In Numbers

1.85 million internally displaced people (OCHA)

1.5 million South Sudanese refugees (UNHCR) 223,926 seeking shelter with the UN (UNMISS)

4.6 million people projected to require food assistance from January—April 2017 (WFP estimate)

Highlights

• Humanitarian partners appeal for US$1.6 billion to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance for 5.8 million people in South Sudan this year.

• Integrated rapid response mechanism (IRRM) teams completed a round of life-saving food distributions in Mayendit county for over 100,000 people, including 21,000 children.

• Insecurity hampers movem

Highlights

• The 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan has been released identifying 7.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance this year. Humanitarian partners are appealing for US$ 1.6 billion to provide lifesaving assistance and protection services for 5.8 million of the most vulnerable people. As compared to last year, needs have risen by 1.4 million people which highlights the worsening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan after more than three years of conflict. Food security and livelihood partners estimate that more than 5 million people will be in urgent need of food assistance and livelihoods support during the coming lean season, which typically lasts from May to August. This includes more than 300,000 refugees seeking shelter in South Sudan.

• WFP’s latest market monitoring bullet highlights that macroeconomic pressures continue to affect households’ purchasing power. Shortages and depreciation of local currency, coupled with rising cereal prices and shortages of imported commodities in local markets are affecting the food security of households and increasing vulnerability.

OVERVIEW

Suicide attacks and attempts in northeast Nigeria between September 2016 and January 2017

UN agencies warn that almost 5 million people urgently need food, agriculture and nutrition assistance

20 February 2017, Juba - War and a collapsing economy have left some 100,000 people facing starvation in parts of South Sudan where famine was declared today, three UN agencies warned. A further 1 million people are classified as being on the brink of famine.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) also warned that urgent action is needed to prevent more people from dying of hunger. If sustained and adequate assistance is delivered urgently, the hunger situation can be improved in the coming months and further suffering mitigated.

The total number of food insecure people is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released today by the government, the three agencies and other humanitarian partners, 4.9 million people - more than 40 percent of South Sudan's population - are in need of urgent food, agriculture and nutrition assistance.

Humanitarian access urgently needed

Unimpeded humanitarian access to everyone facing famine, or at risk of famine, is urgently needed to reverse the escalating catastrophe, the UN agencies urged. Further spread of famine can only be prevented if humanitarian assistance is scaled up and reaches the most vulnerable.

Famine is currently affecting parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of the country. A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger. The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago.

"Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realised. Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive," said FAO Representative in South Sudan Serge Tissot. "The people are predominantly farmers and war has disrupted agriculture. They've lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch."

Malnutrition is a major public health emergency, exacerbated by the widespread fighting, displacement, poor access to health services and low coverage of sanitation facilities. The IPC report estimates that 14 of the 23 assessed counties have global acute malnutrition (GAM) at or above the emergency threshold of 15 percent, with some areas as high as 42 percent.

"More than one million children are currently estimated to be acutely malnourished across South Sudan; over a quarter of a million children are already severely malnourished. If we do not reach these children with urgent aid many of them will die," said Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative a.i in South Sudan. "We urge all parties to allow humanitarian organizations unrestricted access to the affected populations, so we can assist the most vulnerable and prevent yet another humanitarian catastrophe."

Man-made crisis

"This famine is man-made. WFP and the entire humanitarian community have been trying with all our might to avoid this catastrophe, mounting a humanitarian response of a scale that quite frankly would have seemed impossible three years ago. But we have also warned that there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security, both for relief workers and the crisis-affected people they serve," said WFP Country Director Joyce Luma. "We will continue doing everything we possibly can to hold off and reverse the spread of famine."

Across the country, three years of conflict have severely undermined crop production and rural livelihoods. The upsurge in violence since July 2016 has further devastated food production, including in previously stable areas. Soaring inflation - up to 800 percent year-on-year - and market failure have also hit areas that traditionally rely on markets to meet food needs. Urban populations are also struggling to cope with massive price rises on basic food items.

Massive relief operation

FAO, UNICEF and WFP, with other partners, have conducted massive relief operations since the conflict began, and intensified those efforts throughout 2016 to mitigate the worst effects of the humanitarian crisis. In Northern Bahr El Ghazal state, among others, the IPC assessment team found that humanitarian relief had lessened the risk of famine there.

FAO has provided emergency livelihood kits to more than 2.3 million people to help them fish or plant vegetables. FAO has also vaccinated more than 6 million livestock such as goats and sheep to prevent further loss.

WFP continues to scale up its support in South Sudan as humanitarian needs increase, and plans to provide food and nutrition assistance to 4.1 million people through the hunger season in South Sudan this year. This includes lifesaving emergency food, cash and nutrition assistance for people displaced and affected by conflict, as well as community-based recovery or resilience programs and school meals.

In 2016, WFP reached a record 4 million people in South Sudan with food assistance - including cash assistance amounting to US$13.8 million, and more than 265,000 metric tons of food and nutrition supplies. It is the largest number of people assisted by WFP in South Sudan since independence, despite problems resulting from the challenging context.

