Humanitarian Response

The effects of climate change are expected to be greatest in the Horn of Africa countries, particularly those, such as South Sudan, whose populations are reliant on rain-fed agricultural production to meet their food and income needs. As one of the least developed countries in the world, South Sudan’s population is dependent on climate sensitive natural resources for their livelihoods, making the country particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. South Sudan’s future economy will be significantly influenced by climate change and the potential for socio-economic losses and damages due to climate change is one of the largest unknowns in the country’s future.

This CSRF briefing paper explores current climate context and trends in South Sudan, peers into the future of climate change and reflects on consequences of it on the economic and climate sensitive sectors in South Sudan. Lastly, the briefing paper suggests responses for policy and practice such as providing climate sensitive aid and supporting the Government of South Sudan to develop AND implement a national strategy for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

This report explores the important role chiefs’ courts play in food security and in addressing hunger in South Sudan by reallocating food to vulnerable community members. Their role is particularly important in view of famine and recurrent extreme food insecurity affecting South Sudan. The authors suggest that chief courts potentially offer useful data for famine early warning and responses but also underline that humanitarian actors engaging with chiefs’ courts should do so with a contextually informed and locally nuanced approach.

In the Horn of Africa, there is a fundamental mismatch between the nation state framework through which bilateral and multilateral actors see the world, and the networked lives of often vulnerable populations in the region. This is most obvious at the margins of these states, where identities are fluid and decades of displacement and mobility have created extensive global networks beyond the control of state actors. Though movement and mobility, and to an extent the pathways used, are not new, the ability of the transnational
to become integrated with everyday life in disparate locations is.
The transformative impact of everyday transnational linkages is particularly acute in politically and economically marginalized borderlands. These areas are historically subject to more extractive forms of government. Given their insecure locations, such areas traditionally have attracted predominantly emergency assistance. In particular, these borderland spaces have become central to refugee operations in the Horn of Africa, with national
governments content for international resources to substitute for their own more proactive engagement.
An unintended consequence of this approach, however, has been to unmoor these territories further from the national sphere. Refugee programming has helped to internationalize them by creating incentives for transnationalism, whether to attend better schools over borders or by creating new migration routes to western countries that offer resettlement. This has created complex transnational resource flows through family and
extended kinship networks, transforming remote border posts into nodes for flows of
people, cash and social capital.
In these contexts, what are often perceived by outsiders as traditional and highly localized orders are actually interacting with the contemporary global economy and multiple cultural influences. The result can be a subversion of the usually unequal relationships between centre and periphery that not only challenges the spatial organization of state power but also the internal ordering of local societies.
If international actors are unaware of these dynamics, they are failing to understand a critical
component of how individuals, families and communities are organizing themselves
and surviving. Whether focused on fostering community resilience, tackling local conflicts
or encouraging economic activity, there is a need to understand better the daily influence of transnational dynamics. There is also a risk of significant negative effects on local populations from interventions designed to reassert the control of the centre or harden state boundaries.
This suggests a need for further research into the role of the aid industry in transnational political economies, and the opportunities and pitfalls of donor engagement in borderlands. Such research requires new or adapted analytical frameworks that can both investigate and describe complex networked systems. This entails, for example, asking questions about how changes in one location can impact on populations thousands of
kilometres away. Such frameworks also need to foreground individual agency in order to move beyond the limited standard accounts of mobility that focus on push and pull factors.

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) visited South Sudan from 15 to 20 December 2019 to estimate the cereal production during 2019 and assess the overall food security situation in the country. The CFSAM reviewed the findings of several Crop Assessment Missions conducted from June to December 2019 at planting and harvest time in different agro-ecological zones of the country.

This Briefing Paper examines how UN peace operations are using casualty data to enhance the implementation of key elements of their mandates, including the protection of civilians (PoC), the promotion and protection of human rights, and conflict prevention, thereby contributing to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.1: ‘Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related deaths rates everywhere’.

It argues that, in the absence of data from state institutions, UN peace operations can be a good alternative source of data in conflicts where they operate for measuring SDG 16 Indicator 16.1.2: ‘Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by sex, age and cause’. The paper assesses the current casualtyrecording efforts of three of the largest UN missions operating in highly volatile contexts: the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). The aim is to obtain a fuller understanding of these missions’ functions—and the gaps in aligning their data collection efforts with the fulfilment of elements of their mandate and the recording of data relevant to SDG Indicator 16.1.2.

The ability to predict and analyze famine has improved sharply in the past fifteen years. However, the political influences on data collection and analysis in famine and extreme food security emergencies continue to limit evidence-based prevention and response. In many emergencies, good quality data are not readily available, which makes it easy to undermine analysis processes and distort findings. In some cases, these processes are even shut down for political reasons. Sometimes governments or armed groups are the party influencing results for political ends. But it can also be agencies, donors, and even local leaders.

