HIGHLIGHTS
• As of 4 September, 1,544 South Sudanese refugees have been relocated from Khor Omer to Kario camp in East Darfur.
• About 150 new IDPs from Jebel Marra arrived in Hassahissa camp in Zalingei, Central Darfur during August 2016.
• While the Education Sector in Sudan is 38 per cent funded, only $2.8 million (6.4%) was provided for Education in Emergencies (EiE) response during the first half of 2016.
• Above-average rainfall since June is favourable for crop harvests in October, according to FEWS NET.
About 1,500 South Sudanese refugees relocated from Khor Omer to Kario camp in East Darfur
The relocation of South Sudanese refugees from Khor Omer camp in Ed Daein, capital of East Darfur State, to the new Kario site started on 20 August and as of 4 September, 1,554 refugees had moved to the new camp. On average, 114 refugees voluntarily relocated per day. The new camp was selected by the government as the new site for hosting refugees coming from the Northern Bahrel Ghazal area of South Sudan (mainly Dinka). The relocation will help decongest Khor Omer and ensure better access to basic services and other assistance in Kario. Kario is located in Bahr Al Arab locality, about 45km south of Ed Daein, the capital of East Darfur State. The relocated refugees have received shelter materials and some basic services are available, including access to water, sanitation and health services.
According to UNHCR, more than 244,000 South Sudanese have sought safety and assistance in various parts of Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict in South Sudan in December 2013. This includes about 90,000 refugees who arrived in 2016. East Darfur State hosts about 60 per cent of all South Sudanese refugee arrivals in 2016.
New IDPs from Jebel Marra arrive in Hassahissa IDP camp, Central Darfur
On 29 August, an inter-agency team carried out an assessment in Hassahissa IDP camp in Zalingei town, Central Darfur State. The assessment team verified 143 newly displaced people (20 families) who came from the Jebel Marra area to the camp in August 2016.
The new arrivals said they came from Kiro, Koro, Kwila and Boldong villages (about 12km east Nertiti town) due to insecurity. UN agencies are not able to access those areas in Central Darfur and verify these reports.
The main needs of this group of IDPs, according to the inter-agency team, are food, access to health services, emergency shelter and essential household items, as well as safe water and sanitation. Nutrition and protection sectors partners plan to conduct more detailed assessments to identify the needs of people with specific needs. With this figure, the total verified number of new IDPs who arrived from Jebel Marra since February 2016 in Hassahissa IDP camp is 3,359 people, of whom about 3,000 people have received assistance, according to partners. Sector leads are mobilising resources to assist the remaining 360 people in September.
Meanwhile, UNICEF through its partner Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) started the construction of 700 household latrines for new arrivals and households affected by heavy rain and flashfloods in Hassahissa camp and Hameedia IDP camp, another camp near Zalingei, Central Darfur, hosting people displaced from Jebel Marra in 2016. The 700 latrines will meet the needs of newly displaced people in both camps, according to UNICEF and partners.
Overall, since February 2016 the reported number of Jebel Marra IDPs in Central Darfur is estimated between 80,273 and 115,000 people, of whom 4,732 have been verified in Hassahissa and Hameedia camps so far (for more details please see the most recent issue of the Jebel Marra Crisis Fact Sheet).
Government request for food assistance for returnees in Golo
On 1 September, the Wali (Governor) of Central Darfur State informed the World Food Programme (WFP) that the food security situation of returnees in Golo town is dire and they need urgent general food distribution support. In response to the request, WFP said it is committed to conducting pre-distribution registration and verification based on recommendations made following the Golo inter-agency scoping mission carried out from 3 to 6 August 2016. WFP with national local partners, including the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) and others, plan to carry out the registration once it receives the final mission report, which is expected to be finalised shortly.
Gaps in education services for IDP children in Sortony, North Darfur
The Education Sector reported in its bulletin of July 2016 that there is still a very high gap in education assistance in Sortony, North Darfur, which hosts about 21,500 IDPs from Jebel Marra. Education partners identified some 3,400 school-aged IDP children in need of learning facilities in Sortony, North Darfur following their recent displacement from Jebel Marra. This translates into 68 temporary classrooms as well as teaching and learning materials. Government approval for construction of these classrooms was granted after advocacy by UNICEF, sector partners and the Ministry of Education.