UNICEF aims to treat 207,000 children for severe acute malnutrition in 2017. Working with over 40 partners and in close collaboration with WFP, UNICEF is supporting 620 outpatient therapeutic programme sites and about 50 inpatient therapeutic sites across the country to provide children with urgently needed treatment. Through a rapid response mechanism carried out jointly with WFP, UNICEF continues to reach communities in the most remote locations. These rapid response missions treat thousands of children for malnutrition as well as provide them with immunization services, safe water and sanitation which also prevents recurring malnutrition.

Contact
Lieke Visser
FAO Juba
(+211) 922 001 661
Lieke.Visser@fao.org

Zoie Jones
FAO Rome
(+39) 06 570 56309
Zoie.Jones@fao.org

Marianna Zaichykova
UNICEF Juba
(+211) 95 685 9134
mzaichykova@unicef.org

James Elder
UNICEF Nairobi
(+254) 715 581 222
jelder@unicef.org

George Fominyen
WFP Juba
(+211) 922 465 247
George.Fominyen@wfp.org

Challiss McDonough WFP Nairobi (+254) 707 722 104 Challiss.McDonough@wfp.org

• The food security situation in South Sudan continues to deteriorate, with 4.9 million (about 42% of population) estimated to be severely food insecure (IPC Phases 3, 4, and 5), from February to April 2017. This is projected to increase to 5.5 million people, (47% of the national population) at the height of the 2017 lean season in July. The magnitude of these food insecure populations is unprecedented across all periods.

• In Greater Unity, some counties are classified in Famine or high likelihood/risk of Famine. In the absence of full quantitative data sets (food consumption, livelihoods changes, nutrition and mortality), analyses were complemented with professional judgment of the Global IPC Emergency Review Committee and South Sudan IPC Technical Working Group (SS IPC TWG) members. The available data are consistent with Phase 5 (Famine) classification and include available humanitarian assistance plans at the time of the analysis. In January 2017, Leer County was classified in Famine, Koch at elevated likelihood that Famine was happening and Mayendit had avoided Famine through delivery of humanitarian assistance. From February to July 2017, Leer and Mayendit are classified in Famine, while Koch is classified as Famine likely to happen. Panyijiar was in Phase 4 (Emergency) in January and is likely to avoid a Famine if the humanitarian assistance is delivered as planned from February to July 2017. With consistent, adequate, and timely humanitarian interventions, the Famine classification could be reversed with many lives saved.

• Acute malnutrition remains a major public health emergency in South Sudan. Out of 23 counties with recent data, 14 have Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) at or above 15%. GAM of above 30% is observed in Leer and Panyijiar while Mayendit had GAM levels of 27.3%. Similarly, a worsening nutrition situation atypical to the post-harvest season is observed in the Greater Equatoria region – particularly in Greater Central Equatoria – a deterioration associated with widespread insecurity, lack of physical access, disruption of the 2016 agricultural season and the ongoing economic crisis. Areas in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal show higher than usual levels of acute malnutrition expected for the post-harvest season, indicating a worsening situation. Insecurity, displacement, poor access to services, extremely poor diet (in terms of both quality and quantity), low coverage of sanitation facilities and deplorable hygiene practices are underlying the high levels of acute malnutrition.

• Humanitarian assistance throughout 2016 not only sustained but also improved food security in many areas. It is of paramount importance that assistance not only continues in 2017, but scales up in the face of mounting food insecurity across the country. The expected response to Famine-affected areas in former Unity must not sacrifice much needed assistance to the other severely food insecure areas of the country. There exists a narrow window of opportunity during the dry season to pre-position and deliver humanitarian assistance to prevent drastic increases in food insecurity through the lean season that peaks in July. The overstretching of current humanitarian resources and capabilities during the projected worsening of food insecurity is a distinct possibility, raising the risk of an insufficient response to further deterioration.

• Humanitarian access remains a major challenge in implementing lifesaving interventions and critical assessments of the situation in the worst affected areas. It is imperative that unconditional humanitarian access from all parties involved in the ongoing political conflict is granted to facilitate delivery of assistance to the populations in need. The most food insecure areas show high levels of insecurity, displacement, loss of livelihoods, market failure, and constrained humanitarian access for assistance delivery and monitoring. The key areas to monitor are central and southern Greater Unity, Greater Northern Bahr el Ghazal, drought-affected Greater Pibor and Greater counties of Kapoeta, Malakal, Fashoda, Manyo, Nasir, Kajo-Keji, Yei, Morobo, and Lainya.

Editorial

This is the first newsletter for Early Recovery sector. UNDP plays a role of Early Recovery sector lead. An Early Recovery sector meeting is monthly organised in Yaounde and Maroua. The Early Recovery sector is underfunded. However, the government of Japan is the major donor for the sector. UNDP’s relationship with Japan emerges from a shared commitment to human development and a longstanding global partnership between Japan and UNDP spanning over 53 projects in the world and 25 countries in Africa (only through 2015JFY supplementary budget). Japan fully shares the commit-ment and the determination of UNDP to support Cameroon in empowering its people. Japan and UNDP are jointly supporting Cameroon in several sectors and work together to promote youth employment and encourage social cohesion and pacific coexistence. We are also working together to support region-al stability as well as refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities.

