4 Improving Governance: Policy, Institutions, Regulations, and Financing

Key points

• Protracted armed conflict in South Sudan stalled policy implementation and ushered in funding modalities focused on immediate humanitarian relief, hindering the development of holistic interventions and long-term, government-led planning.

• A Water Bill first drafted in 2013 continues to undergo changes and has not been ratified. Many of the proposed governance structures and regulatory bodies have yet to be established and become operational.

• Budget allocation to support recurrent and development expenditure to execute plans and policies has been scarce, especially since the conflict period.

• Sector financing is heavily dependent on donor funds and characterized by limited transparency, with an estimated 85 percent of the water sector’s services provided by international nongovernmental organizations. Financial statements are not available for public utilities, nor for private or community water service providers.

Addressing water insecurity in South Sudan requires an understanding of the governance and institutional structures that can effectively spearhead policy and interventions for the sector. However, the recurrence of armed conflict has largely stalled institutional development. Amid severe capacity constraints, inefficiencies are exacerbated by overlapping institutional responsibilities between ministries, across governance levels, and among stakeholders. Compounded by human and financial resource constraints, planning, monitoring, and information management systems are significantly challenged. Furthermore, the dominance of humanitarian actors involved in the sector has effectively sidelined the government and slowed national institutional development since the outbreak of conflict (Mosello, Mason, and Aludra 2016). These governance challenges, paired with widespread poverty and inadequate infrastructure investments, play a key role in water insecurity and related negative outcomes (USAID 2021).

This chapter provides an assessment of water governance in South Sudan since its independence in 2011. The assessment outlines four major aspects of water sector governance in the country: (a) policies, (b) institutional arrangements and responsibilities, (c) legal and regulatory frameworks, and (d) the humanitarian landscape and water sector financing across water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), water resources management (WRM), and irrigation subsectors. The chapter unpacks the governance constraints to sector reform and service delivery and offers recommendations for taking these into consideration in the design of future sector interventions. The assessment uses secondary data, key informant discussions, and a structured questionnaire administrated to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation’s (MWRI’s) directors general in the water subsectors.

This chapter also summarizes findings from a qualitative study on informal and customary institutions for water management in South Sudan. Traditional and customary institutions play an important role in local water governance, often alongside formal state structures and informal private sector actors, but knowledge of the role of these institutions in water management, and their interaction with formal water management institutions, is limited to date. The findings are based on evidence review, expert interviews, and focus group discussions conducted in Juba county (Central Equatoria), Kapoeta county (Eastern Equatoria), and Rumbek county (Lakes).

The development of water sector policy in South Sudan can be traced to the pre-independence Water Policy of 2007. Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, the MWRI published the first South Sudan water policy in November 2007. The policy outlined the country’s vision and established basic principles, objectives, and priorities for the water sector across WRM, rural water supply and sanitation, and urban water supply and sanitation. The role of water as a natural resource and economic and social good linked to the thriving of other sectors is key among the principles identified in the policy. Thus, access to water was considered a human right to be prioritized for effective development, management, and use. The 2007 Water Policy provided the foundation for more detailed strategies and set out the institutional, administrative, technical, and financial arrangements for implementing the policy (Government of South Sudan 2007)

After independence, the vision for development of the water sector was reiterated in the South Sudan Development Plan 2011–2013 and the 2011 Transitional Constitution, which emphasized the key role of water in the country’s development. Water resources management, development, and utilization and provision of sanitation services (to improve access to safe water and improved sanitation) were high on the agenda (Government of South Sudan 2011). Also, in 2011, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Strategic Framework was formulated to operationalize the Water Policy of 2007; attract investment; move from ad hoc emergency relief interventions to holistic, government-led planning and implementation of well-targeted development programs; and initiate inclusive sectorwide governance and development.

The WASH Strategic Framework encompassed the full scope of the 2007 Water Policy, including WRM, urban WASH, and rural WASH, with a timeframe up to 2015 (JICA 2015). It further recommended the establishment of a Water Council as a multisectoral advisory board at the national level, along with regulatory institutions such as the Safe Water Supply and Sanitation Services Regulator for WASH and Water Resources Management Authority for WRM. The establishment of Basin Water Boards in each basin, with catchment and subcatchment committees responsible for planning and resolving conflicts, was also proposed in the framework (USAID 2021).

Another major policy instrument was a Water Bill first drafted in 2013, which sought to provide the legislative framework for the proposals in the preceding water policies. The bill continues to undergo changes and has yet to be passed by Parliament. The bill developed procedures to manage water allocation for different uses, conservation, water quality, water-related disasters, and intersectoral coordination (USAID 2021).

In 2012, the Rural Water and Sanitation Service Delivery Framework (Government of South Sudan 2012) was drafted to improve the financing and delivery of rural water and sanitation in South Sudan and outlined the institutional and financial arrangements for water and sanitation infrastructure development and service provision. Also in 2012, a National Rural Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Sub-sector Action and Investment Plan (2012–2015) was developed to shore up rural water sector financing gaps (USAID 2013). The investment plan highlighted the need for stakeholder collaboration and participatory community-based processes; development of effective local management structures to increase community ownership, development, and involvement of the private sector; and improvement of local governance and the inclusion of women, children, and vulnerable groups in the planning and development of WASH activities in rural areas.

An Irrigation Development Master Plan was developed in 2015 with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The master plan prioritized three geographic areas, Wau, Jebel Lado, and Rejaf East, based on security, accessibility, and irrigation potential (JICA 2015). In 2020, an Irrigation Policy (2020–2025) was drafted, which aims to effectively utilize the country’s water resources by developing irrigation facilities, improving institutional arrangements for irrigation management, and enhancing technical human resources’ knowledge, skill, and institutional working capability in the irrigation subsector.

Other relevant policy references can be drawn from the agriculture sector, environmental policies, decentralization policies, and broader development plans for South Sudan. For instance, the Local Government Act, 2009, refers to the delivery of rural water and sanitation and urban sanitation as the mandate of local government. The agriculture sector put forward the Agricultural Sector Policy Framework (2012–2017) with its vision of “food security for all.” It promotes sustainable irrigation infrastructure and flood management systems to improve agricultural productivity and enhance food security. After witnessing the extent of flooding in 2020, Sudan and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding on water management and flood prevention (Radio Dabanga 2021) to foster cooperation between the two countries for information sharing, capacity-building, flood monitoring, and the rehabilitation of irrigation projects in the Upper Nile region. Table 4.1 provides an overview of the development of water sector policy in South Sudan.