Abstracts & Bios

About

Presenters’, Chairs’, Panels’ Abstracts and Bios

[In order of appearance in program]

DAY 1

NOTES ON A CRITIQUE OF DEVELOPMENT: A SNAPSHOT OF TRENDS

Sondra Hale

It seems everyone has something to say about “development.”  Whether or not we are talking about endogenous development (change from the inside) on the one hand, or exogenous development (intervention from the outside), on the other, the fact is that development is a form of intervention.  In a sense, one of my tasks in this introductory talk is to discuss the theoretical, philosophical, practical, and political “trends,” if you will, in approaches to development—clearly an impossible task. 

Beginning in the post-World War II period (especially 1944-49), as a result of many people and countries seeing a need to rebuild the infrastructure and economies of damaged and destroyed cities and villages, a spate of writing and political speeches poured out. These were unfailingly exuberant and uncritical goodwill kinds of approaches undergirded by economists and were usually ethnocentric.  With a few exceptions, aid from the outside, exogenous aid, was usually for the purposes of what came to be known as “development;” and development projects were seen as highly positive interventions.

But the world changed, and processes such as independence movements in colonized areas and the long process of decolonization had profound effects on development. This highly positive view of development in the literature--both from the donors and the recipients—did not last very long before it began to overlap with highly critical and damning indictments of development.  In fairly recent years some of these negative writings have been leveraged by more humanistic, yet critical, approaches, including studies of ethics, morality, and development as a form of freedom (e.g., Sen 1999).  Assessments of failures began to contain qualities apart from economics. Scholars’ and activists’ calls for sustainable development began to involve more inclusive approaches, e.g., the inclusion of women and other marginal people, as well as the formation of partnerships between recipients and donors, etc.  Such an approach amounted to a slight move away from the economic domination by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.  However, the response of these giant institutions was to change many of their methodologies to be in step with the trend toward more seemingly egalitarian and people-oriented projects.  However, most of these “partnerships” were with the State, upon which donor agencies foisted neoliberal projects and procedures.  This has had the effect of driving local economies into the ground and oftentimes bolstering oppressive governments.  To some critics these partnerships with the State have led to greater poverty among the people. Do we have any “success” stories to put forward about Sudan, many of us scholars and practitioners—Sudanese and non-Sudanese alike-- having written extensively about the failures?

Sondra Hale

Professor Hale Research Professor, Departments of Anthropology and Gender Studies, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  She has chaired or directed UCLA’s Islamic Studies, Center for Near Eastern Studies, and Gender Studies.  She co-edited The Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (JMEWS). Hale, who has spent decades researching Sudan, is the author of Gender Politics in Sudan: Islamism, Socialism, and the State (Arabic trans., 2011) and co-Editor of Sudan’s Killing Fields: Political Violence and Fragmentation (2014), as well as dozens of essays in journals and anthologies. She has received many awards for teaching and for life-time distinguished scholarship, Association for Middle East Women’s Studies and Sudan Studies Association.  From Salmmah she received an award for Fifty Years of Support and Commitment to the Sudanese Women’s Movement.  A special issue of JMEWS (2014) was published in her honour entitled Scholar, Mentor, Activist: Sondra Hale’s Transnational Commitments.

THE “EMPTYING” OF MEANING AND “DE-POLITICISATION” OF TERMS: KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION IN DEVELOPMENT

Gada Kadoda

Words representing the discourse of development have been changing and proliferating over the years since the field emerged in the late 1940s. Some living on like “poverty”, others dying like “The Third World”, and new ones re/emerging like “gender” or “sustainability”. The words that persisted have been reproduced in different forms such as the trio of related to poverty-- “alleviation”, “reduction”, or “eradication.” Those terms that were replaced were gentrified, bringing in their own meanings such as “developing countries”, and more recently, “Africa”, instead of only being part of the “Third World.” Should the trajectory of “development-speak” bother us, I mean those concerned about “development”? Is it true that “Words make Worlds”?

In this presentation, I consider a number of commonly used development words and terminology, showing their conceptual life, their parents and children, their birth, demise, and re-birth, with the intention to discuss the trends that may be persisting and those that are changing. For instance, has modernity persisted? Can development be unsustainable? What about “empowerment”, does it still have the power of its origins in critical pedagogy and feminism? After all, we all use the words and terms in our funding proposals, reports, and talks. Should we not be clear about what they mean and are becoming? More importantly, should we not also reflect on whose knowledge counts in defining them?

As I map the histories of poverty, women, the environment, and development itself, using material from Sachs (1992), Escobar (1995), and Cornwall and Eade (2010), among other scholars who produced critical analyses in their deconstructions of development discourse, I attempt to generate a discussion on desirable and undesirable meanings, their beginnings and incarnations, to reflect on the knowledge, and therefore power, they represent in defining national policies. With Sudan in the matrix of “colonised”, “developing country”, “fragile state”, “patriarchal society”, “Not-on-Track for agricultural transformation” --without even considering the array of issues that other presenters will address in their critiques, I will hopefully contribute to interrogating our understanding of what is entailed when we describe and implement commonly used, and sometimes abused, development concepts in our projects. Challenging accepted notions of what it means to be developed or empowered: understanding the power structure within which words took and are taking shape; making new ones or reclaiming old ones; seeing through the “epoch” of development in Sudan may be necessary to contemplate the possibilities for the future.

Gada Kadoda

Dr. Kadoda’s work experience includes research and teaching posts in the UK, Barbados and Sudan.  She has published on software engineering, knowledge production, appropriate technology, ethics, social media and activism. Kadoda was 2010’s African Scholar Guest of the Annual Program at the University of South Africa, on UNICEF’s list of nine innovators to watch in 2014, and received the Sudanese Women in Science Organisation Award in 2015. She is co-editor of a book entitled Networks of Knowledge Production: Identities, Mobilities, and Technologies (2015), and currently, co-editing “The Sudanese Intellectual at Home and in the World”. She is founding president of Sudanese Knowledge Society.

