This study examines the tension between systemic institutional fragility and collective resilience within South Sudan’s Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare using a two-pillar theoretical framework. It utilises the Authority, Legitimacy and Capacity framework to diagnose the cycle of systemic fragility – manifesting as the capability trap, legitimacy gap and sovereignty gap. To disrupt these failures, Ubuntu philosophy is proposed as the normative solution, providing the functional ‘substance’ – rooted in relational ontology and moral stewardship – required to fill the ‘hollow’ institutional ‘forms’ created by isomorphic mimicry. Reimagined as communal moral stewardship, Ubuntu provides the intrinsic motivation necessary to sustain institutional resilience when formal structures are incapacitated. Empirical evidence from the Ministry demonstrates how an Ubuntu-inspired leadership approach translates philosophy into practical administrative responses that preserve state functions during acute resource crises. The article concludes that by transitioning from the ‘hollow forms’ of Western best practice to ‘best-fit’ indigenous governance, the state can reclaim data sovereignty, achieve active visibility in service delivery and restore the social contract through the radical inclusion of marginalised groups.
Integrating political science, public administration and African philosophy, this study challenges Western-centric models. It proposes a ‘best-fit’ governance approach where communal moral stewardship addresses systemic gaps, fostering institutional resilience and sustainable state-building in fragile and conflict-affected states.
Emerging democratic states that are recovering from devastating conflicts face a challenging journey towards stability. The stability of these states relies on their ability to deliver essential governance functions to their citizens. To comprehend this landscape, it is crucial to distinguish among various levels of state stability: a weak state has difficulty projecting authority and meeting citizens’ needs; a fragile state is unable to deliver essential services to most of its population; and a failed state is a country that has entirely disintegrated.
South Sudan currently exhibits systemic fragility, characterised by pervasive institutional failures that are deeply embedded across all facets of public service delivery.
In contrast to this fragility is the concept of resilience, which can be understood at multiple levels. At the governmental level, state resilience is defined as the capacity of a government to foresee, withstand and recover from major challenges, while preserving fundamental state functions and stability.
A potential framework for formalising this resilience is the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which is proposed here not merely as a cultural value but as a normative solution that provides the functional ‘substance’ – rooted in relational ontology – required to sustain governance when formal structures fail. Ubuntu advocates a governance model that prioritises collective welfare, empathy, respect and solidarity.
To analyse these systemic challenges, this article uses the Authority, Legitimacy and Capacity (ALC) framework,
It is within this complex intersection of systemic failure and communal resilience that the South Sudanese Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare operates, mandated to protect the nation’s most vulnerable populations through programmatic areas in gender equality, child welfare and social welfare services. This article aims to explore the functioning of the Ministry and the operational challenges it encounters while investigating the potential of the Ubuntu philosophy to promote a ‘best-fit’ governance model grounded in communal moral stewardship. By doing so, the study seeks to demonstrate how indigenous values can restore the social contract through active visibility and improve the radical inclusion of marginalised groups.
This section establishes a dual-pillar framework that distinguishes between the mechanisms of failure and the mechanisms of recovery:
By applying this diagnostic lens, the article maps the self-reinforcing cycle of fragility driven by the capability trap, legitimacy gap and sovereignty gap. To disrupt these systemic failures, the manuscript adopts a decolonial perspective on public administration by operationalising the principles of Ubuntu’s relational ontology and moral stewardship. By shifting focus from individualistic leadership to collective welfare, this integrated framework aims to restore the social contract and foster long-term institutional resilience against persistent instability. Within this structure, servant leadership and ethical leadership are not separate models but the operational expressions of Ubuntu’s moral stewardship.
In this study, moral stewardship is defined as an operational expression of the Ubuntu philosophy, which transforms authority from a bureaucratic status into a mission rooted in integrity and service to the people. Transitioning from the self-serving pursuit of power linked to the ‘Big Man’ leadership norm,
As a vital philosophical framework for reimagining governance in Africa, Ubuntu originates from the Nguni proverb ‘
In the context of public administration, Ubuntu represents an intentional effort to decolonise and humanise governance systems. While post-colonial administrations often solidified top-down, hierarchical structures inherited from colonial powers, Ubuntu advocates for a shift towards collective well-being, consensus-building, and reconciliation.
As a leadership framework, Ubuntu transforms authority into a form of moral stewardship, closely aligning with the servant leadership approach. Servant leadership, introduced by Robert Greenleaf in 1977,
Furthermore, Ubuntu-inspired governance is inherently linked to the principles of ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is characterised by the demonstration and promotion of conduct that aligns with normative standards, including integrity, fairness and accountability.
