Gatbel-Jock-displays a catch while fishing in the Sobat River in Gakdong Payam Akobo County. June 25, 2024. (Photo: Charles Wote/Eye-Radio-scaled.jpg

At the age of five, Gatbel Jock suffered lifechanging deformities from a prolonged illness, reducing his ability to earn a living, but the 44-year-old is now his family’s breadwinner after being supported by the Community Initiative for Development Organization (CIDO), in partnership with Oxfam and with funding from Norad.

In July 2023, the charity organization launched a one-year project to alleviate food insecurity and improve the livelihoods of populations in Akobo and Nyirol counties of Jonglei State.

The livelihood support has created jobs for many young people and vulnerable people in Akobo, enabling the Teasloach Fish Group to raise about 390,000 South Sudan Pounds between May and June 2024 using the fishing kits they received.

“I am thankful to CIDO because now I can provide food for my family.” Mr Jock said in interview with Eye Radio at the bank of Akobo river.

Jock said his fateful physical disability rendered him unable to cultivate or collect firewood for sale to make ends meet for his family.

For many years, Jock, a father of three, was convinced that he cannot do anything to contribute to the financial welfare of those in his life, until he became a member of the Teasloach Fish Group in July 2023.

The cooperative group has a total of ten members, comprised of women, men, persons with disabilities, and youth, who go fishing according to agreed schedules.

“After CIDO gave us these canoes and fishing nets to our group, this has become a source of income for me. Now I am able to fish, whereas before I could not afford to hire a canoe to fish and provide food for my family,” he said.

When a member of Teasloach Fish Group catches ten fish using the group’s fishing kits, he or she will be given two, and the remaining eight will be sold for the group.

The proceeds will be accumulated for months and later shared among the group members.

“When two people go fishing and come back with fish, we will give them their percentage, and we will sell some for the sustainability of the group,” said Wangjaol Mut, the group leader.

We will accumulate like this until we find that we have enough money or fish, and then we will divide it among ourselves.”

Members of Teasloach Fish group mainly go to the river between 7:00 pm and 12:00 am and catch various fish species found in Akobo, including the Nile Tilapia, Nile Perch, African Catfish, and Barbus species, among others.

In May, the group raised a total of 120,000 pounds, while in June, it managed to raise up to 270,000 SSP, which was divided among the group members, and some balance was carried forward.

“When we were working individually, we used to hire canoes, but now we have received canoes for free from CIDO because it is very hard here to buy a canoe. Even I sold all my cattle, I could not afford to buy one,” Mut said.

Purchasing a canoe costs about $2,000 in neighboring Ethiopia, and majority of small-scale fishermen unable to afford the cost.

Both Gatbel and Wangjaol appealed to CIDO to continue the empowerment project in new areas such as modernized fish preservation, new fishing skills, and additional fishing kits to enable them to sustain their livelihood.

“The support that we need now to boost our activity is capacity building, and we need CIDO to increase the number of canoes so that many other groups can be formed in our area. This will encourage many community members to join the group,” said one of the members, Mayiel Gatnar.

– Fish drying ovens –

The Community Initiative for Development Organization, in collaboration with Oxfam and with funding from Norad, also empowers young people in Akobo County, Jonglei State, to adopt a modern method of drying and preserving fish.

Before the new intervention, many young people in Akobo County were using sunlight to dry their fish, but this method was unreliable during the rainy season.

However, the benefiting youths have now started using the locally fabricated metallic ovens they received from CIDO to preserve their fish.

The ovens enable young people to provide improved smoked fish for family consumption and for sale, which has enhanced their livelihoods.

“I thank CIDO because this is a good initiative we have ever seen in Akobo however I appeal to CIDO to provide more Canoes and fishing kits to engage many youths to enable them leave negative things and do what is good for their family.” said 23-year-old Diew Koang.

“I have benefited a lot from this new technic especially in getting money which was hard for me before, I urge CIDO to expand this initiate and involve many other young people so that they can earn a living as well.”

The drying ovens are widely used by the youth as they are easy to carry to remote fishing grounds and to dry fish on the other side of river banks.

The beneficiaries, one of whom is Gatwech Wiyual, 29, are making good use of the ovens, which have not only empowered the fishing industry in the area but also contributed to their sustainable and economic growth.

Gatwech joined the group of young fishermen earlier this year and started fishing and drying together to enable them meet their daily needs.

After realizing the benefit of using the improved smoking method, Gatwech believes that local youth can greatly improve their living standard if they abandon negative behaviors and join the fishing industry, it can help them earn a living.

“There is a big difference between how we used to dry our fish before and the new method. we used to dry our fish in the sun, but it was not good for drying fish, especially during the rainy season,” Gatwech said.

“This new fish drying oven is better because you can use it during the rainy season, at your house, and anywhere you need to.”

Domach Gony, 23, is among the Akobo youth who mainly rely on fishing to provide for their families. He is also among the beneficiaries of the CIDO-supported project.

Mr. Gony lives with his six siblings and parents in the Markath residential area in Bilkey Payam of Akobo County.

He said the traditional method of preserving fish is not effective. “But now with this innovation from CIDO, we started using it already. For instance, this morning after catching the fish, we collected firewood, set fire and started to dry our fish for marketing.”

Some of the advantages of the newly introduced preservation method is that it allows the fish to remain fresh for a longer period without rotting.

Once well packed, the fish do not spoil early during transport for sale in far places, according to CIDO.

“The importance of preserving fish using this method is that the fish can stay for a longer period without rotting, and if you transport them for sale in other places, they will not spoil on the road.” Domach said.

“I appeal to CIDO to engage and work with the Akobo youth to continue empowering them in fishing activities and we want more training in the fish preservation so that the youth can transform from traditional method and embrace new method to enable us preserve our fish for commercial use.” He added.

The metallic oven distributed to the fishermen has three bends where fire is set below and can be adjusted, with some closed when the level of fire increases and opened when the frame level is low.

As of June 2024, a piece of tilapia weighing about one kilogram was being sold in the Akobo market for 1000 pounds fresh and 2000 to 3000 pounds smoked.

The project, which runs through June 2024 in South Sudan, is also being implemented in other six countries, such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Kenya, and Syria, to improve food security through increased access to and availability of nutritious food for 115,000 of the most vulnerable individuals in the catchment areas.

– Combating hunger –

In South Sudan, CIDO is working collaboratively with Oxfam and was able to procure and distribute fishing canoes to fisher folks in Akobo to access remote fishing grounds.

A total of eight canoes were procured and handed to fishery groups to enable them to access remote fishing grounds, transport fish, and improve fisher folks’ safety during fishing activities.

Canoes have continued to be provided to flourishing groups to scale up their production.

The charity has also procured and distributed fish preservation equipment known as fish drying ovens, both immobile and mobile, targeting 45 groups.

The locally fabricated metallic and mud ovens were provided by CIDO to the fisher groups to enable them to preserve their fish through the improved smoking method.

Taban Arkangelo, CIDO’s Field Office Team Lead in Akobo said the project has also build the gap between women and men as both are able to participate in fishing activities.

“At the beginning, it was only men that came because they thought that the Canoe is only for men who go to fishing and then when we brought in the idea of gender action learning system that in a community, there are always men and women,” he said.

“The integration of women into the fishery has become beneficial for those women who have lost their husbands and lack other sources to obtain fish so when these women are included in the group and the group goes fishing, then they have a share from that particular group so this is the advantage at a community level some people are able to benefit from the group work.”