By William Madouk
Japanese government, through its Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has offered to train government officials in Central Equatoria State to hone their local governance skills.
Governor of Central Equatoria State, Emmanuel Adil and JICA delegation led by Mr. Tanaka Hiroyuki on Tuesday, discussed on the capacity building project slated to start next week, in Juba.
The program focuses on efforts made by the Japanese government and examines how their experiences and lessons can be applied to consolidating the functions of local governments in South Sudan.
Addressing the media after the meeting, state minister of Cabinet Affairs, Wayi Godwill stated that the duo deliberated and exchanged views over the new project.
“H.E the governor of Central Equatoria State (CES) met with a delegation from JICA – they discussed about their new project which is basically to build capacities of local governance,” Wayi said.
The Governor also appreciated the Japanese government’s tremendous role in the country and more especially in the Central Equatoria state through its agency, JICA.
JICA has been implementing agricultural projects, infrastructure projects, and also supplying clean drinking water to citizens in Juba in an urban water project that was launched recently.
Mr. Wayi noted that Governor Adil promised to cooperate, urging the Japanese agency to always work together with line ministries.
“So, he [Adil] pledged to always cooperate with them, to ensure that they work in mutual understanding to benefit the people and encourage them to continue rendering their services to the people through the line institutions in the state,” he added.
JICA’ Chief representative, Mr. Tanaka Hiroyuki stated that they had talks with the governor over the new project that would be launched next week.
“Today, I have a meeting with the governor of the CES, so we will start new project capacity development of the local government,” Hiroyuki said.
“CES is one of the modern states, so we discussed our cooperation with the governor and this week, we will kick off the meeting to start our project,” he continued.
According to the project layout, the target State Ministries are Local Government and Law Enforcement Agency, Peace Building, Finance, Cooperatives and Rural Development.
The beneficial projects that the corporation has been undertaking range from institutional capacity building, improvement of the Basic Economy and social infrastructure, improvement of Basic Livelihood, development of alternative industries and strengthening governance and security.