Idris Salim ElHassan (Discussant – Opening Session) Professor Elhassan is Dean, Faculty of Arts, International University of Africa, Sudan; He has been on the faculty of the Department of Anthropology, University of Khartoum from 1973 to 2008.  He graduated with BSc (with honours) and MSc. in Anthropology /Sociology from the University of Khartoum, and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut, USA. He taught and supervised graduate students at the universities of Khartoum, King Saud (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) , and the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, International Islamic University, Malaysia.  He was visiting Scholar/Professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, and continues as a senior researcher in academic research collaborations with Christian Michelson Institute, Bergen University and CEDEJ (France).  He has also taught at the University of Addis Ababa, and the University of United Arab Emirates.  Prof. ElHassan is the author many articles and chapters and of several books, including Religion in Society: Nemerie and the Turuq (1993), Sudanese Perspectives in Science, Knowledge and Culture (2003), and Cultural Forms among IDPs in Khartoum (2014) – in Arabic. Prof. ElHassan has acted as a member of many national, regional and international academic and professional organizations in Eastern and Southern Africa; has been a consultant for many ministries and international NGOs. In addition, Professor ElHassan is on a number of editorial boards of referred journals; and most recently, on the Board of Trustees of Tayeb Salih International Award for Creative Writing. His current research interest is migration and refugee studies. 

Nada Ali (Video producer – Session 1)

Ms. Nada Ali has received a B.Sc. from the University of Khartoum, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences (November 2014). Now she is a Web Developer at the University of Khartoum in the Information Technology and Networks Departments (Digital Content) (2015). Ms Ali is one of the founders of the Sudanese knowledge society (2012); one of the creators of the 1% Club in Sudan; and a member of several organizations including the Sudanese Internet Society (2010).

Shadin Mohmmed Hussin

She is a Hakama, poet, and composer. Hussin is a researcher in the rhythms of the Baggara, camel and goat herders, as well as mountain dwellers, and their mix with African rhythms. She has her own musical bank (Hakama Bank).

MODERN PLASTIC ART IN THE SUDAN:

AMPLITUDE OF IMAGINATION AND ABSENCE OF INSTITUTIONAL BUILDING

Salah Hassan AbdAllah

Although like most groups, Sudan has a long and ancient art history.  However, in this paper I will concentrate on modern plastic arts in Sudan.  With the advent of colonial rule, a new mode of plastic art practice entered the country, influenced by European modernist culture.  In 1936 British artist and teacher, Denis Greenlaw, introduced modernist art into the Sudan school curriculum.  Through his teachings he began to alter plastic art practice.  Sudan’s small artistic community began to shift from its traditional forms to a modern mode.  This was a major point in the trajectory of the plastic arts in Sudan. This was followed by the second stage in the journey, this one through the efforts of Ulli Beier and his workshop, which was established in the mid-sixties in Mbari Club in Ibadan, Nigeria.  The influence from this workshop so easily crossed over in space, the result of which was the establishment of the Khartoum School which prevailed over the arena of the modern plastic art in the Sudan for several years. The third major stage that we reached was relatively different from the two preceding ones. This one was manifested in a circle of debate and intellectual exchange which was initiated at the beginning of the seventies amongst the students of the College of Fine and Applied Art (formerly Khartoum Technical Institute).  This circle succeeded in shaking up a lot of the then prevalent concepts and forms of practice.

In this paper I set out to tackle the history of the plastic art movement within the sociocultural and political context of Sudan, describing its most salient features today which have been manifested in, and influenced by, political entities, civil society organizations, and individual efforts.

Among the individuals whose efforts influenced the trajectory of modernist plastic arts in Sudan was Hassan Musa.  He stated about the existence of an art movement in Sudan that it is "An individual’s movement rather than it is an institutional one, and most of them are imaginative and capable of bearing the consequences of their civilizational paradox".   Although his description is accurate, it stops before suggesting solutions. Anyhow, I agree that individuals remain the most qualified to find solutions. Those solutions, however, will never succeed unless efforts towards institution-building are initiated-- in a world that recognizes only institutionalization.

Salah Hassan Abd Alla

Salah Hassan is an artist who has a degree from the College of Fine and Applied Art / Khartoum, 1975.  He has held some solo and group exhibitions of his work.  From 2001-2013 he was the Secretary of Theoretical and Intellectual Affairs of the Sudanese Plastic Artist Union. Salah has been Coordinator of three symposia and has edited two art books (both of these S.P.A.U.).  In 2005 he published Contributions on Art Literature/Critical Analysis for the Period 1974-1986. Three of his art books are currently being printed.  Salah is a member of the Sudanese Writers Union.

Ola Hassanain (Chair – Session 1)

She is an artist with degrees in architecture, cultural identity, and globalization. She studied Fine Art in Netherlands. Her artwork is informed by the cultural, political, and societal position of women in Khartoum, including her own experiences and her family’s diaspora. 

DAY 2

Fatima Salaheldin (Game Organiser – Start of Day 2)

She works as researcher at the National Center for Research (NCR), Sudan, and has been an active member of Sudanese Knowledge Society since 2012. Ms Ali is interested in discussing development problems from different perspectives. The research topics that interest her are ecosystem services, local ecological knowledge, archaeology, earth observation science, and knowledge management.

