Humans Must Access Essentials (HUMAES) has operated for six years without a board. This has hampered our development as an organization. A board is supposed to consist of elected community representatives who are charged with a responsibility of upholding the vision of the organization. In the last six years, the role of the board was played by the founding members who are the organization’s vision bearers. Now that a board has been elected, the founding members have transferred some of their responsibilities to the board.
Our new HUMAES board was elected on December 15, 2020 after a two-day training workshop on leadership, governance, and resource mobilization which was held at the Royal Palace Hotel, Nimule, South Sudan. Twelve selected participants attended the training and out of those, seven were elected as board members. Those elected were Mrs. Keji Susan Aventore, chairperson, Mrs. Angelina Akeri, Deputy chairperson, Mrs. Regina Keji, Treasurer, Mr. Anyanzo Charles Jacob, Secretary, Mr. Madra Geoffrey, Advisor and Mr. Taban Oliver William, Members.
On December 21, 2020, the board and the staff were blessed by Rev. Fr. Martin Vuni Asida, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Torit, South Sudan at HUMAES Nimule field office. The ceremony called upon Almighty God to descend on their work. During the blessing ceremony Fr. Martin remarked, “The board must concentrate its efforts on knowing the policies, vision, and the core value of the organization, without which members cannot be called board members.”
On January 30, 2021, the board conducted its first meeting in Nimule field office. The meeting briefed the board on basic information about the organization including the historical development of the HUMAES, its achievements, donors, challenges and the support required from the board. The board came up with a plan for resource mobilization. This is very important for the development of HUMAES, because projects funded by outside donors do not address this area. They planned to conduct monthly meeting to mobilize financial resources in a common pool to fund board business. Members will pay 500 South Sudanese Pounds as membership fee to be paid only once, and 200 South Sudanese Pounds to be paid monthly as a social fund. An additional 300 South Sudanese Pounds will be paid monthly as a development fee. Board members will have a savings scheme for themselves through HUMAES in which they can save a maximum of 1000 South Sudanese pounds monthly. The term of office for board members is three years.
The election of a board is a very important step forward. Staff at HUMAES look forward to working with our board members so that HUMAES can continue to develop and become more effective in their work.
