Darfur clan leader [2005] Irin photo.
A workshop at El Fasher University was critical of the efforts of aid agencies in Darfur.
"North Darfur’s nomads may number one million and make up some 60 percent of the state population," said Hassan Abedlaziz. He said that for years the term nomad never appeared in humanitarian agencies programmes and that now they have begun to work with nomads, but stark needs remain in terms of water, health care, education and vocational training.
While some elementary education now covers nomadic communities, young people are frustrated when their educations end early. With no water services available outside the urban areas and suffering the effects of desertification, nomads have critical water needs and are still dying from water scarcity said Abedlaziz.
UNAMID’s nomad projects include a capacity-building program to train members of the Nomadic Forum for Peace and Social Coexistence to increase their administrative management and proposal writing skills. Another project will do awareness raising on conflict prevention and peaceful coexistence between farmers and pastoralists. A third will help the Forum establish an administrative office. And a fourth will raise awareness among nomadic women of the issues of early marriage and circumcision, as well as on developing income generating activities.
UNAMID Press Release.
UPDATE: Further articles describing this nomad conference can be found here and here. One interesting item mentioned is that of 200,000 girls, only 1,000 were able to go to school.
One of the official stories is on the UNAMID website.
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