White Nile river in South Sudan. African rivers.

ABOUT THE MASENGO FOUNDATION

About the Masengo Foundation

The Masengo Foundation (“MF”) was conceptualised in 2016 after the civil war and it is a registered South Sudanese charity under registration number 2907, which is regulated by the Ministry of Justice in the Republic of South Sudan, in conjunction with the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRC), under chapter 3, section 10 of NGOs ACT 2016.

MF functions with full capacity of a South Sudanese National organisation to render charitable services throughout South Sudan and is governed by its bylaws and internal board policy. It is a Certified Member of the South Sudan NGO Forum, details of which can be located here.

The prolonged war in South Sudan has caused displacements, destruction of infrastructures and shelters, resulted to violations/ abuses of human rights and the rule of law.

This has led to a deterioration in medical services, food insecurity and continuous Sexual and Gender Based Violence (“SGBV”) community conflicts and poverty. 

While years have passed since independence making South Sudan the youngest nation however, the country still experiences economic and political instability which has caused sluggishness in development over several areas, some of which are:

  • The Education sector has experienced setback
    • MF works in supporting pastoralist community to embrace education, improve the current education systems, facilitate in the construction and rehabilitation of education facilities and so on. 
    • MF has been in the fore front in conducting intensive advocacy to promote the need of education as a key for sustainable development in South Sudan. 
    • MF has a vision and approach to create a viable education system that will greatly contribute to the social – economic status of the country. 
  • Poor health facilities, lack of medical equipment’s, high mortality rate, poor nutrition, limited health workers, power rationing just to mention but a few are some of the challenges facing the health sector in South Sudan. 
    • For the country to enjoy its independence and stimulate industrial development, the people’s health must be brought to the forefront.
    • MF has been working in consortium and collaborating with the ministry of health in ensuring that the health sector is improved. 
  • Poor hygiene, inadequate access to clean drinking water, and lack of sanitation facilities in South Sudan are some of the setbacks in the country. 
    • To date, most places in the country still experiences open defecation and long distances to water points. 
    • Approximately, 50% per cent of the population lacks access to safe water and consequently around one third of children under the age of five suffer from diarrhoea. 
    • Most of the communities in the area rely on water from the dam and pools that are not safe for human consumption. The few existing boreholes are either broken down or they are very poorly managed creating further Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (“WASH”) crises. 
    • To survive, families are often only able to drink water from contaminated sources, putting them at a risk of waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid or diarrhea, which remain some of the leading causes of death among children below five (“5”) years of age in South Sudan. 
  • Further, Gender inequality and its various components: 
    • Gender Based Violent (“GBV”); rape; forced and early marriages; 
    • denial of inheritance for women and widows are rampant issues; 
    • lack of women’s voice in the societies; 
    • discrimination at work places; and,
  • Unfortunately, as we all know all too well, the primary victims of war being women and children:
    • This is a core issue that MF intend to address in the immediate and long-term future;
    • Besides the civil wars, cattle raiding has also contributed to the loss of many young men;
    • Tribal conflicts have resulted in further loss of many lives, especially in the villages and cattle keeping tribes. 
    • All these, have had a detrimental impact on meaningful development in South Sudan. 
  • People with disability have been relegated for the longest time, which is contrary to their basic human rights:
    • Unfortunately, there is no specific set rule to protect people with disability, with the result that many feel marginalized and left out of economic and social development in the country. 
    • As a growing nation that is recovering from civil wars, South Sudan has not fully taken into consideration the idea of looking closely to the wellbeing of the people with disability. 
    • Accordingly, MF has been working closely with the people with disability as a component of GBV. Women with disabilities faces greater risks of rapes and other sexual abuses. MF works to amplify the voices of the People With Disabilities (“PWD”) who are those forgotten souls who are dying silently.    

These are some of the challenges that South Sudan is facing as a country and the main reason for the existence of MF’s African Vision Focus to be the solution not only in South Sudan but in Africa as a whole.