Focusing on South Sudan’s borderland with Sudan, in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, it is clear that the national response to the virus, particularly the border shutdown, has rapidly become a new factor in Sudan and South Sudan’s cross-border political economy. The direct impact of COVID-19—like the consequences of Khartoum’s political transition and the establishment of the Transitional Government of National Unity in Juba—are yet to fully materialize in this borderland. This update summarizes the current political…

The paper will provide an examination and highlights on Government Response to the Corona Virus (COVID-19) Crisis. Critical examination will be on registered success, failure and lesson learned for future management of public health crises in South Sudan. The paper also looks at the gender responses and approaches in managing the virus and finally offers some lessons learned and strategic policy recommendations that help the government to better handle and manage the future of this…

Peace support operations (PSOs) across Africa are adapting their responses to the new reality of COVID-19. Since the outbreak, PSOs have provided critical support in the fight against the pandemic in situations where protracted conflict has destroyed the health infrastructure of many African countries. Both the contribution of PSOs in responding to the risk posed by COVID-19 and the effect of the pandemic on operations show that the UN Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) agenda –…

This rapid assessment builds on what we know about women’s existing justice needs as documented in an earlier Justice for Women report (2019). It examines the impacts of COVID-19, policy responses and outlines policy recommendations for the period ahead. Using a gender lens, the report documents major threats to women’s lives and livelihoods associated with COVID-19 – namely, curtailed access to justice institutions, rising intimate partner violence (IPV), threats to women’s rights to sexual and…

In this blog, Paul Richards reflects on what aid agencies in South Sudan can learn from the Ebola response in West Africa. Perhaps the most critical is that the response to an infectious disease is most effective, and conflict sensitive, when it works with communities and supports their initiatives, and is least effective when local knowledge is ignored or disregarded. The number of cases of COVID-19 in South Sudan is rising, and there is a…

In fragile and conflict-affected settings, Covid-19 is increasing vulnerabilities and tensions caused by unequal access to already strained (and often inexistent) social and medical services. This is particularly true for young people – one in every four of whom live in such areas. Despite repeated appeals for a global ceasefire, violence is intensifying in some places whilst some peace processes are also on hold or endangered. Our response to Covid-19 must empower young people through…

The COVID-19 pandemic marks a turning point in the 21st century – a shock that is characteristic of a long crisis of globalisation where not only opportunities, but risks proliferate rapidly across borders. The emergency has three levels, each of which is unfolding at its own speed: public health (at least two years), economic (five years or more), polarisation and insecurity (a generation).   Download

Civilian protection sites created by the United Nations house large numbers of internally displaced people in crowded conditions, making them vulnerable to illness from COVID-19. Advice for residents to go home or physically distance is not only impossible but distracts from more useful measures which, argues Naomi Pendle, must draw on local leadership.   Read more

South Sudan is a country with already pre-existing inequalities, gender norms and perceptions of who a man and woman is. The experiences of women and girls in South Sudan are starkly different to that of men and boys and the civil war, poverty and societal norms in the country has put women and girls at a disadvantage to seek out a livelihood, good healthcare, education etc. than their male counterparts. The COVID-19 outbreak in South…

Some governments have responded to alarms about possible COVID-19-related food shortages much as consumers would: By trying to hoard food. A number of countries have limited exports of key staple food commodities to protect domestic supplies. Timothy Sulser and Shahnila Dunston assess the possible impacts of such export constraints for the two most affected markets, rice and wheat. They conclude that international rice markets are particularly sensitive to such restrictions by large exporters—modeling shows they could…