support the first steps to help recovery? The report uses data from six surveys and international experience in post-conflict recovery to identify two priorities:
- The key policy challenges for South Sudan to be on the recovery path are that security must improve, oil revenue must be better managed, and inflation kept in check. Efforts to reduce public salary arrears can help market demand recover, and lower fees in markets and check points can encourage traders and farmers to make more investments. There is limited budget space to make such changes, but as the report shows, even gradual improvements make a real difference to jobs outcomes.
- Donor investment for jobs in early recovery should focus on helping households and businesses make small investments to relaunch their activities. Investments should support productivity in agriculture, prioritize rural-urban feeder roads, provide cash support to household business activities, and seek to revive market demand and aggregator networks.
The international community’s Partnership for Resilience and Recovery initiative for South Sudan provides important coordination.