“I visited the project site in the Far North region twice and found that it is important to provide basic products and services to the population in need. Further to this, we need a durable solution like that of the UNDP early recovery project that contributes and meets local needs with much positive outcome. The Government of Japan will continue to strengthen the solidarity and provide these people affected by the conflict and the host communities with relentless support as a part of international community. I equally extend my appreciation to the humanitarian actors, especially UN Systems, who are putting to-gether their efforts on the field with lots of assistance so we could have better living conditions ”

H.E.Mr. Kunio Okamura, Ambassador of Japan

To date, Japan has supported two UNDP projects in early recovery sector since 2015. The first project was implemented in East and the Far North region and the current project has been implementing in the Far North region for IDPs and host communities.

HIGHLIGHTS

• WFP attended the World Economic Forum in Davos and launched the Healthy Not Hungry campaign to accelerate progress to SDG 2 — Zero Hunger, and SDG 3 — Good Health and Well-Being. On the fringes of the event in Davos, a special “satellite event” was organized in Dori (Sahel region) on 12 January.

• The Zero Hunger Review started in Burkina Faso while awaiting the official launch by the Government. The Review will lay the groundwork for designing WFP’s Country Strategic Plan.

Operational Updates

• The Zero Hunger Review started in Burkina Faso led by the national lead convener, Mr. Pierre Claver Damiba and the team of consultants while awaiting the official launch by the Government. A task force has been settled and involves high level Government officials designated by their respective ministers.

• Scaling up of the yogurt project is still in progress, with 4,700 recipient schoolchildren in 26 schools. WFP works with two additional dairies in order to expand the project in the Séno province, in addition to Soum province.

• Food assistance to Malian refugees and nutrition activities are pursued. Nevertheless, nutrition activities are implemented on a reduced scale due to funding constraints. Preventive nutrition activities are pursued for 2,500 children in the East region. Assistance to antiretroviral therapy clients was only carried out in December during the last quarter due to lack of funding.

• Food assistance for assets activities started in the East region. They will be progressively expanded and additional households will be enrolled in the East but also in the North, the Centre North and Sahel regions.

Challenges

In the current situation, the main challenge for the Country Office is to find additional funding and to mitigate the effects of the lack of assistance to vulnerable people. The interruption of crucial activities (nutritional support to the most vulnerable, school meals programme, etc.) threatens human lives and national long-term development. Against the backdrop of these funding challenges, the Harmonized framework has identified one million people currently in need of food assistance (under stress and in crisis). It is foreseen that this number will increase to 2.7 million in August 2017. Insecurity in the Sahel region became a threat for the operations. WFP supports education in this province through school meals.

Highlights

• The country office was continuously involved in the monitoring of the post-election context in Gambia with the humanitarian country team and the food security working group.

• The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative staff from the country office, the resilience unit of WFP West Africa regional office and the sub-office of Tambacounda joined forces to carry out a training for trainers and a community-based participatory planning exercise in villages of Tambacounda region.

Operational Updates

• Nutrition: The last distribution for the prevention of malnutrition was conducted in Podor and Linguère departments. A total of 17,166 children aged 6-23 months were assisted. Also, 711 moderately malnourished children received specialized nutritious food in health centers for the treatment of malnutrition.

• School meals: During the 26th Summit of the African Union, Senegal and 19 other African countries have been selected for a study on sustainable school meals in Africa. This study will contribute to a better understanding of school meals programmes while identifying the best local opportunities and good practices for a sustainable home grown school feeding programme.

• Resilience and Rural Development: From 10 to 14 January, a team composed of staff from R4 team, the regional bureau and Tambacounda suboffice conducted a training in villages of the region of Tambacounda on community-based planning for a pool of future trainers that included local authorities, decentralized technical services, implementing partners, UN funded programme, UN agencies and NGOs. The objective of the exercise was to accompany the communities in identifying priority actions to carry out in the village during 2017 by WFP and its partners, to increase the resilience of a community whose vulnerable groups suffer from food insecurity, land degradation and lack of access to basic social services.

• Logistics: A regional Supply chain workshop was held in Dakar to discuss the new changes WFP is going through and how it will be adapted and integrated at the country office level to achieve the Zero Hunger objective. The way supply chain activities will contribute to capacity-strengthening activities in line with the new Country Strategic Plan, as well as supply chain activities in the region have also been discussed.

Challenges

WFP urgently needs USD 4.3 million for the next six month under PRRO 200681. The lack of funding affects all WFP planned activities such as school meals, rural development, nutrition, capacity development and augmentation activities.

Highlights

• In 2016, WFP reached a record 4 million people with food and nutrition assistance in South Sudan – the highest number on record since South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

• In response to rising urban food insecurity, WFP and World Vision launched an urban poor cash response in Juba through which 42,000 people will receive cash based transfers and skills training.

• WFP and UNICEF continue to implement joint nutrition programming as part of the third year joint response strategy. In 2016, nutrition services were provided jointly in 176 locations.

Operational Updates

• In 2016, WFP provided food assistance to four million people in South Sudan – the highest number of people in one year since South Sudan’s independence. Within this, 600,000 people received fortified nutritious foods for the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition. Total food deliveries amounted to 265,000 metric tonnes (mt) – 56,000mt more than 2015. In addition, WFP disbursed USD 13.8 million in cash based transfers.

