Fifty years ago, most households in South Sudan produced the grain they ate, organizing agricultural labour and distributing small surpluses mostly through kinship and other social networks. Now, the majority of households buy most of their food. This transition from self-sufficiency to market dependence took place during long wars, which transformed or distorted almost every aspect of everyday life. It is a transition that now seems to be irreversible. This report therefore looks at how…
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CSRF Research Repository
The CSRF Research Repository aims to support greater contextual knowledge for policy makers, programme managers, and implementers by providing a searchable repository of research, analysis, and resources, and providing periodic updates on new research and analysis.
This paper provides a snapshot of the mental health situation in South Sudan between 2013 and 2016, taking account of the personal reflections of both authors who were engaged in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programming in the country at this time. It begins by presenting an overview of MHPSS activities from this period, including governmental and non‐governmental organisation (NGO) services, and relevant research and coordination mechanisms. It goes on to illustrate the challenges…
Civil war and violence often force large numbers of people to leave their lands. Multiple waves of displacement and (partial) return generate complex overlapping claims that are not easily solved. As people return to their regions of origin—sometimes after decades—they tend to find their land occupied by other settlers, some of whom hold legal entitlements. In the places of arrival, displaced people affect other people’s access as they seek to turn their temporary entitlements into…
The Abyei area, which straddles the border of the two Sudans, had been a theatre of war since 1965. In 2016, the Amiet market emerged from a remote forest grove to initiate a new kind of social contract making. It has quickly become a melting pot of various communities and created space for nurturing new relations but has also generated tensions that may threaten its own survival. As stakeholders negotiate a solution to the political…
There is a paucity of data on violence against women and girls (VAWG) during times of conflict in general and even less information specifically on violence against adolescent girls. Based on secondary analysis of a larger study on VAWG in South Sudan, this article highlights the specific experience of conflict-affected adolescent girls resident in the Juba Protection of Civilian sites. Quantitative data from a cross-sectional household survey shows that the prevalence of non-partner sexual violence…
The inability of the African Union (AU) to deal with increasing outbreaks of violence and conflict has cast a lot of doubt regarding the organization’s ability to lead Africa in a 21st century characterized by massive geopolitical dynamics. To answer the critical question of whether the AU is still relevant today, the study employed a strict textual analysis of the relevant literature on the role of the AU in conflict prevention, eradication, and by extension…
It’s been more than five years since conflict broke out in the world’s newest country, and South Sudan still remains fractured. Despite the signing of a new peace agreement in 2018, fighting continues. Estimates place the total conflict death toll at over 380,000 while the number of refugees currently stands at more than 2.5 million people with almost another 2 million internally displaced. Severe famine remains a constant threat, and both within the country and…
Evidence is available to demonstrate the role of gender in different inter and intra state conflicts. This evidence mainly points to correlation between gender and conflict, rather than causation. Gender plays a key role in encouraging men – and in some cases, women – to take part in conflict, and it acts as a discourse to invoke, fuel and perpetuate conflict and violence. However, the evidence shows that gender is never alone as a cause…
South Sudan has for forty years been a crucible of experimentation in the field of humanitarianism in situations of conflict. Humanitarian operations have been critical in saving lives, providing essential medical care, documenting the plight of South Sudan’s people, and connecting South Sudanese with the international community. South Sudanese and foreign humanitarians have shown courage, commitment and professionalism, and have achieved much of which they can be proud. At the same time, the pitfalls of…
As the global community strives to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) of ending hunger, progress is being fundamentally undermined by conflict. This report seeks to understand: i) how conflict affects different individuals’, groups’ and communities’ experience of hunger and food insecurity differently; ii) the different mechanisms by which conflict affects food security across the different pillars; and iii) what opportunities remain for mitigating the impacts of conflict on hunger. South Sudan is one of…
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