Call for action to the international community: support for civil society in Sudan is urgent and crucial

Tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into armed conflict in mid-April. Extreme violence – initially in the capital, Khartoum – has spread to other parts of Sudan, especially Darfur and Kordofan. The country and its people have been plunged into a devastating crisis, the intensity and scale of which Sudan has never experienced before, with severe intensification of its extractive political economy and a battle for control over resources. Over 4 million people have been displaced in the last four months, with most remaining within the country at what is a critical time in the agricultural calendar. Over half of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance, and over 40% face high levels of acute food insecurity. With hospitals and health facilities under attack, the health system across Sudan is near collapse and the education system has been decimated.

The United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) has called Sudan the ‘toughest place in the world’ for humanitarian access. While access for international humanitarian agencies is indeed a major issue, staff, volunteers and activists working for Sudanese civil society organisations (CSOs) and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) continue to live and work in many of those ‘hard to access’ parts of the country, and within some of the most affected communities. For the last four months they have been critical frontline responders. Despite direct attacks on civil society organisations, many continue to operate as best as they can. Most do not have the option of conducting risk assessments from locations of greater safety. They are living in and through the crisis. In the words of the executive director of one national NGO: ‘we cannot abandon our communities and our partners’.

The imperative to support civil society in Sudan in all its diversity – from national NGOs to Emergency Response Rooms – has never been greater. Community-based organisations, neighbourhood committees and local and national NGOs form a critical segment in any society, and have proven crucial in Sudan’s recent history. In the current humanitarian crisis, where the international community is largely absent, they are the only frontline responders. Established and experienced civil society organisations are trusted by the communities they work with, and are well informed about how the conflict has affected their constituencies, and how their needs can best be met.

The importance of supporting and working with national NGOs and civil society groups in Sudan has been raised and discussed in international meetings over the last few months, and emphasised by the ERC. But despite all the rhetoric around localisation, relatively little has been done in terms of concrete action and recognition of the vital importance of locally led aid efforts in Sudan. Much of the support so far has come from private fundraising initiatives mobilised by the Sudanese diaspora and others with long-term connections to Sudan, alongside one-off grants from international agencies – for example, from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) for Emergency Response Rooms. Some international NGOs are doing their best, building on existing partnerships and relationships to support and direct funding through national NGOs to particular communities in need. While these efforts have played a critically important role, they are piecemeal and cannot achieve the scale and impact required.

What is missing is a clear, informed and well-funded strategy and approach that brings the international humanitarian sector into genuine partnership with national NGOs, Emergency Response Rooms and other locally led aid efforts across the country. Such a strategy must recognise the leading role national NGOs and grassroots activism play in the life-saving humanitarian response that so many urgently need. In the current fraught and desperate environment, where the struggle to survive is first and foremost, such an approach must be well informed, responsible and agile in the way that support is provided, ensuring it does not feed into current efforts (by the SAF and RSF) to securitise or militarise civil society, Members of some civil society organisations, e.g. neighbourhood committees, are under pressure to side with the military or have been arrested. or increase the risks many activists and local responders already face (arrest, interrogation and sometimes torture at the hands of both warring parties).

Any strategy to support Sudanese civil society efforts must also recognise the huge hit those same national NGOs, civil society organisations and activists have taken, including those headquartered in Khartoum. Offices have been ransacked, assets looted (vehicles, computers, office furniture, cash and critical supplies), and staff have had to flee. Moving staff and their families out of Khartoum and other cities to places of greater safety has been a major and costly challenge. Many national NGOs have been unable to pay staff salaries, with reports of staff (as well as the national staff of international agencies) being suspended or laid off in their hundreds.

All signatories to this letter were aid workers in Sudan during or soon after the major drought and famine in the 1980s, and in the decades since. In the intervening years we have seen big changes in civil society, including the establishment of many highly diverse national NGOs and CSOs. This progress has been achieved in an environment deeply hostile to any initiative not aligned to the 30-year dictatorship of the al-Bashir regime. It highlights the extraordinary resilience and commitment of the many national NGOs and CSOs that steadfastly remained independent of the regime. Indeed, it was grassroots activism that was instrumental in removing Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

Large parts of Sudan’s extensive civil society infrastructure could simply disappear under current pressures if they are not supported now, when they are most needed, to continue and amplify their role as frontline humanitarian responders.

To prevent the destruction of Sudan’s civil society, and to ensure crisis-affected people get the assistance they urgently need, international organisations need to take the following action:

• Expand – in a conflict-sensitive manner – support to locally led aid efforts across Sudan, including Emergency Response Rooms, national NGOs and other credible local actors.
• Support national NGOs to re-establish, re-equip and protect their offices and staff – both headquarters and field offices where they have had to relocate.
• Support national NGOs to ensure they have the internet facilities to join online meetings and engage with international humanitarian agencies, many of which are now operating out of Port Sudan or from neighbouring countries.
• Provide grants to enable Sudanese NGOs to retain (and in some cases rehire) and protect their core staff, and to support inter-agency collaboration and skill sharing.
• Provide grants and other support to help national NGOs carry out assessments and prepare to respond.
• Above all, open up access to humanitarian funding to provide assistance to those most in need, particularly but not only in ‘hard to access’ areas, and provide full recognition of the role and contribution of Sudanese civil society organisations in the humanitarian response.

Some of these actions may require support for a local trustworthy platform to coordinate and distribute funds for the recovery of capacity and to support local humanitarian (protection and assistance) and peacebuilding initiatives, tailored to the local context.

Signed,

Mark Bradbury

Margie Buchanan-Smith

Nils Carstensen

Justin Corbett

Karin de Jonge

Harriet Dodd

Wendy Fenton

Susanne Jaspars

Suad Musa

Sorcha O’Callaghan

Sara Pantuliano

Eddie Thomas

Karen Twining Fooks

Helen Young

We are in close contact with Sudanese civil society operating in various geographic areas and at all levels, and this call for action is based on their demand for urgent relevant support.