Launch of 2022 HRP underpins Britain’s commitment to solving humanitarian issues in South Sudan
Yesterday, the UN published its Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for South Sudan. It sets out how the UN will respond to this country’s growing humanitarian crisis, the full scale of which is set out in the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) which was published. The HNO makes for alarming reading, and the HRP faces a massive task of 8.9 million people in need of humanitarian support – 69 per cent of the population.
Driven by conflict and unprecedented flooding, over 8 million people need support for food and livelihoods; two million for nutrition; over five million for health services; over three and a half million for education; and over six million for access to decent water, sanitation, and hygiene.
More than two years after the 2018 peace agreement, the government of South Sudan is yet to implement many of the agreement’s key political and economic reforms and deliver to its citizens. As a result, the sad fact is that nearly 11 years since independence, the daily experience of millions of South Sudanese is one of dependence on humanitarian aid provided by the international community to meet their very basic needs.
This support is delivered by the UN, NGOs (both South Sudanese and international), and the Red Cross Movement, staffed by thousands of humanitarian workers, most of whom are South Sudanese, serving their own communities.
Teams of researchers spent months travelling across the furthest reaches of South Sudan, wading through floodwaters to reach remote villages, and talking to families and communities to collect the evidence and data to develop the HRP. Identifying those most in need, and those most isolated by conflict and flooding, was essential for ensuring that the HRP directs humanitarian resources to where they are most needed and can have the greatest impact.
It was a huge effort to produce the first survey of needs in South Sudan that considered not only communities’ food requirements, but also where they can access clean water, shelter and safety. This matters to the people of South Sudan but it also matters to donors such as the UK, who have to make the case daily to their taxpayers for continuing to support the world’s youngest country.
But the scale of need is not the only challenge – delivery of life-saving aid is also getting harder for humanitarian staff who face impassable roads, breached dykes, and increasing attacks by armed groups. As the unacceptable and appalling attack on a WFP convoy in Jonglei showed last week, South Sudan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an aid worker as the unacceptable and appalling attack on a WFP convoy in Jonglei showed last week.
A lot of the things that should be in place nearly 11 years after independence are not yet there, first and foremost security, stability, and government services, but also reliable roads that can survive the rainy season; robust dykes that can keep communities safe from floodwaters; active markets with reliable supply chains; and legal protection and justice so that the people of South Sudan can focus on building better and more prosperous lives.
Together with many committed South Sudanese, the international community has provided over $14 billion in humanitarian support since independence to try and address the worst of human suffering – keeping malnourished children alive; keeping people fed; and ensuring shelter across the country for the millions of people displaced from their homes, families, and livelihoods. We will continue to do everything we can to stave off the worst of human suffering, but the situation is not sustainable. Humanitarians are filling a gap that we need the government of South Sudan needs to fill, with the international community’s support.
We need to start by acting together to fund and implement the HRP, keeping humanitarian workers safe, and meeting immediate needs while also making the right investments in infrastructure, livelihoods and markets to ensure a more sustainable response. And we need to do so in a more conflict-sensitive manner to avoid doing harm, and where possible, make a contribution towards better community relations.
Our commitment to the people of South Sudan remains as strong as on the first day of independence. But while we will continue to deliver essential services and humanitarian support, I call on South Sudan’s leaders to deliver on their promise to the people of South Sudan of independence and do everything in their power to lay the building blocks for a safe and prosperous country in the second decade of the country’s independence.
You can choose how you will be remembered and you will likely be judged by whether you will be able to mobilise the required political will and consensus to deliver the reforms that are needed to create a country that works for everyone and where eventually- humanitarian needs will be a thing of the past.
-André Kölln is the Development Director at the British Embassy, Juba, South Sudan