This study documents those political influences, synthesizing findings from six different country case studies (five of which have been considered at risk of famine in recent years) including in South Sudan, noting separate influences on data collection and on analysis processes and the way these play out. Famine analysis will never be free of political influences, but this study recommends good practice for better managing political influences.

The extensive flooding in South Sudan in 2020 has led to significant displacement across the country. Over the past few months, there has been a large influx of primarily flood-affected Dinka into the Mangalla area, in the northern part of Juba County, Central Equatoria. While many of these Internally Displaced People (IDPs) were displaced by flooding in Jonglei state, others are arriving from the Shirikat neighbourhood in Juba. The arrival of large numbers of people into the Mangalla area, and the accompanying humanitarian response, has the potential to exacerbate existing tensions between the Bari and Mundari residents of Mangalla over control of land and other commercially signficant resources in the area. In addition, there are also fears amongst Mangalla residents that some recent arrivals are not fleeing floods, but rather seeking commercial opportunities in the area. As a result, it is important that donors and humanitarian actors understand the underlying conflict dynamics and drivers in Mangalla, and that the response is planned and implemented using a conflict sensitive lens.

This review explores the magnitude of this year’s flood and its impacts in Bor Town. We used a boat to get us around the town surveying the extent of flood water and measuring its depth in the streets and in the residential neighborhoods. We also used the GPS to capture the geographical coordinates submerged under water, showing exactly the depth of flood in the town by locations.

How are children with disabilities faring during the covid-19 pandemic?
What added challenges are children with disabilities facing in the current crisis?
Are children with disabilities accessing online learning?
How are families of children with disabilities coping with the socioeconomic fallout?
Several months into the COVID-19 crisis, the questions above remain largely unanswered. However, evidence is beginning to emerge that points to increased risks for children with disabilities as well as reduced access to services. Understanding such risks and assessing the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic are key to shaping a response that takes into account the needs of all children.

Since the start of the crisis, governments have struggled to meet unprecedented demands. Disruptions to services, ranging from education to child protection, have been documented, with disproportionate effects on the most vulnerable children and families. In many cases, governments have responded creatively and adapted services to address critical needs. Documenting such disruptions along with mitigation measures is central to spotlighting the immediate and long-term interventions that must be put in place to ensure the safety and well-being of all children.

While much has been learned, far more remains unknown. Research and data collection are needed to draw attention to the experiences of children with disabilities during the pandemic, to advocate for a range of services to be available now and in the future, and to inform the design of specific interventions. That said, children and adults with disabilities are likely to remain invisible in data collection efforts, unless dedicated measures are put in place to make such efforts disability-inclusive.

As more data on children with disabilities become available, the insights they offer must be woven into the public discourse surrounding the pandemic so that the needs of these children are considered during the decision-making processes leading to a response.

Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) seeks to integrate humanitarian principles and the protection of civilians
within its mandate and operations. This paper details the ways in which these laws and principles were promoted through negotiation, advocacy, dissemination and training and the monitoring and follow-up of violations and abuses. It seeks to distil specific lessons from working with armed opposition movements, as distinct from sovereign governments, in particular the concern of humanitarian agencies that they may provide or be seen to provide legitimacy to those who mistreat their populations.

Aid agencies working in south Sudan have sought to place the protection of civilians and the integrity of humanitarian assistance at the centre of their mandate. This approach sees complex emergencies as social and political phenomena, as much crises of human rights as of humanitarian need. In such situations, the victims of conflict require not only material assistance but also protection of their safety, dignity and basic human rights. A fundamental assumption of the paper is that, as pointed out by the detailed Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda (1996), lack of coherent political and policy leadership amongst aid agencies has led to many of their programmes failing those whom they seek to help.

Protection of civilians is achieved through the application of international law and principles such as the primacy of the humanitarian imperative, neutrality, impartiality, accountability, transparency and the protection of victims. The challenge lies not simply with the definition of the legal and ethical standards but in their implementation and enforcement.

The OLS experience is used to highlight broader dilemmas confronting the international humanitarian community. These include the lack of coherent political leadership in most humanitarian programmes,

sovereignty issues, the trade-offs between protection and assistance, the role of coordination in defining and protecting mandates, and the conditions under which the withdrawal of assistance might be considered morally acceptable.

Underpinning this paper is the assertion that

humanitarian principles and standards should lie at the centre of such programmes. While recognising that political authorities are ultimately responsible for protecting civilians and the integrity of humanitarian assistance, implementing agencies and those who fund them also need to address these issues more effectively.