On January 9, 2011, the people of southern Sudan voted in a historic referendum to determine whether the south would secede from the north. This 15-minute video provides a glimpse into the intense hope the southern Sudanese held for the poll, and the process of organizing the election. IFES’ chief of party in Sudan, Jerome Leyraud, talks about IFES’ work at 07:13 minutes.
The referendum was a choice guaranteed to them in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan's 22-year, north-south civil war. This USAID video explores the referendum process, for which USAID provided comprehensive assistance, and the significant hurdles that had to be overcome for the referendum to begin on time and be considered a credible process by Sudanese and the international community.
See video here:
Video by Jenn Warren, Bill Cleary, and Angela Stephens; edited by Jenn Warren.