The First week of my internship in Juba, Southern Sudan, turned out to be rather bizarre. After the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi I got on the plane to Juba. Arriving in Juba I lined up with the other passengers to sign in and show my yellow fever booklet and travel permit. Although, I was impressed by the look of the permit with all its stamps and golden marks, the officers were not that impressed. Their decision was made quickly: back to Nairobi to get a new permit and hurry a bit because the plane is leaving. My manager of Mott Macdonald was at the airport as well and was as flabbergasted as I was.

But what is there to do, so I got back on the plane to Nairobi, had another 1.5 hour flight and contacted my manager on what to do next. Fortunately Mott Macdonald arranged everything for me and all there was left to do for me was wait in a hotel till the new permit was arranged by a travel agency. And so it was done, after four nights in Nairobi I received a new permit. Even shinier and with more stamps, the fact that I’ve undergone a gender transformation according to the permit as I was now listed as male did not matter, for this time I was actually accepted in Juba.

My first (second) impression of Juba was that of a city I have never seen anything like before. I have been to Uganda before, but you cannot in any way compare Juba to Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Juba is a collection of loads vehicles and compounds of international organisations, little shops, hotels, restaurants, soldiers, huts, and four-wheel drives and boda bodas. There are few tarmac roads and many sand roads which turn into mud pools whenever the rain falls. However in my point of view, not much can be concluded based on looks only and so my introduction with real Juba still continues.

The driver brought me to the compound where both the Capacity Building Trust Fund and the Basic Services Fund are operating from. At the same compound I am also residing in a cabin which is transformed into a self-contained apartment. My manager gave me a quick introduction to the project and my tasks and activities herein. After a weekend wherein I tried to relax a bit and see some things of Juba I started with these tasks and activities in my first week.

So far I have been working on the Responsive Window Project wherein state governments indicate gaps in their capacities they want to work on. Every state has handed in about three proposals of which one was selected to be worked out as a more detailed proposal. I have read through the selected proposals and indicated areas of expertise so we can make a focused search for experts and organisations that can serve as service providers. At the same time I have been working on a database to register potential service providers. I have been involved a bit in the formulation of detailed proposals as well, attending meetings with state ministries and consultants.

Coming from an educational background of adult education many things I see and hear in this capacity building project are new. Therefore, I have already learnt a lot on the process of project management and the context of Southern Sudan. At the moment we are brainstorming on ideas for my future activities which might be in the area of monitoring and evaluation of projects and a capacity building event.