The last issue of the Humanitarian Exchange dedicated to South Sudan, published in May 2013, was entitled ‘South Sudan at a Crossroads’. Although that edition noted the challenges facing the world’s newest state – food insecurity, communal violence, displacement and the slow progress in building state institutions – its tone was upbeat. That optimism has… Read more »
Country: South Sudan
Broadening the practice of civilian protection
As violence continues in South Sudan, the protection of civilians has become the central issue. With millions of people displaced from their homes, sheltering in Protection of Civilians (POC) sites on UN bases and in remote villages and swamps across the country, providing effective protection programming is the ultimate Sisyphean challenge. Despite a billion-dollar UN… Read more »
The mixed record of UN peacekeeping in South Sudan
As the armed conflict in South Sudan enters its fourth year, the impact on civilians is staggering, with tens of thousands killed, widespread sexual violence, the displacement of a quarter of the population, and more than four million people facing severe food insecurity. Government and opposition forces have both consistently targeted civilians, putting pressure on… Read more »
Organisational resilience and scaling up during a crisis: World Vision’s experience in South Sudan
The violence that broke out in the South Sudanese capital Juba in July 2016 resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people and the displacement of close to 40,000 within the city. In addition to the increased insecurity, Juba’s strategic location as the primary transit point for all humanitarian and non-humanitarian goods and services into… Read more »
Cash in conflict: cash programming in South Sudan
South Sudan is facing increased violence, political chaos and a deepening economic crisis, resulting in widespread hunger and massive displacement. More than 4.8 million people are deemed severely food insecure. In a country that imports 80% of its food, has almost no formal financial institutions, 700% yearly inflation and a deepening crisis in law and… Read more »
The South Sudan Level 3 designation: from policy to practice
On 11 February 2014, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) declared that the humanitarian situation in South Sudan warranted classification as a system-wide Level 3 (L3) emergency. A little less than two months before, on 15 December 2013, fighting had broken out in the capital Juba between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and… Read more »
A continuum of suffering: violence against women and girls in the South Sudan conflict
In 2014, the international community commended the government of South Sudan for endorsing the recently established Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, by which it undertook to end the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. However, within months reports emerged of atrocities against South Sudanese women and… Read more »
Survival Kits: finding the balance between risk and reward
The environment in South Sudan in the spring of 2015 created new protection challenges for both beneficiaries and humanitarians, in turn leading to problems of coordination and information-sharing. The urgent need to launch a response led to the creation of ‘Survival Kits’, a collection of essential items to help people survive for a week or… Read more »
A thousand papercuts: the impact of NGO regulation in South Sudan
The regulatory environment in South Sudan presents significant obstacles to the effective delivery of humanitarian aid. Even before the outbreak of the civil war in December 2013, South Sudanese government authorities were tampering with hiring decisions, seizing NGOs’ assets and using intimidation and undefined or overly complex procedures to influence where, when and how assistance… Read more »