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON APPROACHES THAT INFLUENCED DEVELOPMENT IN SUDAN, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON CIVIL SOCIETY

Bashir Abdelgayoum

The central theme of the studies of Sudanese politics in the last six decades has been the significant political change from democratic to authoritarian forms, which is known in Sudan as the vicious cycle of short democracy (1956-1958, 1964-1969 and 1985-1989) interrupted by lengthy dictatorships (1958-1964, 1969-1985, 1989-to the present). During these periods and processes, the Sudanese Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) such as trade unions, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), have played an important role. The relations between state and these CSOs/NGOs throughout these periods have never been easy, even during the democratic regimes.

The Sudanese NGOs and voluntary sector have survived and contributed to coping mechanisms of mutual cooperation, solidarity and support. In addition to the impact of the colonial period, pre-independence in 1956, and the social and political challenges of both democratic and military authoritarian forms, Sudan had also experienced drought, famine, civil strife, and displacement since the 1970s. Because of these circumstances and inadequate development policies, the ‘food- basket country,’ as Sudan was once called, relies on relief aid and international humanitarian assistance.

Nonetheless, Sudan has maintained rich social capital. Traditional structures and organizations, whether introduced or transformed, aggregate demands and capacities at the how-to assistance in the implementation of sustainable and locally managed development. Both NGOs and official agencies have no proper documentation of the contributions and roles of NGOs and the voluntary sector in Sudan. Poor literature and lack of documentation of the CBO sector is a sound justification and rationale for conducting this work.

Unfortunately, the challenges and constrains encountering CSOs in the country have become more complicated, as the government, instead of being neutral and supportive to voluntary work, intensified mechanisms of control. The government created many organizations and assisted only those of similar historic origin or being politically affiliated to the regime. CSOs who show their own political standing have been suffering when coming to re-register or simply to implement their activities. The NGOs Laws Regulating Voluntary Work (2006) is one of these measures taken by the regime to control the humanitarian work of NGOs.

Why is civil society so important? If we want to define a success or failure of the state, look at the context of civil society. "Civil society is the context and substance from which a healthy state emerges" (Beauclerk et al. 2011:12). The ability of the state to meet the needs and demands of citizens is integrally linked to the ability of civil society to articulate citizens’ voices.  We will not win the battle to eliminate poverty, for example, by merely relief or technical inputs without developing a supportive civil society, which can act to analyse the root causes of poverty and social injustice. Civil society contributes by raising awareness, demanding rights, calling attention to good governance from the state, counterbalancing elite controls of wealth, economy and politics.

Bashir A. Abdelgayoum Ali

Dr. Abdelgayoum is a development practitioner and researcher who has a Ph.D. in Development Studies.  He is freelancing in the fields of capacity development and support to civil society organizations, policy-making processes, governance, and networking. He is the author of "Repression of Sudanese Civil Society under the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party", published by Review African Political Economy (December 2010), and co-author of "The Making of Social Capital in Sudan" published in 2017. Dr. Abdelgayoum has worked in Sudan, Egypt, Canada, Jordan and for the MENA region. He is a member of the Regional Funding Committee for Civil Society Campaign for Education for All.

FROM IMPLICIT PROGRESS TO EXPLICIT RETROGRESSION: EXPLORING THE COINCIDENTAL CORRELATION BETWEEN NEO-LIBERALISM AND ISLAMISM IN THE SUDAN DEVELOPMENT IMPASSE

Atta Elbatahani

Post-independence historical records show Sudan moving from initial progress to steady retrogression. The paper begins by surveying development related intellectual and political processes impacting economic development, and in the course of this, highlights the main features of the status quo of development in Sudan. Emphasis will be on the causes and effects of past and present choices that have shaped the present development deadlock. 

This paper argues that after a brief period of a ‘reasonable’ development record, circumstances changed, paving the way for realignment of forces and a muddy transition charting a new development path. During the transition, the intellectual void was filled by imports of free market discourse fanned by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and embraced by an emerging business class whose ethos is networking with regional and international circles for the sake of wealth (not capital) accumulation. 

This new development path gradually intermeshed and transformed/transfigured into an underlying symbiosis/coincidental correlation between neo-liberalism and Islamism in Sudan. It is this symbiosis/coincidental correlation that, inter alia, was largely responsible for the current development impasse. Neo-liberal development discourse was dominant mainly because the absence/weakness of critical Sudanese intellectuals vis-à-vis a vibrant, albeit disarticulated Islamist development which was paving the way for the domination of neo-liberal development discourse in a bizarre confluence with Sharia rule. The development outcome is an explicit retrogression.  

In conclusion, the paper warns against taking lightly the challenges ahead, pointing to the colossal task hanging over organic Sudanese intellectuals in not only challenging dominant development discourse (bizarre confluence of neo-liberalism and Islamism) but putting forward convincing alternative concepts of development (embraced by a historic change agency), a task that may require intellectuals to think and look beyond the borders of Sudan.

Atta El-Battahani

Dr. El-Battahani is Professor in Political Science and Political Economy, University of Khartoum where he also served as Head, Department of Political Science (2003-2006).  He was educated at Khartoum and Sussex Universities. El-Battahani was a founding member of Amnesty International Khartoum (1987-1989); Sudanese Civil Society Network for Poverty Alleviation (2002-2005); and Country Manager of International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 2006-2010. His research is on Ethnic and Religious Conflicts; Governance and state institutional reform; Gender Politics; Peripheral Capitalism; and Political Islam and Political Transitions. His publications include Federalism and Economic Development in Sudan; Economic Liberalization and Institutional Reform in Irrigated Agriculture; the Politics of HIV/AIDS in Sudan; Economic Transformation and Political Islam; and Democracy Deficit in the Arab World.

