The framework for Sustained Peace, Development and Poverty Eradication in Sudan was launched after Sudan's central government and the SPLM signed a permanent cease-fire agreement, in January 2005, to end the country's civil war. This cleared the way for a comprehensive peace deal. I had the opportunity to attend several workshops and meetings, which were sponsored by the government, the UNDP and national NGOs. It was attended by government officials, academics, civil society organisations and development policy analysts, who were involved in discussion of many issues that related to development and poverty eradication. The pattern of high economic growth and widespread poverty also cautioned against a development model predicated solely on economic growth. In fact, all concepts of development are being challenged. There seems to be a certain degree of consensus centred on a number of issues such as economic growth, increased productivity, technological advancement and people's inclusion that aims to raise the standard of living of the broad masses. In this regard the workshops' participants raised issues of debt relief, the use of oil revenues and decentralisation. The participants also questioned the actual level of participation of NGOs in the development process, querying how widespread ownership of the framework really was. Recently the government commitments for democracy and signing
of peace process between the North and the South of Sudan have created opportunities and hope. Civil society organisations gained more freedom to speak and assess the central and local state policies and strategies and performance.
To have a clear idea about what kind of role could be played by NGOs the following section examines the nature and potential of civil society organisations.
Civil Society Organisations in Sudan
The freedom of association is generally recognised as a crucial element to social justice and economic progress (Egg er, 1 995: 1 0 1 ). In Sudan there are no legal obstacles to people's rights of association and the Sudanese' law has guaranteed the people' s right to create their own organisations. The Societies Registration Act was passed in 1 957 and since that time and up to the 1 980s the registered NGOs were largely confined to charity and relief works (Sudan Government, 1 997).
For the time being in Sudan there are different forms of community organisations, which can be classified into five categories according to their ideological background and roles. Firstly, social-oriented organisations, which focus on providing social and public services, such as adult education and health services both in cities and rural areas. Secondly, politically affiliated organisations which are supported and funded by political parties and operate as social services providers. Thirdly, the trade unions, which are work-based organisations. Fourthly, academic and technically oriented organisations which mainly exist in the capital or some cities where there are research or academic institutions. Finally, religious organisations that offer both social services and spiritual support. All these forms of organisations exist at national and regional levels, while at grassroots level there are only social and religious organisations.
All trade unions were dissolved in 1 989 when the present regime took power and a new law governing the structure and activities of trade unions was passed. The law considered any people who work are 'workers' irrespective of their specialisations. According to Sudan's First National Human Development Report ( 1 998) the number of unions decreased from 1 04 to 26. MohamMed (2002:55) asserts that variations and contradictions in interests have influenced the unions and largely transformed them into political organisations controlled,
co-opted or suppressed by government. This could be due to the fact that throughout the political history of Sudan trade unions had played an important part in changing the military regimes. The present military government has made some protective measures to reduce or control the trade unions role, particul arly in the political arena. Meanwhile, other organisations whether they are technical or social organisations have a wide space of freedom. The national NGOs have their own linkages with international NGOs, development agencies, and donors. Different organisations are involved in partnership or have relationships with external institutions with each partner having its own interests and expertise. In this context the most important issue is that freedom of association be a condition for successful participatory development (Egger, 1 995 : 1 1 0).
Theoretically the Comprehensive Development Strategy (COS) focused on creating self reliance, satisfying human quest for dignity and freedom in balance with the advancement in economic, social and cultural life emanating from Sudan's national heritage. In order to achieve that the strategy referred to the need to mobilise the people of the Sudan and forge new partnerships between government, NGOs, grassroots organisations and the private sector. The COS (Sudan Government, 1 992:59) also states that ' social development is a joint effort involving the government and citizens which means that people have the full right to participate in decision making processes through different ways. This strategy calls for more involvement of people in all fields of development. However, it seems that what has been stated by COS was not practically adopted. The Sudan's first Human National Development Report ( 1 998) points out that the laws governing NGOs made it difficult for them to register, although they managed to survive and some achievements were made.
In 1 979 the government established the Sudan Council of Voluntary Agencies (SCOV A) to undertake the following duties: development of voluntary activities; recording and exchanging of information; networking between specialised groups, capacity building through training and sensitisation, cooperation with relevant government bodies; and strengthening of bilateral relations at the regional and international levels. SCOV A was assumed to embrace non-governmental organisations, foundations and commissions that had been officially registered in the Humanitarian Aid Commission. There is conflict of interest among different NGOs, therefore, practically, SCOVA cannot represent all the national NGOs since it was initiated and supported by the government. SCOV A records show that
there are 400 organisations that are registered as members. It appears that the members of local NGOs have the skills and knowledge of how to attract and mobilise resources and develop connections with donors and development agencies, particularly those agencies that believe in participation and are interested in building relations w ith local N GOs rather than deal with government institutions. The failure of NGOs in establishing any form of effective networks among themselves has great influence on their performance and outcomes. This results in the in wasting of time and opportunities to make a real contribution in developing and improving the living standard of the majority who lack the skills and knowledge to initiate interventions and access the resources' providers.