• WFP and World Vision registered 6,455 households for participation in the Juba urban poor cash response pilot. Through the pilot, 42,000 people will benefit from cash based transfers to help food insecure households meet their basic food needs. In the last week of January, the skills training component of the pilot commenced through which participants received basic nutrition education which will be followed by sessions on urban agriculture, entrepreneurship, and nutrition. The pilot project comes after an assessment conducted by WFP, UNICEF, FAO and the National Bureau of Statistics found that urban food insecurity in Juba has increased significantly with half of households reportedly food insecure.

• WFP mobile teams completed nine integrated rapid response mechanism missions (IRRM) in the Greater Upper Nile region. Teams provided emergency food assistance to 275,710 people, including fortified nutritious foods for 56,130 children under age five. In addition to 14 ongoing missions, IRRM teams will deploy to a further eight locations in the coming weeks through which 534,000 people will receive food and nutrition assistance.

The National Bureau of Statistics in the government the Republic of South Sudan and IPC SS TWG / all Food Security Stakeholders, announces the results of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis for January 2017.

The IPC is an evidence-based approach, which uses international standards to classify the nature and magnitude of food insecurity in a country or region. The IPC Analysis in January 2017 indicates that the food security situation across the country has deteriorated compared to same time in previous years.

Read the full report here

Thousands of civilians are forced to flee attacks of Boko Haram and military operations in the Lake Chad region. Niger is one of the countries of the Lake Chad Basin that hosts a large number of displaced people. Among them are traumatised children. The SDC’s Humanitarian Aid Department supports a project of the Italian NGO COOPI providing psychosocial support and a safe environment for those young survivors.

The violence perpetrated by Boko Haram and military operations have resulted in massive displacement throughout the Lake Chad Basin, which includes Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad. In Niger alone, some 340,000 people are in need of humanitarian assistance, most of them in the Diffa region, in the south-eastern part of the country, at the border with Nigeria.

The conflict has not only affected people’s physical well-being, but also their mental health. Many survivors of Boko Haram raids have experienced violence and witnessed the killing and maiming of their family members. In the heat of the conflict and during displacement, some children have been separated from their parents or orphaned. Communities have also lost the little they have acquired after years of work. Moreover, the ongoing conflict has interrupted education and economic activities, leaving behind people with little or no hope for the future.

As a result, many people including children are suffering from mental conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Without psychosocial support, trauma, anger and hatred will continue to prevail among these communities, making reconciliation and peace more unlikely in the future.

Recreational activities as a mean of post traumatic therapy

The SDC’s Humanitarian Aid Department finances a project of the NGO COOPI, which provides psychosocial support and a safe environment for displaced children and young people in the Diffa region. The Italian NGO has created 33 centres in refugee camps and IDP sites, where they can meet and play football, do drawings and perform traditional dance. These recreational activities and others provide the possibility for children to express their feelings and are thus an effective form of post-traumatic early treatment. In places where schools are not functioning, the youth centres are also providing literacy classes to girls and boys, creating a certain sense of normality.

Involvement of host communities

The child and youth centres are managed by community-based protection committees. Trained by COOPI, they play a critical role as they organise recreational activities, identify the children who need help and refer them to appropriate services. In 2016, protection committees were established and trained in the Diffa region, identifying 183 orphaned children, 25 children separated from their families, as well as 9 unaccompanied children. They also referred 56 cases of violence, abuse and neglect to COOPI for mental health support from December 2015 to September 2016.

Training of medical and educational staff

The project is also aimed at strengthening mental health and psychosocial services for traumatised adults and children in Niger. Local physicians, psychologists and psychiatrists have been trained by COOPI in identifying mental health cases as well as in providing a robust medical and psychosocial response. 200 teachers from 15 schools in Niger have benefited from training in psychosocial support, facilitating their daily work with traumatised children in class.

Highlights

• Even though security remains a challenge, access continues to open up into more remote areas of the Far North region. Through its partners, UNICEF was able to reach displaced children on the border with Nigeria, providing them with nutrition, primary health care, education and child protection services.

• By the end of 2016 more than 540,000 people are displaced in Cameroon. Displacement has put pressure on host communities that were already facing challenges accessing adequate health care, education, water supply and sanitation – in addition to chronic malnutrition.

• In 2016, UNICEF has supported the treatment of over 56,000 children under five years old with severe acute malnutrition, provided access to education to more than 55,000 children in emergency affected areas as well and interim care and follow up services to more than 1,750 separated or unaccompanied children.

• At the end of December, UNICEF received an additional 3 million USD.
With these funds allocated to 2017, they will permit UNICEF with the critical start necessary to reach its HAC 2017 targets.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

The past year saw the continued displacement of populations from Nigeria, CAR and within Cameroon to the Far North, Adamawa and East regions of Cameroon. In the Far North, while the population of Minawao camp increased to 59,794 refugees, the focus at the end of the year shifted to those outside the camp – the 26,743 refugees not registered and living within the host communities, as well as the 199,889 IDPs – 67% of whom are children (DTM 5, IOM, October 2016). A total of 259,145 CAR refugees have been identified in the East, Adamawa and North regions, with 75,815 in refugee camps and the vast majority of 183,330 residing in host communities.

The historic underdevelopment of these regions, combined with the stresses brought on by the IDP and refugee populations, has put pressure on host communities that were already facing challenges accessing adequate health care, education, water supply and sanitation – in addition to chronic malnutrition.

