Development

AI-generated editorial illustration created for Kandaka using OpenAI image generation. A fictional working harbour inspired by Port Sudan and its Red Sea setting—not a photograph, an exact view of the present port, an engineering design or an approved development project. A coast is an opportunity, not a business model Sudan’s Red Sea coast gives the country an opening to international trade. Turning that geography into prosperity, however, requires more than building deeper berths. The economic question is whether a port can connect Sudanese producers and consumers to useful services at competitive, dependable cost. ...

AI-generated editorial illustration created for Kandaka using OpenAI image generation. A fictional composite inspired by Roseires Dam, Sudan Railways and Gezira’s irrigated fields—not a photograph, an exact reconstruction, a single actual location or an approved project design. Transformation is an outcome, not a price tag Sudan’s most transformative investment might not be its largest structure. It might be the combination of a reliable power connection, a repaired irrigation system, a working freight link and a training programme that allows existing producers to sell more valuable goods. None makes a spectacular skyline. Together they can change an economy. ...

Atbara railway workshops, Sudan, 2008. Photograph by Bertramz, reproduced unmodified under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. This historical photograph does not show current conditions. The problem was never simply the absence of a plan Sudan does not need to discover the idea of development planning. It needs to confront its own experience of it. The country has produced plans, trained professionals, built infrastructure and announced transformations. The harder question is why useful achievements so often failed to become a durable, inclusive system of prosperity. ...

Editorial illustration generated with Leonardo AI, Lucid Origin. Fictional scene, not documentary evidence of a uranium deposit. A mineral is not yet an industry Sudan should take its mineral possibilities seriously. It should take claims about their economic value even more seriously. Between identifying a mineral occurrence and establishing a viable industry lies a sequence of questions about evidence, costs, institutions, environmental protection and public benefit. Skipping those questions does not accelerate development. It makes development harder to judge. ...

Editorial illustration generated with Leonardo AI, Lucid Origin. A fictional composite campus, not documentary photography. Beyond reopening the campus Rebuilding a university is not only a construction task. It is a decision about who can study, who can ask difficult questions, what knowledge is valued and how an institution relates to the society supporting it. A campus can reopen while these questions remain unanswered. For Sudan, university recovery should have two ambitions. Students and staff need continuity, safety and credible qualifications. The country also needs institutions capable of helping it understand and solve public problems. The first ambition cannot wait for the second, but the second should influence how the first is pursued. ...

Original conceptual diagram by Kandaka. It is not a map or a depiction of completed projects. The question behind the construction project A road matters because someone can use it to reach a market, school or hospital. An electricity investment matters because power arrives when it is needed. A port matters because goods can move through it and onward, not simply because larger ships can approach its quay. Sudan’s reconstruction should begin with these outcomes. ...

Cover: Original illustration commissioned by Kandaka, 2026. BRT, Trambuses, Light Rail, Climate-Resilient Streets and a Sudanese Transit Industry Sudan will not merely rebuild roads after the war. It will decide what its cities are for. One choice produces wider highways, longer journeys, scattered services and growing dependence on imported cars and fuel. The other makes it possible for a child to reach school, an older person to reach a clinic, a worker to reach a job and a trader to reach a market safely and affordably without owning a car. ...

Cover: Original illustration commissioned by Kandaka, 2026. Money is a promise. A Sudanese pound is accepted today because the person receiving it expects somebody else to accept it tomorrow. When that confidence disappears, households and businesses protect themselves with dollars, gold, goods, property or anything else likely to hold value. Sudan’s monetary crisis is therefore not a narrow problem for the Central Bank. A farmer cannot price an imported pump when the exchange rate may change before harvest. A factory cannot plan when wages, power, machinery and working capital move at different speeds. A bank cannot make useful long-term loans when repayment money may lose much of its value. Stable money is development infrastructure. ...

Updated 18 October 2026 An accountable production plan must connect farms, power, processing, skills and transport. Original illustration commissioned for Kandaka. Sudan does not need another document that promises everything to everyone. It needs a plan that makes choices, names who must deliver them, and allows citizens to see—year by year—whether anything changed. That distinction matters because Sudan is not merely discussing a future plan. The government has been preparing a national 2026–2030 Five-Year Strategic Plan. In April 2026, the Cabinet Secretariat described reconstruction, peace, productive projects, youth employment, agriculture, livestock and mining as central themes. A later workshop called for a shift from planning by activities to planning by results and impact, and for infrastructure to be linked directly to production. By May, federal ministries were submitting their own five-year plans for consolidation. (Cabinet workshop, 8 April; planning guidelines, 24 April; ministerial coordination, 20 May) ...

Cover: Original illustration commissioned by Kandaka, 2026. Sudan already possesses one of Africa’s largest livestock populations. Yet having an enormous number of animals is not the same as having a powerful livestock industry. The distinction can be seen in Sudan’s own trade figures. According to the Central Bank of Sudan, live animals earned approximately $287 million in the first half of 2026. Sheep accounted for most of that value, followed by camels. During the same six months, recorded meat exports were worth only about $0.55 million, while hides and skins earned about $1.78 million. ...