Balghis Badri (Chair – Session 2)

Professor Badri is a Sudanese feminist activist, particularly in the fields of female genital mutilation (FGM) and the development of rural women since 1979.  She is Professor of Social Anthropology at Ahfad University for Women (AUW).  Dr. Badri was a part-time lecturer at Ahfad University for Women from 1974 to 1997, and full-time since then.  She is now Professor, and in 2002 she founded and became the Inaugural Director of the AUW Institute of Women, Gender and Development Studies. Prof. Badri is also the Director of the Ahfad University for Women's Regional Institute of Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights, in Omdurman/Khartoum. In 1979, she introduced women and gender-related studies to the university curricula.  In February 2017, Women's Activism in Africa (co-edited by Badri and Aili Mari Tripp) was published by Zed Books. Badri also wrote or co-wrote two of the ten chapters.

THE STORY OF TWO CITIES:

AN ATTEMPT TO APPLY SYSTEMS THEORY TO URBAN CHANGE

Osman Elkhier

In this presentation we delve into the way Om Durman and Khartoum towns were established and the way they grew. They both arose due to military circumstances and developed as rival towns, at one time determined to abolish each other. Levels of technology available at the time of their birth and visions underlying their creation were very different. They, therefore, demonstrate very different morphologies and life styles, and in spite of locational detachment, they are still required to function as complementary parts of the capital city. The current situation of urban chaos, however, has affected both, somewhat obscuring their differences by rendering the general picture as that of a sprawling village severely strained under ailing infrastructure. It is not uncommon for some doubts to be thrown out questioning the viability of Greater Khartoum as a capital for Sudan. What does the future hold for this capital, then? How can we read through computer modeling and advanced techniques to get a better view of the urban scene and understand the mechanisms of change taking place? The presentation, then, attempts bringing out the salient features of each town and discussing ways of sustaining and enforcing them. The presence of the three Niles, for example, is a commanding factor that has scarcely been given enough attention.   These Niles currently act as a barrier rather than a connecting element, and are left as a backyard of the housing zone rather than a frontage. Its touristic, sport and commercial benefits are not tapped. The colonial part of Khartoum is being distorted by uncalculated interventions or complete removal of some parts. The rich and promising cultural corridor through Om Durman also declines in forgetfulness and risks being overwhelmed by out-of-context developments. The city is mostly composed of perishable structures that can be lost through neglect. All this, however, has to be corrected, together with solving basic questions of essential services and securing life, giving assistance to the population first.

Osman Elkheir

Dr. Elkheir holds a Ph. D. in architecture, Human Settlements, and has had 42 years of experience in planning and design of various building projects, as well as research and teaching.  He has contributed to major projects of master plans, design works, assessment of existing buildings, and rehabilitation programmes. Dr. Elkheir received his training in England, Germany and Sweden. He contributed to the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Oxford University. He is the ex-co-chair of Arc.Peace International and representative in Sudan of the Swedish Sudanese Association. Dr. Elkheir has been a Volunteer in many NGOs and is currently chair of Newtech Consulting Group.

URBAN TRANSFORMATION AND SPACETIME:

THE CASE OF KHARTOUM AND ADDIS ABABA

Adam W. Chalupski

The word "today" refers to a fleeting point that becomes a history in the blink of an eye. Considering the inseparability of time and space, a "naked" moment, deprived of its place, would be an unrealistic creation, so that it should also contain some assigned ageodetic coordinate. The spatial location of the "moment", however, requires certain assumptions that, at least partially, will save us from the trap of infinite relativity. Take, for example, the places undergoing dynamic urban changes. There, time is perceived stronger than in a vacuum where all processes of change cease and where time seems not to flow. In an empty space what is present is no different from what has passed. When someone asks "What's happening in the world?"--for obvious reasons, most likely the answer will mention spectacular events like an earthquake in Japan, the launch of an hyperloop train, bombardment of a city... nobody would associate “now” with a place located a dozen or so meters below the surface of the Sahara desert where today does not differ from yesterday, nor from tomorrow.

By inverting the assumption that the "now" lays in the center of the most important events, we could forward the hypothesis that the modernisation and spatial changes made by humankind creates what we perceive as the present. From the historical point of view the “now” could be seen as the triumph of civilisation that marches through the continents, resulting in spatial deformations of its proto-urban landscapes. Using properly selected methodological tools we will be able to generate the spatiotemporal map of the world.

Does the above reflection permeate minds of the creators of the Far East Megatropolis, where among the glorious legacy of the Sino-ancient civilizations "today" has nested its very present cradle? Historical changes in the morphologies of the Far East Asian cities - likewise many African-- resulted from the slow, organic evolution of native urban tissue. Unsuggested and isolationist growth typical to ancient cities was then disturbed by external factors the moment the colonial European powers, especially the United Kingdom appeared. It is not without a reason an analogy is drawn between colonial Britain and present day China.  Both countries reflected its stigma in the spatial landscapes of Africa the moment they achieved its civilisational high and, in both cases, it was a consequence of migration of what we defined before as “now”. My presentation features a spatio-temporal analysis of two selected capital cities in Africa: Addis Ababa and Khartoum. These cities, due to the history of development and accumulated spatial potential, remain valuable cases in an attempt to understand how the modern urban development process changes under the influence of external factors.

Adam W Chalupski

He is an architect from Poland with a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urban Planning and has had over two decades of professional experience from across Europe, Asia and Africa. He is the author of books, articles, lectures and workshops related to parametric design, low cost architecture, nomadic life and independent culture. During his career he has crossed through almost 100 countries studying culture and its rich anthropological mosaics, organising post-disaster relief actions and various documentation.  He is currently based in Sudan.  Chalupski runs a Ph.D research project focusing on China’s influence in shaping African urban morphologies.

