Police programme in Africa – South Sudan component

Project description

Title: Police programme Africa – South Sudan component
Commissioned by: German Federal Foreign Office (AA)
Country: South Sudan
Lead executing agency: South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS), United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), United Nations Police (UNPOL)
Overall term: 2013 to 2015

Context

The South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) was built from scratch after the end of the civil war between northern and southern Sudan. The process started in 2005 and the police service gradually began assuming its responsibilities. The country had been under martial law for almost 30 years.

Numerous challenges, however, are preventing the SSNPS from fulfilling its mandate effectively. It does not possess adequate means of communication and therefore often receives information about dangers when it is too late. It is not only the lack of infrastructure and equipment that is making the work of the police more difficult; the poor or even non-existent training exacerbates the problem. The people do not feel adequately protected and often resort to alternative methods of protecting themselves or taking the law into their own hands.

Objective

The South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) is able to ensure the upkeep and management of a professional communications system and push ahead with the establishment of a department for information and communication technology.

Approach

GIZ is carrying out a programme on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office to strengthen the capacity of police structures in Africa. The programme operates in selected African countries, including South Sudan, and strengthens police forces and police institutions through training activities and measures to improve infrastructure and equipment and by further developing management capacities.

In South Sudan, the project worked in close coordination with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and in cooperation with the Canadian and British Governments with a particular focus on supporting the establishment of a communications system for the South Sudanese police service.
Following the outbreak of the most recent conflict in December 2013, the police project in South Sudan was suspended. Only the exchange programme with the Ugandan police and the support for an emergency call centre, which was opened in July 2014, were continued.

After the crisis, the project was reoriented to address the new challenges and its focus is now on the Trust Building Project, aimed at protecting the civilian population. Within this context, the support measures focus on the newly established emergency call centre.

Results

Over 120 police stations have been provided with radio equipment in almost all of the country's 79 counties. More than half of the police stations are able to send emails via radio frequencies. The stations, which are often located in remote areas, are no longer cut off from each other.

Several hundred police radio operators have been trained. They now possess the necessary skills and the requisite professionalism to act as officers in charge of police stations that have radio equipment.

A unit of police radio technicians works on maintaining and repairing the equipment and materials throughout the country. The unit underwent three years of training and is based in the first radio maintenance and repair workshop in the capital Juba.

The department for information and communication technology within the SSNPS has been strengthened as a whole from a structural and human resources perspective and is able to perform its tasks more effectively.

A nationwide emergency call centre has successfully begun operations.