RAPID NIMULE ASSESSMENT REPORT INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS NIMULE TOWN - MAGWI COUNTY, EASTERN EQUATORIA STATE, SOUTH SUDAN Draft Photo: An IDP child sucking water from the tape due to insufficient yield from the source in Nimule 14 – 16 January 2014 CARE Rapid Assessment Report for IDPs in Nimule Tow n, Magwi County Page 1 BACKGROUND The current conflict in South Sudan continue to affect multiple communities with displacement not happening only in the conflict affected areas of Unity, Jonglei, Upper Nile and central Equatoria States where over 500,000 people reported displaced but secondary displacement occurring now in the States where conflict has not yet reached. As of 15 th January 2014, RRC and local government in Nimule first attempt; registered 35,261 individuals (7753 households ) in six key location in Nimule, Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria state. This is expected due to the important location of Nimule being at the border with Uganda and it lies 195KM south of Juba. Historically Nimule host hundreds of thousands of IDPs during past war mainly from Jonglei State and communities who have been displaced in Nimule might seek safe haven in Nimule with the intention if things worsen they can cross over to Uganda. Uganda has already reported at most over 30,000 refugees had crossed over from Nimule in to the border town of Elegu(4000-5000 crossing daily as of 11 th Jan 14) and more continue to move in where registration is taking place and registered refugees taken to the transit site in Dzaipi of Adjumani district in Uganda. More IDPs continue to flock to Nimule even after the first attempt to understand the number of IDPs in Nimule. The profile of the IDP indicated that majority are from Jonglei state enrouting from Awerial County of Lakes State after primary displacement. There are also other tribes within Equatoria and other parts of South Sudan who were registered in Nimule; it’s a diverse group though residing in different locations within Nimule. The Jonglei communities mainly are concentrated at the Southern Part of Nimule while the other groups are scattered within the indigenous host communities occupying mainly eastern, central and Northern part of Nimule METHODOLOGY This assessment took coordinated approach as it was done concurrently with Inter Cluster mission where on the first day teams were distributed to all the cluster for IRNA. CARE team undertook then 2 additional days of field assessment in the sites to understand deeper situations of IDPs for better humanitarian intervention. The team consulted with different IDPs groups, government officials, UN representative, INGOs, religious leaders and undertook focus group discussions and individual interviews with male and female IDPs. Some 39 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and individual interviews were carried out in the registration sites that are at the six sites where IDPs settled. The team also undertook observation of key sites including the registration points, health and WASH facilities and did sample household visit to carry out observation. Nutrition team conducted sampled screening through MUAC method. CARE Rapid Assessment Report for IDPs in Nimule Tow n, Magwi County Page 2 OBJECTIVE The rapid assessment mission was primarily aimed at gathering, contextual information on the IDPs’ situation, ascertained humanitarian needs and design response. Specifically, the assessment’s objectives were: 1. To assess the humanitarian needs of the IDPs and determine immediate priorities for off-camp interventions for IDPs residing in Nimule focusing on WASH, Nutrition, SRH, SGBV, food security. 2. To highlight key protection concerns faced by IDPs waiting for registration in Nimule. Programmatic sector focus for the assessment Based on current capacity, the focus programmatically was on WASH, Nutrition, SRH, FSL and protection needs although the assessment looked at all needs in generic point of few. The choice to narrow down on WASH, Nutrition, SRH, FS and protection is based on possibility of mobilizing current staffing available within Equatoria to respond and with optimism that staff will be willing to accept to be deployed in Nimule area. The CO has up to 6 WASH staff within reach, one nutrition specialist and 5 health staff, 4 food security and livelihood staff who can be used to respond in Nutrition, food security and 4 peace building staff (which can be use for protection activities). Nutrition team undertook simple screening to understand nutritional needs for designing intervention. WFP has already announced blanket supplementary feeding program targeting children from 6 years to 35 months which CARE can tap on. WASH team focused on access to clean water, sources of available clean water, possibilities for water tracking, functionalities of available sources of water and their conditions, Hygiene situation of the IDPS, access to hygiene kits for female of reproductive age, hygiene practices and availabilities of hygiene related materials that promotes good hygiene practices, sanitation