AL SAYAL—A COMMUNITY- BASED DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

Omer Sulieman

This paper is a description and analysis of a Sudanese development project--Al Sayal Community-based Project [SDI-2022].  Al Sayal village lies on the west bank of the Nile, across the bridge from Shendi city.  It has a population of 4730, consisting of 703 families and 550 houses. Facilities consist of four schools, four mosques, one market place and an agricultural scheme of about 2500 acres, shared with 15 villages. Alsayal, like other rural areas of Sudan, is suffering from lack of a national vision for dealing with rural development, poverty, emigration of youth, harmful traditional practices, including negative life styles; low voluntary work culture and the absence of effective action-oriented community organization.

          Project SDI-2022 aims at creating a replicable rural development initiative, which includes improvement of people’s quality of life, their life styles, social relations. It also includes building their capacity and introducing appropriate technology in productive areas. The strategy adopted also included problem identification and village organization and planning to implement certain concepts that include: a green village, friendly environment village, community school, baby-friendly home and community, self-reliant village, and the search for, and developing of intellect and innovation and prioritization.

                Major priorities consist of poverty alleviation, environmental promotion and protection, education, women’s empowerment and youth support.  Actions have been taken in all these priority areas. An in-depth house-to-house survey, community organization, R&M of facilities, renovation of the agricultural schemes, house farming, cross-breeding of livestock, and several mini-projects, for example, a village information center, are completed or  under implementation.

Omar Sulieman

Dr. Sulieman is a physician who graduated from the University of Khartoum in 1964 and has worked in several areas of Sudan.  Dr. Sulieman did post-graduate studies in community medicine, health planning and management, and health economics.  He lead smallpox eradication in South Sudan and later worked in WHO for 28 years, the latest post being WHO representative for Jordan and Syria. He is now a Rural Sudan development volunteer.

Ahmed Alsafi (Chair – Session 3)

Prof. Ahmed El Safi, MB BS, DA, FFARCS, FRCA holds a bachelor of Medicine & Surgery of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum (MB BS, 1971), Diploma of Anaesthetics in London (DA, 1976), Fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FFARCS, 1977), and Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists of England (FRCA). In 1982, he had orthodox training in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture as applied to Anaesthesia, analgesia and therapy in Nanjing (China). He is currently Professor of Anesthesiology, Khartoum College of Medical Sciences. Dr. Alsafi is the Founder and Director of Sudan Medical Heritage Foundation; Maharat Medical Training Centre; Al Jawda Hospital; Ibrahim El Zain Training Centre.  He is also President of the Sudanese Writers Union and the Sudanese Society of Anesthesiologists. Dr. Ahmed El Safi has written over twelve books and several articles in English and Arabic on health systems, the history of Sudanese medicine, and health culture.

THE ROLE OF WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE IN DEVELOPMENT:

SUDAN IN THE MATRIX

Sahl Yasin

The study focuses on the contribution and importance of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector as a key resource for health, as well as being important in the development process and sustainable in Sudan.  The study reviews and examines the ability of government policies and international agency activities among the WASH sector in the Sudan context in the last several decades and goes beyond the results found in various reports and studies and makes links between the national strategy plan and the requirements of development.  The study demonstrates the role of WASH in environment, distribution of population and percentage of the burden of some diseases (BOD) related to the sector, to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Over the historical period up to now the analysis shows a strong relationship between coverage and improvement of WASH and reduces the percentage of mortality due to many reasons, such changes in lifestyle and the transfer from rural to urban.  Hence, this study demonstrates the potential for linkage and implementation of the prediction model system to address the problems facing the community.

Sahl Ibrahim Bakhit Yasin

Dr. Yasin has a Ph D in Inorganic Chemistry, Sudan University of Science and Technology 2017.  He also has a M.Sc. in Chemistry from Alzaiem Alazhari University (2011) and a BSc from Bakhit Eluda University, Faculty of Science and Education Chemistry (2003). Dr. Yasin’s research activity is in Material Science (Synthesis, Characterization and Applications); Water Treatment, using friendly and low cost materials; and the Environment.  Dr. Yasin works at a high school and teaches part-time at Sudan University of Science and Technology and Sudanese National Academy of science.

WITH SUDAN IN THE MATRIX, WHERE CAN FUTURES THINKING LEAD US?

THE CASE OF HEALTH DEVELOPMENT

Asma Elsony

Sudan faces serious fiscal-pressure due to a sluggish-economy and insurmountable health-challenges. Health-systems throughout the world are searching for better ways of responding to present-future-challenges. Sudan should not be isolated from this innovative-process. Sudan’s current organization of Health-System is the segmented-model, the Ministry of Health/Military/Police/Security/institute(s)/ private-sector; each is vertically/integrated. Sudan faces a dual challenge: on one hand, it must deal with a backlog of accumulated problems characteristic of underdeveloped-societies; on the other hand, it is facing a set of emerging problems characteristic of industrialized countries. Countries-Health-Performance is measured through achievement of the Health-related-Sustainable-development-Goals-(HR-SDGs). Failures of national/global policies is reflected in countries-progress meeting targets-linked to (HR-SDGs)-indicators, which ranged from 60% for two-indicators to 0% for nine-indicators. Sudan is far from the accepted SDG/index.

Can Sudan focus on human-well-being, conceptualized as expansion of capabilities in multiple- dimensions; can we think of other health/models that may reinforce the move towards a flourishing life (FL)?  Nussbaum, postulates the FL requires the protection of ten-central-capabilities and proposes the Capability-Approach-to-(GDP) which has long been the official-measure of a country’s quality-of-life. In Sudan’s-Scenario, is it the government’s role to raise citizens above-the-threshold on all ten capabilities?  Should the people have a role to play or should all nations aim at a Global threshold/target?

