World Water Day: Over 500,000 South Sudanese benefiting from GIZ supported interventions
2026-03-23 - 15:45
On the occasion of World Water Day, Germany reaffirms its commitment to improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation in South Sudan, a country facing multiple humanitarian crises and developmental challenges. According to a statement shared with Eye Radio, through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany supports comprehensive, sustainable water supply and Sanitation interventions that aim to improve public health, strengthen local institutions, and enhance community resilience. The support focuses on urban and rural water infrastructure, including the rehabilitation and expansion of water supply systems in cities such as Juba, Torit, Yei, and Yambio, and the development of small-scale, community-managed water facilities in rural areas in Yambio, Nzara and Aweil County. These interventions provide reliable access to clean water for hundreds of thousands of people, including internally displaced people and vulnerable populations. A central feature of GIZ’s approach is institutional strengthening. GIZ works closely with national and local water authorities to enhance governance, operation, and maintenance of water services. This includes capacity-building for staff, technical support for utilities, and guidance for community-based management of water points. Over the last decade, GIZ has supported the Don Bosco Vocational Training Centre, which provides essential technical and vocational education (TVET) to youth and graduates hundreds of students each year. The Centre provides specialized technical training, including programs in waterworks, equipping graduates with the skills needed to address the shortage of qualified personnel in South Sudan’s water sector. This long-term investment has helped build local capacity and strengthened the country’s ability to operate and maintain water infrastructure effectively. The approach equips local institutions to deliver long-term, sustainable services, while empowering communities and strengthening community ownership and resilience. Furthermore, this ensures that water access supports livelihoods, nutrition, and food security while contributing to local economic development. Just at the beginning of March 2026, GIZ’s Food and Nutrition Security and Natural Resources Management of (FONA) project handed over four new boreholes to communities in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Earlier, the project also drilled another 7 boreholes and rehabilitated additional 11 boreholes in Western Equatoria to help improve livelihoods, food and nutrition security, health, and resilience of the local population. This marks an important step toward a safer, healthier future. Through this project, communities were trained in the development of water catchment management plans, hygiene, sanitation, and integrated water resource management, which helped reduce disaster risk, waterborne diseases, improve public health outcomes and agriculture productivity. Further improvements were realized through the distribution of irrigation pumps that assisted farmers in farming activities and increased farm productivity. Over the last few years, Germany has supported several programmes in the Water Sector in South Sudan, through its implementing organisations GIZ and KFW, in close consultation with the local authorities and in collaboration with other partners, such as UNICEF and ICRC