Excelling in Excelsa Coffee Project South Sudan, officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa with a total area of 644,329 square kilometers. It consists mostly of savannah with arable woodland in the center-north and southeast. South Sudan has approximately 12 million inhabitants, which identify along 65 ethno-tribal groups.

Political situation 
South Sudan gained independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011 after over 20 years of conflict, making it the most recent sovereign state in the world. After independence, civil war broke out in 2013 because of a dispute between the current president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and his vice president Riek Machar. In the conflict that followed an estimated 383,000 people have died and 4 million people are displaced (in- and outside the country). In August 2018 a power-sharing agreement was signed after five years of civil war between the parties. Over one year later, the cease-fire has largely held, but observers say it is a fragile peace. Overall, the South Sudanese peace process is precarious, but the peace accord of September 2018 still holds. However, key provisions of the agreement about demobilizing fighters and redrawing internal political lines remain unfulfilled. As a result, in 2019 South Sudan ranks 3rd in the Fragile States Index.2 All in all, political instability and uncertainty make South Sudan unattractive for (foreign) investments and economic development has been limited. 
Gbudue state, where the project will take place, has seen conflict and instability due to the civil wars, and the presence of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Joseph Kony used Western Equatoria as a base for LRA operations against the Ugandan government. 
In 2016, the government of South Sudan decreed the subdivision of the 10 former states in to 28 new states. This was later reordered into the current 32 states of which Nzara and Yambio counties became part of the new Gbudue state, in the Greater Western Equatoria region. As much as this was a political move to bring services closer to the communities, the government didn’t have enough financial capacity to realize this. Instead, the cost of administration became high with creation of many positions and administrative units. Most of the public services normally executed by the states are taken up by development agencies.  
 
Social situation 
South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries. It ranks 187 of the 189 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI, 2018) of the UNDP.3 Problems are exacerbated by ongoing tensions with Sudan over oil revenues and land borders, fighting between government forces and rebel groups, and inter-communal violence. Most of the population lives off farming, while smaller numbers rely on animal husbandry; more than 80% of the populace lives in rural areas.
 
The repeated unrest in the young country has severely restricted the prospects of development of the country. Due to the conflict and the significant displacement, many South Sudanese did not attend formal education and adult illiteracy rates are high at 65%.5 There is a lack of schools, qualified teachers, and materials. The population of South Sudan is the youngest of the world, with about 70% of the population below 30 years.6 As a consequence of this very young age structure, South Sudan is facing high unemployment rates. The unemployment rate was 19,5% in 2018. High youth unemployment and underemployment are daunting challenges for the country. According to recent statistics, more than 50% of the youth are underemployed and only 12% are formally employed. Youth need to be involved in the economy as they themselves express concerns about disengagement and restlessness, which contributes to the risk of them joining the conflict and engage in violent behavior.  Rural-urban migration is a major cause for unemployment and youth unemployment, as young people move to cities but can't find meaningful employment. In rural areas, the labor force participation from 15 until 64 years is higher than in urban areas due to labor intensive agriculture, which absorbs the rural workforce. However, South Sudan also experiences urban to rural migration when the likelihood of conflict increases. This can be caused by safety risks as well as the hope that they will be compensated or given employment during a peace process if they are perceived as re-integrating rebels.  
Furthermore, youth unemployment in South Sudan is characterized by a lack of skills (education system), limited access to capital for those who want to start a business, and absence of supportive policies and programs.   Male participation in the labor force is generally higher than that of females, although this is not the case among young persons from 15 until 24 years old. In the Western Equatoria region, 53% percent of the population lived under the poverty line in 2016. In 2017, the proportion of households with poor or borderline poor consumption was 88%. Around 84% of households depend on crop farming or animal husbandry as their primary source of livelihoods. Major factors contributing to (youth) unemployment in the agriculture sector in Western Equatoria are: 1) Poor performance of the economy and the labor market; 2) Neglect of the agricultural sector; 3) Poor education system; 4) Lack of skills and business training; 5) Lack of credit facilities and 6) Rural- urban migration.
 
Economic situation 
The economy in South Sudan is severely underdeveloped and poverty is widespread, following several decades of civil war. Especially, infrastructure is a limiting factor in land-locked South Sudan with only about 10,000 kilometers of roads, and hardly 2% of them paved.10 The continued unrest within the new nation disrupts what remains of the economy. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is less than 290 USD.11 The vast majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture and humanitarian assistance. Property rights are insecure and price signals are weak because the markets are not well-organized. The currency is volatile, creating even more economic instability. There is no reliable electricity power supply in the country and electricity is produced mostly by costly diesel generators and less than 2% of the population has access to electricity. About 90% of consumed goods, capital, and services are imported from neighboring countries – mainly Uganda, Kenya, and Sudan. 
 
For its income, South Sudan depends largely on oil revenues. South Sudan is one of the most oil-dependent countries in the world, with oil accounting for almost all exports and more than 40% of its GDP.12 The country is in dire need to diversify exports to find other sources of foreign exchange. Two and a half decades ago, Sudan was a net exporter of agricultural products to regional markets. Nowadays, due to war-related destruction, poor infrastructure, and lack of investment in the agriculture sector, South Sudan is a net importer of food. It currently imports as much as 50% of its needs from neighboring countries, particularly Uganda and Kenya. Total food imports are estimated to be between $200-300 million a year.  
 
The continuing conflict challenges both laborers and businesses, who are unable to perform their normal activities due to safety concerns. It also discourages foreign capital investment, which is almost non existing. The International Growth Centre, recommended in 2013 that South Sudan should encourage foreign direct investment to increase the number of jobs, introduce technologies, and support capacity.13 This would raise productivity and be helpful to the domestic private sector in the longer term. However, after the conflict flared up in 2013 and 2016, the economy has only worsened.  

Now, the labor market of South Sudan is characterized by low labor demand, low labor supply and high costs. South Sudan has low human capital as the workforce is largely illiterate, lacks basic training in mathematics, science, computer science or business and is only able to do unskilled jobs. Nevertheless, there are some potentially positive signs for the labor supply. With over 70% of the population being young people, this could provide many years of productive labor if they are properly trained.  

However, there is also low labor demand. The labor demand is limited as there hardly exists a national economy, there is limited foreign private investment, and the government is investing most of its budget in the military and not in productive economic development. The private sector is almost an entirely insignificant and there are no major products produced by industries in South Sudan that could employ many people. There is very little data available regarding the number of domestic companies in the country. Due to limited wage employment, the informal economy in local markets plays a much larger role in the overall economy. Finally, South Sudan has inefficient markets. It is expensive to transport and produce products in large quantities and this keeps markets local, which limits the national economy that could move surplus products beyond local markets. In Gbudue State, the Equatoria Teak Company (ETC), a sustainable forestry company, is the only major employer and there are no other companies present that provide significant employment. Overall objective: 

To provide decent work and higher incomes for smallholder farmers and workers, especially women and youth, in South Sudan, through developing the coffee sector. 

Specific Objectives;

SO1. Access to farm jobs 

SO2. Increase production and productivity 

SO3. Facilitating access to markets The main target group of the “Excelling in Excelsa” project are the youth and women in the Nzara and Yambio Counties of Western Equatoria State. The project targets 1000 smallholder farmers and 190 farm workers. The project will particularly empower youth and women (under 35 years) to set-up commercial coffee farms on their own land and create job opportunities for women and youth as extension officers, on the model farm, and in the nursery. The project interventions will support the target group to improve their income and production levels and increase their food and nutrition security.