Our team first developed a conceptualization of health-systems in terms of the relationships between populations and institutions and looked into what is required to meet the population-needs.  We asked questions about whether or not health-systems should perform the basic-functions or should they strategize towards a holistic-approach and stream for a (FL). Can people in developing countries and the globally-marginalized make rational choices to improve human-lives, being the real purpose of development? Or, will economic reform, GDP reallocation to support health education and social security systems suffice? We tried to analyze the performance of current-health-systems, taking into account the development theories, other lenses to assess health projects, proposing an innovative-model to promote primacy of people that may lead to a good and flourishing/life.

Asma I. Elsony

Professor/Dr. Elsony is a medical doctor who holds an MSc, DTCD, MD, and PhD.  Prof. Elsony is a health and Human Rights Activist and is Director, Epidemiology Laboratory for Research and Public Health, Khartoum. Her areas of professional activity include: Tuberculosis/HIV, lung disease, epidemiology and public health.  She is an award-winning professional with proven success in program management, technical assistance, research, administration, and donor relations, with emphasis on non-profit, global health, and international relations. She serves as technical expert for several global organizations, including the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for The Global Fund, WHO expert for Geneva and EMRO, among others.  She is the former President of the Union, Paris (2002-2007); Secretary of WHO/Horn of Africa TB, Initiative (1998– 2004).

Suad Sulaiman (Chair – Session 4)

Dr Sulaiman is a health and environment adviser, a member of executive Committee, Sudanese National Academy of Sciences; a member of the Technical Advisory & Ethical Research Committee, Federal Ministry of Health; and is Research Director, Sudan Medical Heritage Foundation. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Haggar Charity Foundation, Khartoum.

HOW TO LEARN LESSONS WHEN SCHOOL IS MAKING IT DIFFICULT:

REFLECTIONS ON EXPERIENCES IN SUDAN

Enrico Ille

This paper deals with issues of securitization, commodification and fragmentation of data production in Sudan's development and humanitarian sector.  It reflects on the author's experiences with data production for development projects and humanitarian interventions since 2005, in order to consider what its numerous short-comings and obstacles can say about chances for improvement. As I got variously involved in data collection, data processing and reporting, the explicit intention to facilitate 'evidence-based' interventions was regularly undermined by limitations of access (securitization), marketized practices (commodification) and a lack of either horizontal or vertical coherence in the sector (fragmentation). While it is thus not difficult to point out precarious gaps between stated goals and achieved outcomes, it is much more challenging to develop appropriate responses to such gaps. A practice-oriented analysis may highlight that everyday practices of involved actors already constitute such responses, but since 'appropriate' introduces a normative perspective, the question remains how such responses can be valued, and which of them can be regarded as improvement, or as 'lessons learned'. Even an actual increase of humans' well-being cannot be easily stated as a principle of evaluation, since such well-being cannot be assessed without further data production, which brings about an infinite loop of representation. At this point, I propose the notion of 'good translation', which values representational practices with regard to their reduction or increase of conflictual tension between specific involved actors while observing its potential to increase or reduce such tension somewhere else. This integration of analytical and mediatory perspectives calls for better collaboration of 'experts of critique' and decision-makers, where multi-sited but also functional conflict analysis aims for 'good translation' rather than separate 'best representations' and 'best practices'.

Enrico Ille

Dr. Ille has a doctoral degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Halle. After holding positions as Assistant Professor at the University of Halle, Germany, and Ahfad University for Women, Sudan, he is currently an independent researcher as a member of the Law, Organization, Science and Technology (LOST) Research Group. He co-edited the volume Emerging Orders in the Sudans (2014) and published on history, land issues, development interventions and political economy of the Nuba Mountains. Recently, his research shifted to the relation of state institutions, commercial companies and communities in gold mining and food supply chains throughout northern Sudan. He held the Urgent Anthropology Fellowship at The British Museum / Royal Anthropological Institute, London (July 2016 - December 2017) and currently is preparing a book on socio-ecological changes in date palm cultivation around the Third Nile Cataract.

SUDANESE PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES: AN ACADEMIC CRITIQUE

Adil Yousif

The higher education revolution implemented in the 1990s over-extended the public and private universities and colleges in Sudan. This increase in the number of universities and colleges without robust planning has resulted in poor academic environments and low quality degrees. Some of the higher education revolution objectives are: to increase the student intake; to change the admission policy; to distribute the universities and colleges geographically in all Sudan states; to establish universities in rural areas; and to establish private universities and colleges. As a result of the higher education revolution, both public and private higher education universities and colleges in Sudan have increased rapidly. The number of public universities increased from four in 1990 to thirty-four. The private universities before the higher education revolution numbered two, and now in 2018, the number of private universities, colleges and academies is seventy-three, according to the Ministry of higher education website.

The increase in the number of the private universities and the continuous establishment of new colleges and programs, without considering student numbers and interests, has resulted in many programmes having fewer numbers of students. In 2018, after all admission types have closed, the number of empty seats in the private universities is 209 and 85,77, and 43 academic programmes in private colleges and universities have 75%, 50%, 25% and 10% respectively of empty seats. In 2018, ninety-nine academic programmes have less than 10 students. The shortage in the number of students in  private college intake affects the financial status of private colleges and universities. Many private universities find it difficult to cover the financial requirements and the running cost, putting aside the profits. The private universities and college’s financial problems are due to the number of students affected in the academic process in several dimensions, such as an unstable academic calendar, too short a study period, multiple examination rounds, and inaccurate student results. The impacts of these academic consequences are poor academic process and low quality degrees. This has led to the claim by students and academics that education in private universities and colleges in Sudan is a profit-oriented business rather than one designed for academic achievement.

Adil Yousif

Dr. Yousif received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. from University of Khartoum, Sudan, and his PhD degree from University of Technology in Malaysia.  He is now an Associate Professor and independent researcher. His research interests include Higher Education issues and emerging Information Technologies.