The Education Sector has secured funding for the construction of 40 classrooms (of the 68 needed), leaving a gap of 28 classrooms for which funds are still required. Other needs include sitting mats, black boards and textbooks. Teachers in Sortony and Tawilla localities also require training on the new curriculum for grades one and two.
Education amongst least funded sectors in humanitarian appeals
Education continues to be one of the least funded sectors in humanitarian appeals. In 2015, humanitarian agencies received only 31 per cent of their education funding needs, down from 66 per cent a decade ago. Despite a 126 per cent increase in education requirements since 2005, funding increased by just 4 per cent. Moreover, education systems equipped to cope with protracted crises cannot be built on the foundations of short-term – and unpredictable – appeals, according to UNICEF.
In Sudan, the Education Sector is 38 per cent funded, according to the Financial Tracking System (FTS) of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which tracks funds donated toward the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). As of 4 September, Education Sector partners in the HRP 2016 have received US$16.8 million of the $44 million requested. However, most of the funds received ($13 million or 77 per cent) were provided to support school feeding programmes. The actual Education in Emergencies (EiE) response only received $2.8 million during the first half of 2016.
Education partners in Sudan estimate that there are 1.6 million children in need of EiE services and 400,000 children are being targeted for EiE assistance in 2016.
During the World Humanitarian Summit, which brought together key global humanitarian stakeholders in May 2016, a new global funding platform called Education Cannot Wait was launched to bridge the gap between humanitarian interventions during crises and long-term development afterwards, through predictable funding.
According to UNICEF, for countries affected by conflict, school equips children with the knowledge and skills they need to rebuild their communities once the crisis is over, and in the short-term it provides them with the stability and structure required to cope with trauma. Schools can also protect children from the trauma and physical dangers around them. When children are not in school, they are at an increased danger of abuse, exploitation and recruitment into armed groups.
About 45% of primary-aged children in Sudan are out of school – UNICEF
On 1 September, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that 45 per cent of primary school-aged children in Sudan are missing out on their right to primary education.
UNICEF added that Sudan is in the top 10 countries with the highest primary out-ofschool rates, illustrating how humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises are forcing children out of school.
UNICEF’s data analysis, which comes as millions of children return to school this month, highlights the extent of an education crisis affecting a number of countries already blighted by conflict, prolonged periods of drought, flash floods, earthquakes and high rates of extreme poverty.
According to UNICEF, Liberia is home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children with nearly two-thirds of primary-aged children not accessing school. The second highest is South Sudan, where 59 per cent of children are missing out on their right to primary education and 1 in 3 schools is closed due to conflict. With 45 per cent of primary schoolaged children out of school, Sudan ranks fourth on the list.
According to UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa Out-Of-School Children Initiative,
Sudan has both the largest number and the highest rate of out-of-school children in the region. Some 3 million children between the ages of 5 and 13 are out of school, including 490,673 five-year-olds who should be in pre-primary school (50 per cent), 1,965,068 primary school aged children (37 per cent) and 641,587 lower secondary school aged children (40 per cent). In addition, 15 per cent of primary school children are at risk of dropping out before the final grade of primary school. At particular risk of being excluded from school are girls, children affected by war and IDPs, children in rural areas, poor children and some ethnic and religious groups.
UNICEF fears that without education, a generation of children living in countries affected by conflict, natural disasters and extreme poverty will grow up without the skills they need to contribute to their countries and economies, exacerbating the already desperate situation for millions of children and their families.
Above-average rainfall favourable for harvests in October – FEWS NET
Seasonal rainfall has been well above average across Sudan since the beginning of the ongoing main rainy season (June to September), according to the August 2016 update from FEWS NET. While flooding since June has affected about 204,000 people across Sudan and led to some crop loss in irrigated areas, overall cropping prospects are favourable in the main rain-fed crop producing areas of Gedaref, Blue Nile, White Nile, and South Kordofan states, and in the traditional rain-fed sectors of greater Darfur, and North and West Kordofan states. Some agricultural households affected by flooding, particularly in riverine areas, are likely to engage in off-season, flood recession cropping.
FEWS NET is a body, which provides projected outlook on food security across Sudan based on analysis of current national agricultural and food security conditions, climatic evidence and factors affecting food security.