In the East and Adamawa, this comes at a time when humanitarian actors face a decrease in funding to respond effectively to the crisis to the point that some humanitarian actors are considering targeting their limited resources to the most vulnerable refugees.

In addition to a challenge in access to basic services, the populations in the regions affected by crises in Cameroon are exposed to a plethora of additional protection challenges, in particular children under administrative custody.

Unaccompanied girls placed in host families are exposed greater risks of sexual violence and abuse.
Over the course of 2016, UNICEF worked to strengthen is operational capacities for improved assessment of the situation and to ensure an appropriate response on the ground. UNICEF has deployed new staff to the Bertoua Field Office to strengthen its basic services program. In the Maroua Field Office, UNICEF is reinforcing its education and child protection programs, recognizing that children need safe environments in which to learn and feel protected from the effects of conflict on their wellbeing.

More than one million children in war-torn South Sudan risk starvation, Save the Children is warning, as a famine is declared in the country’s Unity State.

The latest government and Famine Early Warning Systems figures predict that 4.9 million people (nearly half the country’s population) will be in a food crisis across the country, many of them close to famine level, between now and April. This includes at least one million children. That figure is expected to jump to 5.5 million people at the height of the lean season in July.

The number of people facing emergency food crisis levels is up by 36% per cent, making this the worst harvest season since South Sudan became the world’s newest nation in 2011.

Children, particularly under-fives, are the most at risk of dying as they are less able to withstand acute malnutrition and are more susceptible to diseases such as measles, malaria and cholera.

“While the threat of a famine in South Sudan has been looming for months, the worst-case scenario has now become a devastating reality in parts of the country. In the coming months, famine could spread to other parts of the country, where millions of vulnerable children and families now risk starving to death,” said Pete Walsh, Save the Children’s Country Director in South Sudan

“There is still time to save countless lives, but only if the international community acts now to step up its funding efforts. Delays will surely spell catastrophe and death for whole communities hit by drought and conflict.”

The deepening hunger crisis in South Sudan comes as the situation also worsens across the Horn of Africa, stretching aid agencies’ funds and ability to respond. Fourteen million people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are facing severe food and water shortages, and last month a pre-famine early warning alert was issued for Somalia. In 2011-2012, nearly 260,000 people died in Somalia when a famine hit the southern regions.

Workers at Save the Children-supported health clinics and hospitals in Puntland – one of the areas hardest hit by drought in Somalia – are already seeing a significant increase in severe malnutrition cases among children coming through their doors

The conflict in South Sudan has had a devastating impact on food security. Since the outbreak of renewed fighting in Juba in July last year, the conflict has now spread to other parts of the country including Central and Eastern Equatoria – an area often described as South Sudan’s food basket.

As well as directly destroying crops, the conflict has caused farmers to flee their homes, preventing them from planting or harvesting. This renewed fighting has also made trade routes more difficult to access, driving up food prices, making it more difficult for aid agencies to distribute food supplies and resulting in some areas being completely cut off from all food supplies, leaving markets empty.

Since the outbreak of fighting in December 2013, the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan has spiralled, with more than three million people – including more than 9,000 unaccompanied children – fleeing the conflict and seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.

South Sudan is need of USD1.6 billion to provide life-saving assistance and protection to more than 7.5 million people across South Sudan in 2017.

Save the Children is responding to the hunger crisis in South Sudan through mass screening for malnutrition, running feeding programmes and stabilisation health centres, follow up outpatient programmes and training community nutrition workers to do home visits. The aid agency is also training farmers with improved farming techniques and providing them with staple crop seeds, as well as providing mothers at nutrition centres with short cycle crops and vegetable seeds.

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

Emmanuel Kenyi emmanuel.kenyi@savethechildren.org

+211 922407209

Natasha Dos Santos Natasha.dossantos@savethechildren.org

+44 7787 191957

KEY FIGURES

159,053
The camp population as at 31st January 2017. The figure is inclusive of Kalobeyei population.

1,532
Number of South Sudanese new arrivals registered in January 2017.

19,402
The population hosted at Kalobeyei Settlement as at 31st January 2017.

20 litres
The per capita water consumption per person per in Kakuma refugee.

FUNDING

USD 65M
Requested for Kakuma operation
Funded 31%
Gap 69%

PRIORITIES

• Movement of new arrivals from Nadapal transit centre to Kakuma
  
• Monitoring of new arrivals trend
  
• Development of Kalobeyei settlement
  
• Maintenance of roads and water network
  
• Relocation from Dadaab
  
• Voluntary repatriation (VOLREP)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Trench excavation for the 13 Kilometre (Km) water pipeline from Tarach seasonal river to Kalobeyei settlement has been completed. Laying of pipes and jointing is ongoing and is expected to be complete in March 2017. Once completed, the pipeline will deliver 80m3/hr or 1,200,000Litres of water daily capable of serving 60,000 at 20 litres of water per person per day.

• The UN Refugee agency, Kakuma operation, continues to truck water to over 19,000 individuals at Kalobeyei settlement. In January 2017, the per capita water consumption at Kalobeyei settlement stood at 15 litres per person per day.

• UNHCR continues to receive refugees from South Sudan through the Kenya – South Sudan border at Nadapal Transit centre. In January, a total of 1,116 new arrival refugees were received at Nadapal before being transferred to Kakuma reception centre. All new arrivals received yellow fever vaccines.

