Payam administrators’ forum concludes in Aweil with a call to deliver services

Payam administrators from Northern Bahr el Ghazal State attend the worship. (Photo: Radio Tamazuj)

A four-day payam administrators’ forum on Friday concluded in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State with recommendations to improve service delivery among others.

The other recommendations were to improve dialogue to ensure common understanding across all government departments and transparent consultations in decision-making.

The participants rated the workshop as good and said they understood effective administration skills, relations empowerment among different stakeholders, and how to handle issues affecting the local communities.      

“The workshop was fruitful and interesting because it talked about effective area administration, relations empowerment among the locals, implementation of the Local Government Act in the county, payam and boma levels,” said Apath Deng Apath, one of the participants.

The payam administrator of the Makem area in Aweil North County, Michael Garang Bak, said floods have destroyed the area and much work needs to be done through collective efforts.

“What is affecting us are the floods which are very high this year,” he lamented. “The people are suffering and crops and roads have been destroyed and this is the situation facing Aweil North County.”

Meanwhile, UNMISS’ Civil Affairs Division team leader in Aweil, Maria Inecita Montero, applauded the local administrators for taking off time to attend the workshop.

“On behalf of UNMISS and the whole civil affairs team, we express our gratitude to you for attending and actively participating during the workshop days,” she said.  “What you did was truly sacrifice to come together, to learn, to gain the knowledge, and became actively involved in very rare opportunities.”

 The forum was initiated by the state government and funded by UNMISS. Over 130 people participated in the workshop.