SOUTH SUDAN ACUTE FLOOD JOINT RESPONSE

About the crisis

Abnormally heavy seasonal flooding devastated large areas of South Sudan in July 2019. Compared to similar rainy seasons of previous years, the impact in 2019 was of a much larger scale, with an estimated number of 908,000 people affected, including 420,000 displaced by mid-October. The heavy rains hit areas that were already facing extremely high humanitarian needs – 63% of the flood-affected counties were already in IPC phase 4, and the floods only compounded pre-existing needs in food insecurity and malnutrition, related to the complex crisis in South Sudan. By the end of October, the Government of South Sudan declared a state of emergency in the flood-affected areas, as the floods destroyed shelters and infrastructure and disrupted people’s access to basic services.

The Dutch Relief Alliance response

Five member organizations of the Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA), together with national partner ACROSS, work together to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the people who have suffered most from the floods. Together, the DRA partners provide 111.600 people with FSL (Food Security and Livelihoods), WASH and Health support in the counties of Pibor, Nyirol, Akobo, Uror and Pochalla in Jonglei State. The response is based on the most urgent needs and gaps, is in line with partners’ technical expertise and ensures complementarity with other interventions to maximize impact. More specifically, the project will see that:

• 66.320 people will be provided with resources to start and rebuild their livelihoods, such as fishing gear and vegetable seeds
• 35.700 people will be provided with direct food distributions and/or with cash to meet immediate food needs
• 71.300 people will benefit from the provision of clean water, functional sanitation facilities and awareness raising around good hygiene practices.
• 2.646 Community health workers will be trained on the provision of treatment for pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea in children under five and on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.