After signing the peace agreement in January 2005 the government opened more space for civil society organisations to develop more relationships with international NGOs and donors. It also allowed the political parties to resume work and trade unions were formed in democratic ways. The Government of Sudan established the Humanitarian Aid Commission to oversee all humanitarian organisations and made a commitment to remove any obstacles to such work. However, from time to time the Sudanese Government suspends some international NGOs and local non-profit groups working in different partS of the country. Government reports accuse these organisations of not complying with regulations. On the other hand, non-profit organisations continuously complain that the government interferes with their work with many restrictions. On 20 February 2006, Members of Parliament passed the 'Organisation of Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act, 2006' , which replaced the Humanitarian Aid Commission Act. The Amnesty International viewed the new Act as a way of exercising power over the operations of NGOs.
The critical question could be whether these NGOs are capable of playing a significant role in any development interventions? In practice, most civil society organisations are not engaged in governance or local community issues and mainly work at a central level. There are negative public opinions and perceptions about NGOs. During the last three decades there are many NGOs whose names are linked with certain powerful people or political parties and even professional NGOs did not escape this trap.
The national and regional organisations are almost non existent at grassroots level, particul arly in North Kordofan and the White Nile States where this research was conducted. In Sudan both national and regional NGOs are unknown by ordinary people in rural areas,
where they could be extremely useful. Despite the large number of national and regional NGOs it appears that rural people are not aware of their existence. People who are not involved directly or indirectly with these NGOs criticised their trends, members' behaviour and connections with outsiders. Participants from different backgrounds, journalists, academics and specialists have recorded these perceptions and views:
'The civil society organisations are controlled by elites, who seem to be permanent employees with unknown employers, speak foreign languages, stay in the capital or big cities and they are very good in organising workshops and meetings. In fact, being a civil society activist is a very profitable job' (MJ-SSI, 07/2005/ Khartoum) .
'The members of NGOs are spies, working against their country and looking after their personal benefits. They rent the best houses in the town, drive cars, travel abroad and organise conferences and workshops. I think they know what will please the donors and the international agencies, which finance them. They are just good at complaining and criticising government, but who is going to criticize them?' (GAD-FGD, 1 1 12005/ Khartoum).
'One of the problems of this country is that these NGOs, most of them claim that they are concerned about development, but they are not. They are either supporting this political party or that one, or have other hidden agendas. Unfortunately, it becomes a personal business. Many national organisations were led by the same persons or group of people for the last two or three decades. It was well understood that 'working with them makes you one of them' (MAI-SSI, 07/2005/ Khartoum).
'Having an NGO nowadays is a business; it is a source of income. An NGO is a group of people who know how to access international organisations. Their concern is to travel abroad, attend conferences and tell lies about their home country' (FAD FGD, 1 1 12005/ Khartoum).
The national and regional NGOs, at present, are involved with international organisations in shaping development. However, most of these NGOs, particularly in Khartoum and capitals of the states, have failed to implement sound and visible projects or activities that alleviate poverty, develop communities, combat corruption and back transparency and these NGOs themselves are not above suspicion.
Discussion and debate about development strategies as well as implemented interventions is very intensive. In practice development efforts were badly hit by the many constraints that
resulted in wide scale poverty. The following section identifies the factors that have influenced the country's development processes.
Factors that Influen ced Development Processes
The current debate on development focuses on the economic crisis in Africa, especially the low growth economies. Ghai ( 1 987 : 1 1 0) in his analysis of economic growth performance of some sub-Saharan countries identifies Sudan as one of those that showed extremely low performance, despite its high economic potential, in terms of commercial food production from rain-fed and irrigated land. Ghai ( 1 987: 1 2 1 - 1 25) related Sudan ' s poor performance during the period 1 960-83 to the following factors: Firstly, political instability, there were frequent changes of regime and the country had to deal with a flux of refugees from neighboring countries, mainly Ethiopia and Chad. The country also experienced civil war during this time. Secondly, economic policies, increasing overvaluation of the currency in combination with higher taxes on cotton, and deterioration of irrigation in the Gazira scheme, resulted in declining production and exports. This resulted in a severe scarcity of foreign exchange, which had adverse consequences on the availability of essential goods and services, inflation and the growth of parallel markets. The third factor is that the large-scale nationalisation of major productive enterprises in 1 969170 resulted in the collapse of the private sector. Finally, mismanagement, corruption, and misappropriation of resources become a dominant feature. Chidzero ( 1 987: 1 36) added the following factors, which influenced all African countries; the manipulation of exchange rates and interest rates by some major developed countries has affected the poor countries' capacities to import capital goods and technology. Secondly, the issue of debt, in general, Sudan has struggled with a high and rising external debt burden since the late 1 970s. In 2006 external debt reached US$ 27.7 billion, of which US $24.4 billions was in arrears (IMF, 2006: 1 4).
At present more factors have emerged and influenced development and people's capacities in making a significant contribution in order to combat underdevelopment.