6 Developing Human Resources

6.1 Empowerment and Building the Capabilities of the

People

Empowering the Poor to take advantage of opportunities

98. The strategy recognizes the role of investment in human development to

build and enhance the population capabilities through education and better
health, emphasis on closing the disparities in access to opportunities for self-
improvement for women and the very poor, and reducing the inequality in
human development outcomes between states and regions. The growth of the
GDP will not necessarily lead to reductions in the levels of poverty due to the
low growth elasticity of poverty that characterizes Sudan economy. The poor's
weak capabilities in terms of human capital in the form of knowledge,
information and health, constrain their ability to take advantage of the
opportunities offered by economic growth. Access to education, health and
nutrition services, as well as to physical and financial capital such as land and
credit will allow them to benefit from growth. Besides, accessible high quality
education and health services are essential elements of the foundation of an
innovative and productive labour force that underpins sustained economic
growth.

99. The 2006 SHHS indicates large variations in the education and health
outcomes between the states; generally with the worst affected areas in southern
and western states of the country. School enrollment and child health also vary
according to socioeconomic conditions; most notably with mother's education
level, confirming the well-known observation of the positive impact of parent's
human capital on children education and health. Other factors found to be
directly and positively linked with improvement in education and health of
children include infrastructure, such as water and sanitation, and community
social services, such as health clinic/centers and schools with good quality of
service and low cost of access.

100. Sudan's budget and planning framework does not permit a rigorous
analysis of sectoral expenditures. However, the analysis of the available budget
data shows that Sudan's expenditure on human development has historically
been low spending in comparison with other low-income countries. The result
has been poor social indicators in comparison to countries at its level of income.
Sudan ranked 154 out of 169 countries in the 2010 Human Development Index
(HDI) while its income ranking was 134. The public expenditure review (2007)
shows that although pro-poor expenditures including those on the social sectors,
have been rising in recent years, the allocations are still low as a proportion of
the overall spending and of GDP in comparison to many low African countries.
This low level of expenditure is likely a legacy of the long years of conflict
during which public resources were drained by expenditures on security. With
the onset of peace, part of the peace dividends should come in the form of
increased spending for improved access and quality of social services,
particularly in the areas that were affected by the conflicts. The following
recommendations of the PER is germane in this regard:

i.) An increase in the absolute level of pro-poor spending by reallocating

from non pro-poor expenditure.

ii) An Increase the transfer to the states since the responsibility of service
provision in education and health lies with them, and within the states
target the ones that are the worst affected in terms of achievement in
human development.