As an integral part of the Social Re-integration Project in Blue Nile State, now in its concluding phase, the SUDIA Micro Finance Workshop has finally been launched. The ten selected individuals from Zindia village, near Roseiris, arrived in the capital in the evening Saturday 24^th of September. Because of security issues and the unstable circumstances in BNS, SUDIA staff in Damazin decided to carry out an informal selection process rather than the initially planned public meeting, since avoiding large gatherings is recommended throughout the state. The ten participants (six men and four women) are instead spending six days in Khartoum and attending daily trainings from 9 am to 4 pm in the SUDIA Head Quarters. In the workshop they are being taught the basic principles and procedures of micro-finance and forming a local Micro-Finance Committee. The Committee will then meet with people in the village to discuss and decide on specific projects and potential businesses, for which they will be granted loans from the Bank of Khartoum. The graduation ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday the 28^th of September, after which the group will return to Zindia to start supporting their community by leading youth and ex-combatants into productive small businesses.      

September 4^th Nuha, SUDIA’s microfinance operation manager, is travelling to Damazin. She will hold a public meeting in Zariba on the 7^th followed by a workshop from the 14^th – 17^th. In Zindia the public meeting will be held on the 8^th, directly followed by an equivalent workshop from the 9^th to the 12^th. During these meetings the microfinance team from SUDIA will choose 10 people from each village to participate in the microfinance project which will be explained during the workshops. The 20 chosen individuals must then reach an agreement on how to distribute the set amount of money, on the basis of the knowledge acquired during trainings.

The official opening ceremony took place on the 9^th May of in Damazin. All stakeholders were invited, including government bodies, different organizations and DDR participants.

The situational assessments were finalized and the action plan was developed on the basis of the inception workshop, signing of agreements between stakeholders and the findings of the assessments.   

The training of trainers (ToT) was successfully carried out in Khartoum for 60 people resident in Zariba and Zindia. These workshops were arranged by Entishar charity organization from May 27^th to June 17^th. The 60 trainers are now (pre and post Ramadan) teaching a variety of skills in their respective villages.

Next, 30 individuals of the 60 abovementioned were selected to attend a week long training (June 21^st to 27^th) in Roseiris, where they were taught the fundamental principles of community based organizations (CBOs) and how to create one. SUDIA ran and facilitated the event and the participants learned what rules to follow, the importance of having a constitution and simply that of organizing to change particular issues or provide solutions to problems.  In July two CBOs were officially established and registered, one from Zindia (El Waad) and one from Zariba (El Shrouq).