From left: Action Against Hunger Country Director, Tesfatsion Woletsadik, (C) Prof. Robert Mayom Deng, Vice Chancellor of the University of Juba, and Sudd Institute’s Managing Director Luka Biong sign a partnership agreement in Juba. Thursday, July 25, 2024. (Photo: Sebit Patrick).

The international aid group Action Against Hunger or ACF has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Juba and Sudd Institute to advance the research industry in the country.

ACF’s separate partnerships with the two tertiary institutions are said to provide a multifaceted opportunity for all its actors.

The country director for Action Against Hunger, Tesfatsion Woletsadik said the collaboration is meant to address challenges of nutrition, food security, gender and equality, climate change and resilience building.

In the MoU, the organization pledged to lobby funds for the implementation of research findings encompassing research on nutrition, food security, climate change and resilience.

“This MoU presents multi-faceted opportunities for all institutions involved. It fosters capacity building by providing invaluable training and development opportunities for students, researchers, and practitioners,” Woletsadik said.

“Moreover, the research generated through this partnership will directly contribute to the development of evidence-based policies, driving positive change at both national and community levels.”

South Sudan does not prioritize research or independent analysis and major policy decisions have been made without the government doing research and analysis, according to the International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP).

INASP said the biggest obstacle to the development of research and higher education in the country is the means for generating knowledge and the ability to translate that knowledge into actionable ideas for the nation’s development.

For his part, Prof. Robert Mayom Deng, Vice Chancellor of the University of Juba, said his institution will provide expertise, research personnel and other facilities necessary for the success of the project.

Prof. Mayom emphasised the need to uphold ethical conduct during the period of collaboration.

He also promised to utilize the institutions’ research sources to expedite the collaboration.

“In our research, we will also make sure that ethical conduct of the research is paramount. We are not going to cut corners. Ethics should be part of an institution of higher learning.”

“We will also facilitate access to necessary research sources because as an institution, we have got a lot of people who are in collaboration with us and we’ll make sure that we have access to some of these sources.”

Meanwhile, Sudd Institute’s Managing Director Luka Biong Deng said the MoU will pave the way for a new facility, creating a conducive environment for master’s and Philosophical degree students.

“One of the important aspects of this MoU is whether we can be able to create a conducive environment and we in the Sudd to become a place whereby as in the tertiary, master degree and PhD could get a new facility that can help them to advance their research agenda.”

By far the most active institutions engaged in scientific research are the three major national universities of Juba, Bahr el-Ghazal and Upper Nile, and to a lesser extent, the John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology, located at Bor.

The three main universities have medical schools, veterinary science, environmental studies, natural resource management, architecture and geology and so forth.

But their ability to produce cutting-edge scientific knowledge, INASP said, is hampered by a lack of various lab equipment; funding; qualified teaching staff; and access to computers and the internet.