The meeting of humanitarian and civic space in Sudan: lessons for localisation

Shrinking ‘space’ for humanitarian action has long been a concern within the humanitarian community. In parallel, the space for civil society is also under threat: monitoring of civic rights shows a year-on-year decrease of space to exercise fundamental freedoms. But how do these trends relate to each other? This paper explores the interconnectedness of humanitarian and broader civic space in Sudan, where possible from the perspective of national humanitarian actors, and identifies the implications for localising the delivery of humanitarian action.

Sudan is one of the most impoverished nations in the world, with a long and turbulent history of civil war. War continues today, with nationwide conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, triggering a massive humanitarian crisis. Sudan also has a diverse and vibrant civil society, parts of which spearheaded the popular revolution in 2019 that overthrew 30 years of authoritarian rule, although it was subsequently reversed by a military coup in October 2021. This paper aims to contribute to current thinking on humanitarian action in Sudan, by providing a historical perspective on civil society in Sudan and the interaction of civic and humanitarian space, and thus to inform strategic decision-making, policy and practice on localisation in the current context.