• On 25th January 2017, a total 15 girls from Anjelina Jolie Primary participated in a virtual art workshop facilitated by Lisa Milroy in the school’s Instant Network School (INS) hub. During the workshop, the girls were taken through drawing in relation to the surrounding environment. The workshop was successfully supported by Vodafone and UNHCR.

• 17th – 18th January, UNHCR Kakuma operation hosted a joint UNHCR and Swedish private sector and skills development mission. The mission from the Swedish Embassy led by Ms. Sarah Diesel toured Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement where they met with business people from both the refugee and host community to discuss integration and ways of improving business for both the host and refugee traders.

• 16th – 18th January 2017, UNHCR Kakuma operation hosted senior government officials from the Ministry of Education and United Nations International Children's Fund (Unicef). The mission led by Mr. Mogaka Ogutu the Director in charge of Policy at the ministry of education toured different schools in Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei Settlement. During the mission, the Ministry of Education, Unicef, UNHCR and education implementing partners engaged in discussions on the possibility of mainstreaming refugee education into the national system.

UPDATE ON ACHIEVEMENTS

Operational Context

• UNHCR conducts border monitoring visits to Nadapal three to four times a week to ensure that asylum seekers have unhindered access to asylum procedures and are treated humanely. Emergency medical cases are transferred to African Inland Church (AIC) Mission or Lopiding Hospital in Lokichoggio or to Kakuma’s referral hospital in Kakuma 4.

• A total of 684 South Sudanese new arrivals were received and transported to Kakuma from Nadapal Transit Centre during the reporting period. New arrivals have reported insecurity, hunger, armed militia attacks and fear of a major outbreak of conflict in South Sudan as the main reasons for their flight. Cumulatively, 1,116 individuals were received at Nadapal and transported to Kakuma reception centre in the month of January 2017.

KEY FIGURES

75,271
South Sudanese arrivals in 2017, based on field reports as of 31 Jan

1,509,462
Total South Sudanese refugees as of 31 January 2017 (pre and post Dec 2013 caseload and new arrivals)

262,560
Refugees in South Sudan

1.853 M
Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in South Sudan, including 223,862 people in UNMISS Protection of Civilians site

FUNDING

USD 781.8 M
Requested by UNHCR in 2017 for the South Sudan situation USD

48 M
Received by UNHCR as of 14 Feb 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

• The total number of South Sudanese refugees has now passed 1.5 million, with a further 1.85 million internally displaced people and 262,560 refugees inside South Sudan. With this large scale displacement, South Sudan is now Africa’s largest refugee crisis and the world’s third after Syria and Afghanistan - with less attention and chronic levels of underfunding.

• The rate of arrival into Uganda has increased, with some 58,000 South Sudanese refugees crossing into the country in January. According to reports from refugees, the increased influx is partly attributable to an escalation in violence between armed forces in the areas around Kajo-Keji. Refugees report having been instructed to leave the area, skirmishes between armed groups, lootings, killing of civilians and sexual assault of women and girls.

• Over 10,000 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Sudan in January. Additional influxes of refugees are anticipated into South Kordofan and White Nile, amid reports of an upsurge in armed conflict and increased displacement in Wau Shilluk and Malakal, South Sudan, near the Sudan border.

Ce rapport résume les principales conclusions d'un exercice d'analyse et de cartographie des marchés d'urgence (EMMA) intégrant une analyse des risques de protection, mené par Oxfam Intermòn en Février 2017 dans la Région du Lac, Tchad. L'EMMA se concentre sur le marché du maïs (de consommation).

1. Contexte

Le conflit violent qui sévit en raison des actions de Boko Haram et les opérations militaires lancées pour le combattre depuis presque sept ans, ont entraîné une crise humanitaire et un déplacement de population aux effets dévastateurs dans les pays du basin du lac Tchad, à savoir le Nigeria, le Niger, le Tchad et le Cameroun ( Carte 1). Dans L’Ouest du Tchad, les zones entourant le Lac accueillent actuellement près de 122 000 personnes déplacées ainsi que plus de 8 200 réfugiés, en plus d'une population d'accueil qui connait déjà une insécurité alimentaire saisonnière chronique. Dans le cadre de son intervention d’urgence dans la région du Lac, Oxfam au Tchad a souhaité analyser les effets que le conflit causé par Boko Haram et les opérations militaires pour le combattre peuvent avoir sur les stratégies de survie et moyens d’existence des populations concernées. Les équipes d’Oxfam tenaient aussi à comprendre les nouvelles stratégies que les populations ont adopté pour assurer leur survie et les nouveaux risques de protection ou risques accrus auxquels sont maintenant exposés les hommes, femmes, filles et garçons dans la situation de conflit qui sévit dans la région. Bien que la région du Lac produise chaque année un surplus de maïs, qui est exporté dans tout le pays (Annexe 1), le nombre élevé des personnes déplacées dans la région et l'insécurité persistante dans les zones insulaires entraînent des besoins alimentaires énormes.

