Home page | Comment Monday 14 March 2011
The Urgency of Implementing the South Sudan Research Council Act
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By Jane Kani Edward
March 13, 2011 — Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement in January 2005, and the subsequent formation of
the two Governments - Government of National Unity and the Government
of Southern Sudan respectively, many foreign and national researchers,
journalists, consultants, as well as research and academic
institutions descended to Southern Sudan. The intentions of these
foreign and national entities are to conduct research, collect
information, as well as implement programs ranging from service
delivery, organizing workshops, conferences and seminars on a host of
issues such as capacity building, good governance, public service
reform, women and gender issues, transitional justice, food security,
etc.
Despite the fact that these activities and research projects and
findings in particular, might be useful in influencing and guiding
government policies, however, the goal and intent of conducting
research in the South is neither clearly defined and articulated nor
transparent. Similarly, research methodologies, ethical issues related
to consent, confidentiality, and safety of research participants, as
well as the impact and benefit of the research outcome were and are
still not clearly defined, regulated and monitored by the Government
of Southern Sudan. This lack of regulatory measures of research
activities in Southern Sudan is partly due to the absence of a
government-led institution responsible for reviewing, regulating and
monitoring research projects, programs and activities of those
individuals, research and academic institutions operating in the
society.
The absence of government regulations related to research activities
in the South, often might result in the production and dissemination
of distorted and/or Eurocentric knowledge that do not reflect the
societal realities of Southern Sudan and its people. Such knowledge
might also lead to designing of government policies and programs that
do not meet the needs and aspirations of the people of Southern Sudan,
but rather fulfills the intentions, and agendas of those involved in
such research activities and programs.
The people of Southern Sudan will soon embark on the formation of an
independent state. It becomes crucial to minimize such misrepresented
and distorted knowledge base and to accelerate the process of
implementing the Southern Sudan Research Council Act (SSRC Act 2007)
so as to address some of the aspects outlined above. The
implementation of the SSRC Act 2007 is urgently needed to tackle some
of the challenges facing the field of social and scientific research
in Southern Sudan which is currently struggling to cope with the
changing global knowledge production, inventions, issues, and
challenges of the twenty first century.
The SSRCA Act 2007 came into being after a long process of engagement
and planning by some officials of various institutions of the
Government of Southern Sudan as early as 2006. After numerous meetings
and discussions, the final draft of the Southern Sudan Research
Council Bill was first tabled and read in the Southern Sudan
Legislative Assembly (SSLA) on Wednesday September 26, 2007. The Bill
went through second and final readings in the SSLA in mid-November
2007 and passed on 26th of November 2007. It was signed into an Act by
the First Vice President of Sudan and President of the Government of
Southern Sudan on December 26, 2007. The purpose of the SSRC Act is to
establish and manage the Southern Sudan Research Council as an
independent public institution. Some of the most important objectives
of the Act are related to issues of setting standards, priorities,
regulations, and evaluation and validation of research activities,
methodologies, scholarship and teaching programs in the South.
Therefore, I urge, the Government of Southern Sudan to take an
immediate action to implement the SSRC Act in order to enforce
standards and regulations of research activities in Southern Sudan.
Dr. Jane Kani Edward is Director of African Immigration Research, &
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of African and African American
Studies, Fordham University. She is the Author of Sudanese Women
Refugees: Transformations and Future Imaginings, 2007, & numerous
articles. She can be reached at [email protected]
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