South Sudan Development Agency – SSUDA

Manyo Rapid Needs Assessment Report

23 rd – 25 th March, 2016

Page 1 of 13

Executive Summary

South Sudan Development Agency – SSUDA is a National Non-Governmental organization which was first registered in South Sudan in 2006 in accordance with the New Sudan act. SSUDA envisages an improved quality life for marginalized and vulnerable communities in South Sudan through community empowerment and support in areas of primary healthcare, education, Water and Sanitation, protection, Food Security and livelihood, None Food Items and child protection. SSUDA’s mission is to support and empower conflict affected communities in South Sudan to build resilience and sustainably improve their quality life.

Until December 2013, SSUDA had been implementing its projects in and Warrap States, the conflict however impacted very negatively on SSUDA where the head office in was bombed down, staff fleeing in fear of losing their lives, Juba office was looted since it was situated in Mangaten one of the most heavily hit parts of Juba.

Currently SSUDA has a head office in Juba, operation office in Malakl Humanitarian Hub and a satellite office in Adhidwoi in greater Upper Nile since Jan 2016, Before the crisis, SSUDA partnered with UNICEF and successfully implemented a number of projects including DFID funded - Child Friendly Space Development and Construction in Warrap and Upper Nile states, SSUDA has also implemented multi-sector projects with funds coming from IOM (RRM), CHF-UNDP,UNICEF, CORDAID, DFID, WFP, EU and FAO through direct grant.

Between 23rd and 25 th March, 2016, a team of SSUDA staff conducted a rapid needs assessment in Kaka, Non, Kuoch and Adhidwoi Payams of Manyo county ahead of implementation of integrated response in WASH, NFI and FSL which SSUDA is set to implement in these locations. The purpose of the needs assessment conducted by SSUDA team in Manyo was to identify the most urgent needs of the most vulnerable women, men and children in terms of overall livelihood needs in order to provide appropriate help and assistance. The assessment team was composed by Field Coordinator, and four Emergency officers.

Page 2 of 13

1. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Upper Nile State and Manyo County in Particular, are some of the most affected areas by the protracted conflict that erupted in South Sudan Juba capital on December 15 th 2013 and spread quickly to other parts of the Country. The conflict caused displacement of large population most of who fled to Wau Shilluk, Makal west (Island), Malakal POC as well as Sudan. Manyo is located Western Bank of Nile and is predominantly occupied by Shilluk Ethnic Community. The County is bordering Sudan West and Renk and Meluth on the East separated by river Nile. The population is agro- pastoralist but also depend on fishing for their livelihood. Since the war began most of the population have been displaced and not much economic activities include markets are going on leaving the population vulnerable.

Akorowa IDP location – Kaka Payam Manyo County is currently N 10’30”26.58 E-032’05”39.06 experiencing relative peace with no attacks or serious incidents reported in the area since Jan 2016 and the population access Malakal by road through to Wau-shilluk. Not so many civilian in the area are seen walking with guns as witnessed in other parts of Upper Nile State instead, most carry traditional weapons or spear or war axe of which they say is to protect them in case of any attack by wild animals such as hyena which are many in this part of the country.

The Assessment team managed to have a meeting with Manyo County Commissioner Mr. Peter Waun together with Executive director Mr.Daniel Deng Maik who really appreciated the courtesy visit made to their offices, both were so humbled meeting with SSUDA but expressed his disappointment with absence of humanitarian agencies in Manyo since the beginning of crisis except SSUDA, and thanked SSUDA for the support but only requested for more response to reach out to the suffering people.

The commissioner expressed the need to have UN assessment team visit the area and provide to open access to the area by humanitarian agencies. SSUDA is currently supporting the vulnerable community in livelihood through distribution of fishing kits, seeds and tools courtesy of FAO and the only other NGO, IMA is supplying drugs in the area with support from WHO.

a) Adhidwoi Payam

Adhidwoi payam has six bomas along the Nile namely Ogon, Fanyikang, Nyiliech Adhidwoi, Thur and Demoth, security situation in these areas is stable as the community is managing to keep livestock, cultivate and fish, however, they expressed a great challenge of getting seeds. This is because the conflict has caused a lot of confusion and some members of the community have gone for two seasons without cultivating due to uncertainty in their security, this has led to high cost of living given little produce and high demand.

Page 3 of 13

IDPs in this in Adhiwoi most of whom are from Nun are assimilated with the host community hosting them in their existing shelters while other families are provided with land and use local materials to construct tukuls. The payam administrator expressed concern of mass exodus of people to Magenist close to Sudan due to lack of services like health, education, lack of clean water, NFIs and essential items. Women in Adhidwoi were categorical that even if one had little money, the basic items were not available in the locality because the markets were dysfunctional and traders are not bringing them too.

Other reasons for IDP’s transiting to the Magenist were mentioned as lack of services such as schools, health and humanitarian support in Adhidwoi; reunification with families whom they separated at the height of the conflict, others are just too traumatized and not feeling safe in their current location. Assessment team managed to verify the information given and confirmed that depending on ability of the IDPs, some take weeks to walk on foot to while others pay SDG 300 to be ferried on tracks to Magenist where the population also feel safer.

