Source: Save The Children
Country: South Sudan (Eastern Equatoria State / Counties of Kapoeta South, Kapoeta East and Budi)
Project Background
Eastern Equatoria county is a highly pastoralist community, which affects ability to reach populations with consistent services due to their highly mobile nature. Pastoralist communities have been particularly impacted by conflict, displacement and hunger, which has led to a disruption of traditional gender roles, with men being recruited into armed groups, leaving women and children to lead the households. Children are particularly impacted by taking up negative coping mechanisms, such as child labor, early and forced marriage, reducing food intake, and joining armed groups. The cumulative impacts of years of conflict, violence, underdevelopment, lack of basic services and destroyed livelihoods is enormous and the scale of vulnerability of the population is extremely high. The armed conflict, intra- and inter-communal violence, natural disasters (drought and floods) and harmful traditional practices all present protection risks for children. Successive generations of children in South Sudan have now grown up knowing no other circumstances than conflict. Protection concerns are widespread, and children and women are the most affected.
The vulnerability of the population and children specifically has been exacerbated by displacement, breakdown of traditional protective systems, breakdown of the rule of law, a weakened economy, poor public services and limited livelihood options for the population. Boys and girls continue to endure multiple protection risks and rights violations, including GBV, child labor, child neglect, physical violence against children, killing and abduction of children during cattle raids, psychosocial distress, family separation, among others. The outbreak of COVID-19 in South Sudan will exacerbate these preexisting child protection risks/concerns/needs.
Save the Children’s (SC) overall program approach focuses on using community-based approaches as the main delivery modalities, which increase the reach of the program while also building local capacity to address life-saving needs. SC has broad experience in implementing community-based approaches in South Sudan, as specifically in Eastern Equatoria, and will use these approaches as the entry-point for the proposed program and the delivery of integrated services. All sectoral interventions will follow a community-based and integrated approach designed to elicit the participation of target populations in all aspects of the program. The program will mobilize, engage and empower local communities and key stakeholders to participate, own and support planned interventions working with community leaders and structures as entry points and drivers of change. SC’s intervention targets children under five and pregnant and lactating women in particular, recognizing the high needs for these populations. SC will ensure strong links with all health, nutrition, protection, food security and education interventions.
Project Goal: To increase access to integrated health, nutrition, WASH and child protection services through community-based approaches in Eastern Equatoria
Sectoral Objectives and Results:
- To improve access to curative services to treat common childhood illness among conflict affected vulnerable children in Kapoeta East, Kapoeta South and Budi counties.
- To increase access to life-saving treatment services for acutely malnourished children under five, while protecting, promoting and supporting appropriate infant and young child feeding practices that optimize nutrition and health survival outcomes in emergencies
- Conflict affected children (girls and boys) in Kano Tania refugee camp have access to age and gender responsive child protection prevention and response services through strengthened community-based child protection systems
- To improve access to basic WASH services for vulnerable refuges and hygiene practices across the community