By creating support networks and reducing social isolation, Ubuntu-inspired initiatives can help repair the social fabric disrupted by prolonged war or social crises, ultimately promoting community resilience and collective healing in affected areas.
Fragility and violent conflict are significant obstacles to establishing effective institutions and eliminating poverty. In regions such as South Sudan, fragility is characterised by a lack of political will and the requisite capacity to deliver essential services and maintain public safety. This condition is sustained by a self-reinforcing cycle comprising three main gaps, that is, the capability trap, the legitimacy gap and the sovereignty gap, which directly align with the dimensions of the ALC framework.
Within the ALC framework, capacity is defined as the state’s ability to effectively use resources for productive purposes. In FCAS, the primary obstacle to achieving this capacity is the capability trap. According to Pritchett et al.,
The capability trap is crucial in countries that are fragile and experience violent conflict because it makes aid less effective over time. The trap occurs when the appearance of successful policy implementation, often generated by using best practice templates from abroad, conceals a profound lack of progress on the ground. Cochrane
Capability traps explain why nations such as South Sudan often remain fragile for prolonged periods, despite generous donor assistance programmes and substantial international interventions.
The legitimacy gap represents a profound disconnect of mistrust between a government’s institutional performance and the public’s perception of its effectiveness. Within the ALC framework, legitimacy is defined as the degree of public loyalty and domestic support a state commands. As noted by Gilley,
This legitimacy gap is significantly exacerbated by a global shift in the political economy of aid. As Lopes
Due to the absence of institutional capacity-building, survival functions are largely delegated to a considerable number of non-state providers (NSPs), which encompass United Nations (UN) agencies, international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the private sector. While these organisations are vital for humanitarian survival, Aembe and Dijkzeul
The resulting legitimacy dilemma has led to the emergence of the ‘short route of accountability’
The sovereignty gap is central to systemic fragility, reflecting a state’s reduced authority and its failure to control its governance processes effectively.
This sovereignty gap often presents as a crisis of data dependency, in which foreign partners effectively control crucial national statistical data.
This external dependency results in governments effectively ‘driving blind’, unable to identify or prioritise their national needs, thereby widening the gap between state actions and local citizen expectations.
The diagnostic integration of the ALC gaps reveals a self-reinforcing cycle of fragility: the loss of sovereignty induces a lack of capability, which in turn triggers a legitimacy gap through service delivery failure. To disrupt this cycle, we propose an Ubuntu-led solution. By transitioning the state from an ‘invisible’ status to the active visibility of moral stewardship, the Ubuntu philosophy provides the functional ‘substance’ – defined as moral integrity and functional reality – required to fill the ‘hollow’ institutional ‘forms’ created by isomorphic mimicry, restore the social contract, and achieve radical inclusion. By leveraging the survival resilience of citizens as a foundation, this approach facilitates the transition to stable, indigenous governance models that effectively repair the social fabric.
Scholars advocate for a shift towards data ownership, active citizen participation and radical inclusion to disrupt this cycle. Radical inclusion entails the intentional incorporation of historically marginalised groups, including women, children and individuals with disabilities, into the central framework of government and service delivery.
This study employed an interpretivist research approach to explore the lived experiences of civil servants in a fragile state context. Data were collected through Dynamic Inquiry (DI) interviews,
The participants had an average of 13 years of experience in government service and 9 years specifically within the Ministry. Their backgrounds ranged from recent recruits to senior managers with up to 46 years of experience. Educationally, the cohort was well qualified; 31% of participants held or were pursuing Master’s degrees, while 56% held university degrees in relevant fields such as public administration and sociology.
The data were processed using thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke’s
Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the University of Cape Town Ethics Committee (Ref. No. COM/01439/2025). To ensure integrity in this sensitive political environment, all interviews were conducted under strict protocols of anonymity and confidentiality, with participants providing oral informed consent prior to recording.
The South Sudanese Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare serves as a critical case study illustrating the tensions between systemic institutional fragility and communal resilience. As a nation emerging from devastating conflict, South Sudan represents a government struggling to project authority and move beyond ‘hollow’ institutional structures to fulfil the basic needs of its people. This analysis synthesises empirical findings with the dual-pillar framework of the fragility cycle and Ubuntu philosophy to examine a social welfare institution caught between a capability trap of isomorphic mimicry and a relational ontology of survival.
This section begins with an overview of the institution’s mandate and organisational structure, establishing the context for the examination of these dynamics. The ALC framework functions as the central analytical lens for organising the discussion of four key themes:
The Ministry is tasked with social welfare, gender equality and child welfare to safeguard the country’s most vulnerable groups. The Ministry has successfully established strong legal frameworks, such as the National Gender Action Plan (2023) and the
Five specialised directorates oversee its operations:
Overall, these roles illustrate the Ministry’s efforts to evolve into a functional, independent organisation rather than one that relies on partnerships. While these directorates present ‘robust’ outwards ‘form’, they frequently become immobilised by the capability trap, which arises when the pace of policy development surpasses the capacity for practical implementation.