Guma K. Komey (Chair – Session 5)

Professor Komey is Associate Professor of Human Geography, University of Bahri, Khartoum.  He authored Land, Governance, Conflict and the Nuba of Sudan (2010); “The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Questions of Identity, Territory and Political Destiny of the Indigenous Nuba of the Sudan,” International Journal of African Renaissance 5(1): 48-64; “Back to War in Sudan: Flawed Peace Agreement…” in A/G Ahmed and G. Sørbø (eds.): Sudan Divided… (2013); “The Nuba Plight: An Account of People Facing Perpetual Violence and Institutionalized Insecurity” in S. Totten and A. Grzyb (eds): Conflict in the Nuba Mountains From Genocide-by-Attrition to the Contemporary Crisis in Sudan (2014).

THE TRAJECTORY OF ENERGY POLICY IN SUDAN:

ACCESS, PRIORITIES, AND EQUITY

Sarah Khalifa and Marwan Adam

The access to energy for all is a pivotal key to sustainable development and human well-being. There is much evidence which shows that the links between the access to energy and economic growth is a bi-directional phenomeno--the adequate level of energy access, coverage, equity distribution, and consumption patterns, across all spectra of uses, has a strong nexus to basic human needs, such as food security; access to essential health services, delivery of quality education, improved water and sanitation, as well as gender equality and adaptation to climate change. Recent Sudan statistics indicates that almost 60% of the population lack access to electricity; 58% use solid fuel as the primary household fuel, while the electricity contribution is only 2%. But the real dilemma resides in the skewed energy balance which indicates that the residential sector had the highest demand over transportation, services, industry and agriculture respectively. Surprisingly, industry and agriculture sectors, which are main pillars for economic growth and development had a lower record for fulfilling demand.  Increasing the access for these sectors would make a large contribution to economic development.

In this work, we trace and critique, retrospectively, the trajectory of energy policy in post-independent Sudan--the driving principles behind the question of which developmental agenda it adopts, as well as what the right balance between different planning methodologies, the funding priorities; and the strategies and measures which were implemented to achieve the policy objectives. We apply systems thinking and systems approaches to reconstruct the ways in which energy policy was devised and deployed; how the sustainable development socioeconomic dynamics are embodied in the policy frame of thinking; how the equity in access, coverage and distribution are promoted; how climate change adaptation is anchored to Energy Policy; and whether or not the planning approaches and analysis tools give enough understanding to support informed policy decisions. The paths of the Energy Policy trajectory, in conjunction with understanding the matrix of enablers and inhibitors, will help us suggest and construct alternative policies in order to ensure access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for all, one that supports development and economic growth in the country. We argue that this can be achieved through proper utilization of resources, along with policies of higher priority in order to provision energy to the productive sectors of agriculture and industry, as well as securing equity in access and consumption per capita.

Sarah Khalifa

Ms. Khalifa received her M.Tech in Electronics Engineering (Telecommunications Systems), IIT-BHU (2014).  She received a B.Sc in Electronics Engineering, University of Gezira. Since 2008 she has been working in the renewable energy sector.

Marwan Adam

Mr. Adam received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, University of Khartoum (2002). Since 2004 he has worked for Mobitel (now ZAIN-SD) as Maintenance Engineer.  He was part of the Radio Technical Support team in 2008-2012, participating in an innovative team that examined Network Energy in order to introduce alternative energy and other solutions. He then took the position of Power Manager where he guided the network towards  efficiency and  optimization in  operation,  environmental,  and quality dimensions by  putting green  solutions into  work with  optimum economic  structure and  less  CO2 emissions.  He guided the work by blending TQM, System Modelling and research approaches.  He is a founding member of the Sudanese Knowledge Society.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SUDANESE ACCESSIBILITY TO ESSENTIAL MEDICINES
INTO A PROFIT-MAKING VENTURE: THE LOSS OF A SOCIAL RIGHT

Sara Abdelazim

Sudan continues to be faced by political and socioeconomic challenges that have afflicted the health situation. Before independence, health was hospital and curative based. Society health had never been stated as a right in neither the 1965 nor 1968 constitutions. Health and treatment appeared in 1973, followed by the 1988 constitution where current health policies first appeared. The health system in Sudan has gone through several reforms that were directly linked to overall global economic liberalisation.

Applying the WHO concept of essential medicine (EM) that was set in 1975, particularly in consolidation with primary health care (PHC) is a breakthrough in community-centred approaches. Sustained availability of free EM in primary settings would fulfill community health needs. Nonetheless the first Sudan National Drug Policy, based on the EM concept was set in 1981 and was only approved in 1987. Since that time Sudan has been facing several challenges in sustaining supply equitably. Less than 50% of population have access to EMk, with variations among deprived states. Out-of- pocket constitutes (79.4%) of health expenditure, which burdens the society with catastrophic costs. Some of the EM cost can be as high as nine days of wages. This paper elucidates these pitfalls and linkage to the ideological reforms Sudan has been through, specifically after the mid-seventies. The aim is to re-think the way forward, through probing systemised effects of those ruling ideologies, such as structural adjustment programmes (SAP) and neoliberalism, on access to EM, and how the ruling ideologies transformed health into a profit-making good rather than a social right.

This transformation was associated with cuts in public health expenditure and the remedies of privatisation that were imposed in 1978 through SAP. SAP was set to counteract the radicalism of the EM and PHC/Almata declaration and its reliance on the public sector. Cost sharing as a  alternative was forced in 1989 through revolving drug fund (RDF). This was followed by radical economic liberalisation in 1992, where cost fees for medicines and health services were imposed. Moreover, the twenty-five years’ strategic plan of 2003 flagged private sector encouragement as a main pillar. The forcing of this privatisation was not based on any empirical data, which made pre- and post-evaluation almost impossible. Nonetheless, some papers were published to escort further financing alternatives aiming at empowering private market and weakening the state dominion. Since 2011, high profit mark ups (125%- 240%) of wholesale materials were applied on public supply chains. The 2015 act of the national medicine supply fund (NMSF) is solely based on cost recovery strategies. The debts with its high serving have also limited the local manufacturing as potential sources of EM. Additionally, the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement in 1995 has hindered localizing EM sufficiency.

