‘Funding woes force Norwegian Church Aid from Garsila, Central Darfur’

Last month Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), an NGO working in the field of health, water and livelihoods, reportedly closed its office in Garsila, capital of Wadi Salih locality, Central Darfur.

“The organisation closed the office in Garsila on 15 September and transported its five vehicles, five motorcycles, four generators, computers, and other office equipment to its office in the state capital of Zalingei,” a Garsila community elder told Radio Dabanga.

The sheikh said that NCA representatives had told them that the Garsila office was closed because of a lack of funds.

He added that the organisation has been serving more than 100,000 people in the areas of Garsila, Um Kheir, and Deleig, and appealed to the Central Darfur authorities to “fill the gap left by the departure of the organisation”.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan reported in its weekly bulletin of 24-30 August that the NCA would “hand over some of its programmes to local organisations and communities by the end of September”.

In March, the international Catholic Relief Services phased out their water and sanitation programmes in Central Darfur's Mukjar camp for the displaced and handed over operations to the government’s Department of Water and Sanitation (WES) and community leaders.

OCHA reported that aid organisations are concerned that the phasing out and scaling down of activities by international NGOs because of funding constraints will create large gaps in the provision of services to people in need in Central Darfur.