The Ministry’s institutional structure demonstrates features of isomorphic mimicry, with ‘hollow’ outwards ‘forms’ of functionality masking a deficiency of functional ‘substance’ and internal implementation capacity. Although the
A chronic funding-skill paradox fundamentally drives this implementation gap, transforming administrative hurdles into a critical survival crisis for the staff. The financial difficulties faced by the staff represent not just an administrative issue but also a critical survival crisis. Staff frequently experience delays of up to a year in receiving their salaries, and when they do, the amounts are significantly insufficient. A senior operational official expressed this desperation, stating:
‘I’m receiving 100 000 SSP [
A middle manager noted the banking system’s inefficacy:
‘When it reaches there [
This indicates the funding-skill paradox, in which legal frameworks become ineffective due to persistent funding shortages, leading to the prioritisation of personal survival over professional growth.
The unfavourable physical work environment further reinforces this capability trap. The Ministry operates from temporary prefabricated structures without power or water, resulting in a challenging environment for governance, as noted by a dissatisfied manager:
‘None of us goes there … It is very hot. You can only sit from 8:00 to 11. After that one is very hot. You cannot sit because there’s no power. There’s nothing.’ (P8, Female, 47 years)
These conditions depict a government that appears functional with organisational structures and policies, yet its operations are hindered by a lack of resources.
A critical aspect of the Ministry’s fragility is the sovereignty gap, which refers to the disparity between the state’s legal status and its actual ability to serve its citizens. The South Sudanese government provides limited programmatic funding, leading the Ministry to rely on partnerships, in which international donors sometimes dictate project scopes and priorities.
An operational official expressed concern over the loss of autonomy:
‘The partners have taken our power … they are the ones making the decisions.’ (P7, Male, 34 years)
This dependency results in a situation in which the government operates without clear guidance. The findings indicate a significant crisis of data dependency, with essential national statistics controlled by foreign partners. A senior line manager provided an explanation:
‘They’re keeping the data for their interest because of the lobbying and also for writing proposals. Therefore, direct access to that data is not possible.’ (P10, Female, 42 years)
This establishes a framework of vertical accountability,
Within the ALC framework, legitimacy denotes the extent of public loyalty and domestic support garnered by a state,
Ministry staff provided examples of the legitimacy gap, emphasising the distrust between the Ministry’s service delivery and the public’s perception of its effectiveness. The legitimacy dilemma stems from considerable internal brain drain, leading to a loss of institutional memory and fragmented working practices within the Ministry. Experienced personnel often move from the public sector to NGOs, drawn by significantly higher salaries that can be 5–20 times those in government posts.
A middle manager observed the trend:
‘There was a DG [
In this context, junior or ‘acting’ personnel are elevated to senior positions despite their limited experience and expertise, illustrating another aspect of the funding-skill paradox. The attrition and funding crisis affects the Ministry’s management and leadership stability, leading to its operation as isolated units. An acting senior line manager noted:
‘Sometimes we work in circles, not knowing what my colleague is doing in a different directory.’ (P10, Female, 42 years)
In certain cases, leadership practices that bypass the official chain of command result in internal instability, as staff view such behaviour as unprofessional and demoralising. A middle manager expressed concerns regarding the lack of institutional autonomy:
‘Directorates need to be given that autonomy … an incapable person is assigned to a particular activity … due to the interests known best to the decision-maker.’ (P1, Male, 39 years)
The findings indicate that the ‘short route of accountability’ is currently operational in South Sudan. Staff observed that the state’s ongoing inability to coordinate functions or retain talent has led to a decline in citizens’ trust in formal channels. Observations from staff indicate that citizens are increasingly circumventing the Ministry to interact directly with NSPs, a trend that effectively renders the institution ‘invisible’ or perceived as a ‘pseudo-state’ by the populace. Transitioning from invisibility to active visibility represents a crucial strategic outcome of the Ubuntu-led solution. By adopting the collaborative approach inherent in moral stewardship, the Ministry can move beyond mere technical service delivery to active engagement, thereby restoring the social contract and effectively closing the inclusion gap that disrupts the cycle of institutional failure.
Despite these institutional challenges, the Ministry demonstrates a distinctive form of survival resilience that is consistent with the Ubuntu philosophy. The findings indicate that this form of resilience offers the crucial intrinsic motivation necessary to avert the total collapse of the Ministry. Staff members often described their work as a humanitarian duty rather than simply a job. A senior line manager expressed this sense of responsibility:
‘I am committed to saving the country with what little I have. I believe this is my obligation and responsibility.’ (P10, Female, 42 years)
This relational ontology emphasises collective well-being rather than individual self-interest, thereby challenging the corruption and autocratic leadership styles frequently linked to fragile African states.