Enforcing user-fee, cost recovery, prepayment plans, and privatisations are in contrast with the concepts ofEM and health for all. However, the Sudan situation is part of the global shift towards neoliberalism; hence, radicalism is needed to study the material and non-material effects of these ideologies and to set local priorities that aim toward social justice.

Sara Abdelazim Hassanain

Dr. Hassanain is a pharmacist and public health specialist working in linking theories and academia with public health services.  She has worked on Chronic lung diseases/TB/-Malaria/health systems strengthening programmes at both governance and micro- implementation levels aiming at improving quality of services and minimising inequities.

Asha Elkarib (Chair – Session 6)

Dr. Elkarib has a Ph.D. in Rural Economics.  She joined the democratic women’s movement in Sudan when she was eighteen years old.  After she received her Ph.D. she worked as a researcher--bringing her closer to the realities of rural women in a conflict-torn country and greatly influencing her activism. She is a co-founder and director of the Sudanese Organization for Research and Development (SORD), which works for women’s rights and gender equality. She worked for the University of Khartoum, the Agriculture Research Corporation, and has conducted several research studies which focused on the impact on Sudanese women of Sharia-based family law, gender discriminative laws, and conflict.

PARALLEL PANELS

THE LANDSCAPE OF SUDAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

THE LINKS (AND DELINKS) WITH DEVELOPMENT

Facilitator  Marwan Adam

Panelists Khalid Ali (Impact Hub), Widad Ali A/Rahaman  (Lecturer, Ahfad University for Women), Midhat Abdelmoneim (Engineer, IT Professional, Educator, and Entrepreneur)

Development is the process of enlarging human choices (UNDP, HDR 1990), and realize their full potential capabilities through expansion of people's positive freedom (Sen, 2000) with the optimum social allocation of resources with fair equality of opportunity (Rawles,1971).  On the other side, in spite of these widespread and semi-official ideas/definitions, entrepreneurship is widely believed to be the central matter for development. However, economists focus on the impact of entrepreneurs on economic development (GDP, productivity, employment) and not much on human development.  The entrepreneur is recognized as an innovator, risk-taker, and arbitrageur who contributes to economics by introducing new technology and competition in the market through technological change and knowledge to filter and improve the production factor allocation; whereas,  in the capability approach, with the central concepts of capabilities, functioning, achieved functioning and agency,  entrepreneurship is  a  target in itself as state of being and transformation to utilize positive opportunities. Recently, Sudan is witnessing the inception and emergent of entrepreneurship movement with promises of economic growth, better employment, social change, and renewal of economic structure by new innovation venture. In this discussion session, we open the question as to whether or not Sudan's Entrepreneurship practice is conscious of the ethics and capabilities of development or is trapped and lock-into market failure and government failure pitfalls. We explore and criticize the link of Sudan Entrepreneurship landscape with development, at the same time we want to spot and reveal the practices that delink the movement from development, in order to have insights that devises a policy. 

The discussion with the panelists includes, but is not limited to the following questions:  1. Has entrepreneurship adopted the same current market philosophy and culture, but only scaled it up by SMEs new ventures, or paved an alternative way of doing  business, adopting frugal and appropriateness?  2. What are the main characteristics of entrepreneurship that are correlated with development? Are they based on real systematic disruption and destruction mechanisms or do they just follow the mainstream? 3. When and if development is a Human Capabilities centered concept, is this concept anchored in Sudan's practices of entrepreneurship or is development chasing the greedy exploitation of rent and resources? 4. If entrepreneurship is about innovations, knowledge filter venture, and risk-taking-- all renewal of the economy--for whom are these innovations, for the effluent or for the poor; for which economy sectors-- production or services; for skewed concentration of wealth and power, or justice allocation of resources, opportunities, and risk reduction; for the Top of the Pyramid or for the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP), for income-oriented or social oriented?  5. In your opinion which practices are inherent in Entrepreneurship in Sudan that will reinforce the status quo of injustice, and should it be highlighted and delinked from development discourse? Is it rent-seeking?  Service oriented in a low production economy? Linked with crime and corruption?   Seeking only accumulation of capital or what? Panelists will respond to these questions and others.

LIGHTENING THE DARK SIDE: MEDIA ROLES FOR GUARANTEEING HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

Facilitator:  Wini Omer

Panelists Nada Amin (Development Practitioner), Samreen Alkhair (Human Rights Practitioner), Izzaldin Arbab (Journalist), Weny Mudawi (Development Practitioner)

First of all, this panel is an attempt to question the role of media in Sudan and beyond in relationship to the main players in development processes, such as international organizations, state organizations and structures, and NGOs that focus on this field. Secondly, panelists will also try to understand how Sudan, as part of a global south that has suffered for years from bad governance, corruption and misleading policies, is affected by globalization.  We see this as a great opportunity to uncover the real gaps between the rich and the poor, and to draw attention to the unseen victims, and voiceless people who were forgotten. Thirdly, we aim to link what we can call the enabling factors in development such as democracy, freedoms and policies to the role of media to maintain and push the different players towards these concepts, and to act as watchdogs to protect the main human rights in a drive towards more equitable societies.

Wini Omer

She is a journalist and human rights defender, with six years' experience advocating for human rights and social justice in Sudan, especially in areas related to gender and women’s issues.  Currently, Wini works as a project coordinator at the Democratic Thought Project and as an editor at Alhadatha Alsudanya magazine.