situation and access to sanitary facilities and the existing needs for sanitation facilities such as latrines, bathing shelters and hand washing materials among other WASH related needs. The food security team look at the food security situation of the IDPs, market functionality and access to food and copying mechanism Protection team looked in to protection concerns, GBV/SGBV issues, peace building issues acknowledging that the situation is still fluid and need to engage local communities for peaceful co-existence. CARE Rapid Assessment Report for IDPs in Nimule Tow n, Magwi County Page 3 SRH team assessed the hospital and the nearby PHCU of diocese of Torit, understand resource availability and outreach program. KEY FINDINGS Registration The registration process (ideally head count) started on 15 th January 2014 at six centers namely Episcopal Church of Sudan (at Kololo Primary School), St. Patrick Primary School, Rei Primary School, Hai Kanisha Church, Mugali (Jerusalem) Church and Fulla Secondary School. It is organized by the government in participation of local NGOs in an off-site camp despite efforts by the local authority to find a suitable and secure piece of land to camp the IDP. A total of 35,261 persons were registered with 7753 households, as per RRC data. The registration process employed has been adapted on several occasions in order to respond to the magnitude of the number of IPDs arriving in Nimule town in Magwi County. In the registration centers, respondents in the discussions had mostly come from Bor, Jonglei State and Juba, Central Equatoria state in the last four weeks period. However, registration was conducted for one day and didn’t continue due to the fact that one registration was beyond the number reported by IRNA report (20000 persons) and some registered IDPs might have recycled. However team noted continued arrival of IDPs IDPs movement Most of the IDPs are staying with their host relatives which account for 69% of the total displaced persons in Nimule town. Rests of IDPs are staying in schools and churches. It is actually difficult to establish the exact number of IDPs in the area due to their integration into host community and crossing the border to Uganda as refugees. Majority of IDPS are women and children who have connection with their husbands fighting at front lines. There were few cases reported that some people registered in Uganda are coming back to Nimule, South Sudan due to registration organized by the government. The respondents revealed that the family size of IDPs is between 3 to 10 members. According to them, joint family system and polygamy marriage are the factors contributing to this family size. And looking at this family system, the living space available to IDPs is limited as they are confined to a single big room (church and schools) or an open space. CARE Rapid Assessment Report for IDPs in Nimule Tow n, Magwi County Page 4 Sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) In spite of the sensitivity of the subject and its social implication, women, girls and boys interviewed reported few cases of sexual assaults and domestic violence happen in the IDP settlements due to weak and insufficient protection mechanisms. The women said that the incidents normally take place as a result of recurring consumption of alcohol by men. Girls and boys interviewed reported that the incidents happen when in search of water. Men interviewed reported that SGBV does not take place in the IDPs settlement due to the cultural practice as such issues cannot be said openly in public. However, access to justice for victims of sexual based violence is problem. Most of the GBV incidents go unreported due to fear of stigmatization or simply because they are socially accepted or considered to be a family matter. Livelihoods and food security Although IDP women and girls didn’t mention their engagement in prostitution, IDP men and boys including the local government officials interviewed, reveal that there is human trafficking across the border especially women who come from neighboring countries to practice sex for money in Nimule. As the livelihood situation of IDPs deteriorates with increasing prices of essential commodities in the market, there is fear that young girls and young mothers will resort to prostitution as a survival mechanism, which exacerbates the prevalent risks of STIs where medical services are limited. Food security is of concern to most IDPs, although some IDPs have mentioned they transited through Awerial and got some food which they are using in the present time, this food is running out very fast, provision and access to food is top priority for most IDPs beside water. No food distribution conducted by any humanitarian Agencies to support the IDP, they at the moment depends on the host and the market. The market is fully functional but prices increasing steadily as demands for food increases. The most vulnerable who are resident in the schools and churches will be heed hard when food is not provided as they seem to be the most vulnerable and have no purchasing power.