20 février 2017 – La Directrice exécutive du Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM), Ertharin Cousin, et le Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, Filippo Grandi, ont exprimé lundi leur préoccupation concernant les graves pénuries d'aide alimentaire qui affectent environ deux millions de réfugiés situés dans 10 pays africains notamment dans la Corne de l'Afrique

Dans un communiqué conjoint, les deux agences humanitaires onusiennes ont annoncé que les rations alimentaires ont été considérablement réduites sur certains terrains d'opérations de l'ONU, notamment au Cameroun, au Tchad, au Kenya, en Mauritanie, au Soudan du Sud et en Ouganda. Des réfugiés se trouvant au Burkina Faso, à Djibouti, au Burundi et en Éthiopie ont vu leurs produits de subsistance, tels que des aliments mélangés enrichis en micronutriments nécessaires pour assurer un régime alimentaire de qualité adéquate, réduits.

Le nombre de réfugiés en Afrique a presque doublé ces cinq dernières années, passant de 2,6 millions en 2011 à près de 5 millions en 2016. Bien que le financement des donateurs pour l'assistance aux réfugiés ait augmenté au cours de cette période, il n'a pas suivi le rythme rapide des besoins. Par conséquent, la réponse humanitaire est nettement sous-financée, ce qui a entrainé une réduction de l'aide alimentaire pour certains groupes de réfugiés.

« Nous ne pouvons pas imaginer combien la vie est difficile pour des milliers de familles de réfugiés sans nourriture, et qui se voient souvent refusés la possibilité de travailler ou de s'offrir d'autres manières de survivre. Les réfugiés sont extrêmement résistants, mais les coupes dans l'aide alimentaire parfois aussi élevées que 50% ont un impact dévastateur sur la santé et la nutrition de milliers de familles », a déclaré M. Grandi. « Le droit à l'alimentation est un droit humain fondamental. Nous travaillons avec le PAM pour veiller à ce qu'aucun réfugié ne se couche la faim au ventre, mais le soutien doit venir rapidement », a ajouté le Haut-Commissaire.

Les réfugiés tentent de faire face à la situation critique en évitant les repas, en retirant leurs enfants des écoles pour rester à la maison ou travailler et vendre des biens familiaux.

Les chefs des deux agences humanitaires onusiennes ont prévenu que sans nouvelles ressources pour répondre à ces besoins, ces pénuries alimentaires pourraient empirer dans les mois à venir et avoir des conséquences désastreuses sur la santé et la protection des personnes vulnérables.

NEW YORK/DAKAR/NAIROBI/AMMAN, 21 February 2017 – Almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF said today.

“Time is running out for more than a million children,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We can still save many lives. The severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made. Our common humanity demands faster action. We must not repeat the tragedy of the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa.”

In northeast Nigeria, the number of children with severe acute malnutrition is expected to reach 450,000 this year in the conflict-affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobi. Fews Net, the famine early warning system that monitors food insecurity, said late last year that famine likely occurred in some previously inaccessible areas of Borno states, and that it is likely ongoing, and will continue, in other areas which remain beyond humanitarian reach.

In Somalia, drought conditions are threatening an already fragile population battered by decades of conflict. Almost half the population, or 6.2 million people, are facing acute food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance. Some 185,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, however this figure is expected to rise to 270,000 in the next few months.

In South Sudan, a country reeling from conflict, poverty and insecurity, over 270,000 children are severely malnourished. Famine has just recently been declared in parts of Unity State in the northern central part of the country, where 20,000 children live. The total number of food insecure people across the country is expected to rise from 4.9 million to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.

And in Yemen, where a conflict has been raging for the past two years, 462,000 children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition – a nearly 200 per cent increase since 2014.

This year, UNICEF is working with partners to provide therapeutic treatment to 220,000 severely malnourished children in Nigeria, over 200,000 severely malnourished children in South Sudan, more than 200,000 severely malnourished children in Somalia, and 320,000 children in Yemen.

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For more information, please contact:

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Maiduguri, Nigeria, February 2017– Mustapha loves meeting his friends for a quick game of soccer before class starts in the camp where he lives with what is left of his family.

Mustapha fled to Maiduguri with his mother and siblings after their home was destroyed in an attack by Boko Haram. His grandfather was killed but his father managed to hide and survived the attack, only to be killed later when he returned to salvage goods from the shop the family had run.

When Mustapha, who is now 12, arrived in the camp he suffered from terrible nightmares – a muddled mix of dreams of his father chasing him and trying to kill him – a clear sign of the trauma he had endured.

School has provided an escape for Mustapha and his young friends who have all experienced horrific violence. But the conflict in northeast Nigeria is so complex that traditional responses to the needs of those displaced – particularly children like Mustapha – can fall short.

Displaced children don’t just need to learn to read and write

Since the conflict began in 2009, some 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes – more than half of them children.

Children are extremely vulnerable in any conflict. In northeast Nigeria, thousands of children have also been kidnapped and held by Boko Haram. Boys are often forced into support roles by the armed group and girls forced to become “wives,” suffering months and sometimes years of sexual abuse.

Hadiza’s mother is one of many parents trying to protect their children in the face of such violence. One day she was forced to flee with her daughter after Boko Haram attacked their home and killed her husband. After the attack, they managed to find their way to Maiduguri, to the Muna Garage camp for people displaced by the conflict.

“We had a peaceful life before Boko Haram. One day they turned up and started killing people,” she remembers. “We were in crisis.”