Kets de Vries et al.
As observed by an acting senior manager:
‘We have a very good Undersecretary who is always open to all the staff … She always listens to us.’ (P3, Female, 50 years)
This moral stewardship encourages a sense of unity, as indicated by another senior manager who stated:
‘There is big respect for the Undersecretary … due to togetherness … she had gained a lot of love and respect from the whole staff.’ (P2, Male, 39 years)
By protecting the Ministry’s essential functions through communal support, this moral stewardship effectively utilises staff’s resilience for survival. This resilience, grounded in the Ubuntu ethos, provides a basis for the development of more stable, indigenous governance models. Despite the weakness of state resilience, the survival resilience exhibited by Ministry staff and citizens, grounded in communal solidarity, offers a governance solution best suited to an environment where Western best-practice templates have not been successfully implemented.
The ‘best-fit’ paradigm proposed by Cochrane
However, the stipend incentive complicates the institutionalisation of these ideals. While partner-funded field trips provide crucial assistance to employees facing substantial salary delays; they can also encourage a culture of greed and favouritism, where trip allocations are determined more by personal relationships than by professional merit. An operations officer remarked:
‘This is where the greed comes from since everyone will want to travel, even if the work is outside their area of expertise.’ (P6, Female, 28 years)
The competition for limited resources undermines the Ubuntu spirit of solidarity and underscores the necessity of integrating these values into the formal institutional culture. This approach is essential for dismantling internal silos and ensuring that state-building prioritises the collective over the individual.
This study offers a qualitative analysis of the South Sudanese Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare. However, its main limitation is its focus on a single government institution. The case study approach may restrict the generalisability of the findings to other ministries or contexts of fragility with varying socio-political conditions. The study focuses on a specific group of Ministry personnel, ensuring adequate representation of the public service’s voice; however, it does not directly reflect the perspectives of the citizens they serve. Future research could broaden this scope by incorporating multiple ministries and citizen surveys to better validate the relational ontology of the Ubuntu framework across different governance contexts.
The Ministry, in collaboration with its international partners, should consider implementing these actionable measures to address systemic fragility:
This article analyses the operations and challenges faced by South Sudan’s Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, emphasising a self-reinforcing cycle of systemic fragility resulting from interconnected deficiencies in ALC. This cycle is founded on a significant sovereignty gap, resulting in a crisis of data dependency and a technical vacuum that renders the state reliant on external sources, effectively ‘driving blind’. This dependency results in a capability trap perpetuated by isomorphic mimicry, wherein the Ministry adopts the ‘hollow’ outwards ‘forms’ of functional institutions while lacking the fundamental ‘substance’ required for authentic implementation. The political economy of survival intensifies these shortcomings, as chronic salary delays and insufficient resources compel civil servants to prioritise their basic needs over their professional responsibilities. The resulting legitimacy gap is marked by a mistrust gap, leading to a shift towards ‘the short route of accountability’, in which citizens circumvent state structures and interact directly with NSPs to meet essential survival needs.
To disrupt the cycle, the Ministry must transition from ‘invisible’ to ‘active visibility’ by reclaiming data sovereignty and embracing Ubuntu principles. The state can restore the social contract by shifting from conventional Western ‘best practice’ models to the effective implementation of adaptive, ‘best-fit’ indigenous solutions. In Ubuntu, the shift from individualistic, top-down leadership to communal moral stewardship serves as a vital catalyst for institutional resilience, guaranteeing the full inclusion of marginalised groups in service delivery. Ultimately, restoring state legitimacy necessitates transcending mere charity and adopting what Lopes
The authors wish to express their appreciation to the staff of South Sudan’s Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare for their participation in this study. Special gratitude is extended to the Undersecretary, the Hon. Ms Esther Ikere Eluzai, for her significant contributions to the study and for granting the necessary permissions.
The authors reported receiving funding from the University of Cape Town Research Committee, which may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed publication. The authors have fully disclosed those interests and have implemented an approved plan to manage any potential conflicts arising from their involvement. The terms of these funding arrangements have been reviewed and approved by the affiliated University in accordance with its policy on objectivity in research.
Shanil J. Haricharan: Conceptualisation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Richard D. Teny: Project administration, Resources, Validation, Writing – review & editing. All authors reviewed the article, contributed to the discussion of results, approved the final version for submission and publication, and take responsibility for the integrity of its findings.
The data are not publicly available due to restrictions, for example, containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article’s results, findings and content.