Once they arrived in the camp and began to recover from the immediate trauma of their ordeal, Hadiza’s mother went straight to enrol her daughter in school. “I didn’t like seeing my daughter out of school,” remembers Hadiza’s mother, but being in school has become more important than either Hadiza or her mother realised. It has become a grounding force in both their lives and Hadiza is turning into a star pupil.

“I'm so proud when I see her getting into her uniform in the morning,” her mother says, beaming. “At night she sits by my side and does her homework.”

For children like Mustapha and Hadiza, getting back to school has meant they can have a semblance of structure, security and normality in their lives. On top of the regular classes, their dedicated teachers use games and craft activities to help them process what has happened and enable them to begin to think about the future. Hadiza dreams of becoming a doctor and leaving the trauma of her experience far behind. For Mustapha, his outlook is more philosophical – he believes that education will be the means to bring peace to Nigeria.

by Kristin Myers

South Sudan is right now in the grip of a food crisis that threatens millions of lives. It’s a humanitarian emergency on an enormous scale — but how did it come to this? It’s hard to ignore the numbers: more than 50,000 killed, more than three million forced to flee their homes, and millions more in need of humanitarian assistance. It’s stunning to observe South Sudan’s decline from an American foreign-policy success story to a country on the verge of collapse, so soon after its 2011 independence — and largely out of the spotlight.

AN UNPRECEDENTED CRISIS

The country is right now in the grip of a food crisis that threatens millions of lives. The UN has warned that as many as five million people will struggle to have enough to eat by July of this year. In Northern Bahr el Ghazal, one of the country’s most vulnerable areas, 59% of the population is already facing crisis- or emergency-level food shortages.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization characterized South Sudan’s food struggles as “unprecedented,” as 40% of the country’s population is in urgent need of assistance.

The inconsistent and unreliable access to food has caused malnutrition rates to skyrocket. UNICEF predicts that this year more than a quarter of a million children will be affected by severe acute malnutrition — the most extreme and life-threatening form of hunger.

The country already had few health facilities, but renewed violence and displacement has forced many of them to close. For those that remain open, there is simply not enough money for basic medicines and staff. Families struggle to reach the nearest open clinic, especially during the rainy season when the ground turns to swamp and many areas are cut off entirely.

Without help, thousands of South Sudanese people could die in the months ahead.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

After decades of conflict, South Sudan officially seceded from Sudan and gained its independence in 2011, making it the world’s youngest nation. The United States played a large role in its creation, and Susan Rice, the former US Ambassador to the UN, was present to deliver remarks on South Sudan’s independence day. Hopes were high for peace.

Sadly, however, the country has been choked by violence since December 2013, when a civil war broke out that inflamed long-standing ethnic tensions. The conflict still rages on, despite multiple attempts to quell the violence that has displaced millions inside South Sudan, and forced more than a million to flee the country.

A TANKING ECONOMY

The relentless conflict has left South Sudan’s economy in tatters. The country has extensive oil fields and is heavily dependent on them to support its economy, but South Sudan is landbound so runs almost all its pipelines through Sudan to get oil to port. When South Sudan accused Sudan of siphoning off oil from its pipes, the dispute led South Sudan to temporarily suspend production in 2012. The country’s financial reserves took a huge hit and have never recovered. Even though South Sudan resumed production soon afterward and currently produces a small amount of oil, falling global oil prices mean low returns, and the ongoing conflict continuously disrupts production. Meanwhile, South Sudan’s debt continues to rise.

As much as 85% of the South Sudanese workforce do not get paid for their labor, with most people relying on unpaid farming jobs just to get by. The conflict has had a devastating effect on already vulnerable farmers, who depend on the crops they grow to eat and sell at market for money. Agriculture has been disrupted not only by people fleeing — leaving their fields unplanted and uncared for — but also by flooding that has destroyed crops.

It should come as no surprise then, that South Sudan’s dollar has significantly depreciated, and inflation rates have soared. The last recorded inflation rate in December 2016 was a staggering 479.7% — the highest in the world. At the same time, extreme poverty has increased to nearly 66%.

RISING FOOD PRICES

As most food is imported, ballooning inflation has caused prices for those staples to soar. The poor harvest in-country has also drastically reduced the availability of home-grown food, pushing prices up even further. Even those few with money to purchase goods face difficulty, as access to markets has been severely limited as fighting along roads prevents goods from reaching markets.

Take the staple food of maize flour for example. Because of intensified and spreading violence in the past year, especially in South Sudan’s main food producing region, the price for two pounds of maize flour leapt from 14 South Sudanese pounds to 120 over the course of one year in the region of Aweil, where Concern operates. That’s a price increase of 857%.

For people who do not earn money for their labor — which is the vast majority of the population — these prices put food completely out of reach. Ordinarily, they might rely on growing their own food, but conflict and floods have made it difficult for most people to grow enough to survive.

“Humanitarian organizations are struggling to cope, as the escalating needs far outweigh the resources and funding available,” said Julia Lewis, Concern’s Country Director.

Millions are already facing hunger, and hundreds of thousands more will be at risk over the coming months. It’s clear that the people of South Sudan cannot carry on like this for much longer. Without assistance, the situation will only deteriorate, fueling what is fast becoming one of the world’s largest refugee crises.