Most of the community leaders interviewed said that the people were still mobilizing themselves in solidarity to protect themselves from any external attack, as a result, the population currently feel more secure and confident, this has seen many people returning their cattle back to their homes majorly in Adhiwoi payam, however most of the IDPs who fled to Wau Shilluk and Malakal POC have not returned yet, this could be as a result of lack of humanitarian services in Manyo.

SSUDA team observed newly recruited police undergoing orientation at the time of assessment in Kaka town, among them were under-aged children including young girls. This is a great concern that needs to be addressed through a combined effort of child protection and education clusters. b) Kaka payam

Kaka town N-10’34”37.22 E-032’09”11.00 situation remained relatively calm with more men than women and children, the team observed that most men were soldiers though most of them were not in uniform, many tankers and trucks of war are scattered in the area, Kaka market is steadily picking up with traders getting their supplies from Sudan, an interview with one of the shop keeper in Kaka town explained that they find difficulty trading in SSP since they get all the supplies from Sudan, for easy trade, they feel safe and not likely to run at a loss by strictly accepting SDG and USD currencies. SSP is therefore not recognized in this region due to its unstable value, the community therefore has no choice but transact in SDG to SSP for easy survival.

The IDPs are settled in three main locations, the team managed to access two of the three locations namely; Akrua- N 10’30”26.58 E-032’05”39.06 Abuor- N10’33”38.05 E- 032’06”45.77. The other is Nyibor which the team did not manage to reach due to bad roads. The IDPs in these locations are mainly from Meluth, Nun and Kaka, they expressed their decision to stay in these locations until peace is fully achieved to allow them move back to their homes.

An interview with the community leaders revealed that most of the people in Akrua and Abuor have been displaced twice. The IDPs that were displaced from Meluth in June 2015 settled in Nun but later displaced again to Nun in August 2015, when Nun was attacked by the government forces.

The Payam Administrator mentioned a serious need for security risk assessment and community risk awareness creation around Kaka town, this is due to heavy presence of UXO in the area, and

Page 4 of 13 latest evidence was in January 2016 when one of the nomads (Arab from Sudan) bumped on an explosive device which exploded killing two of them in Kaka.

2. Methodology

The SSUDA team applied three strategies during the assessment: key informant interviews, secondary data review, and focus group discussions. From 23 rd and 25 th March, 2016, the assessment SSUDA teams visited the most affected communities in Manyo where they conducted key informant interviews with the local authority officials and focus group discussions.

The County Commissioner had compiled most of the information that was required by the team including the desegregated data (IDPs/Host community/women, men, children), however the data did not indicate statistics of the handicap, female headed households, etc. In order to cover for these information gaps, secondary data was gathered from relevant sources of information including websites.

The interviews and focus groups with different target groups of men, women, girls and boys provided the team with needs at the community level, particularly regarding special needs of IDPs and other vulnerable groups with particular emphasis on gender and age. Results of focus groups highlighted the following needs among the interviewed women population: the need for psychosocial support on coping mechanisms for women and girls in particular; addressing chronic vulnerabilities such as continuous lack of security, water problems and household items, provision of schools in safer areas and quick rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure to enable children acquire education.

a) Assessment Locations

The rapid assessment was conducted in four payams as follows:

• Kaka – (Bomas - ) • Adhidwoi • Non • Kuoch

3. IDP and Host Community Population

According to statistics from the Commissioner’s office, the following is number of people in Manyo County. Location Host Community Total IDP Total C - C - under C- 6- under C- 6- M F 5yrs 17yrs M F 5yrs 17yrs Adhidwoi Payam 798 1,470 252 1,680 4200 380 700 120 800 2000 Nyibor 475 875 150 1,000 2500 Akrua 399 735 126 840 2100 Abuor 665 1,225 210 1,400 3500 Delal Ajack 395 728 125 832 2080 228 420 72 480 1200

Page 5 of 13

4. HUMANITARIAN ACCESS

Manyo is currently accessible either from Juba to Kodok by UNHAS every Thursday and or from Malakal to Wau Shilluk by boat and then to Manyo through Kodok by road, the community is currently not using river to connect between Kodok and Manyo due to security reasons, however, river is the shortest and easiest means of accessing Manyo both from Kodok and Malakal.

The assessment team from Malakal managed to connect to Manyo from Malakal through Wau Shilluk by river after receiving security clearance from UNDSS in Malakal. The team never witnessed any incident and or any form of harassment during the exercise.

SSUDA conducted needs assessment in Adhidwoi in November 2015 and shared a report with various clusters in Malakal. From that assessment, SSUDA highly recommended a joint inter-cluster assessment to Manyo so that the County could as well receive emergency humanitarian assistance. So far, no any joint inter-cluster assessment has been conducted in this area.

5. KEY FINDINGS

a) Food security and livelihood

The food security situation in Kaka, Nun and Delal remain precarious without any cultivation activities due to the conflict that erupted during the planting season in April 2015. Big percentage of the population from these areas was displaced to Adhidwoi, Akrowa, and Nyibol and Abuor. Even in Adhidwoi, only a few individuals planted their crops due to lack of seeds. The population highly appreciated the vegetable seeds, fishing nets and hooks distributed by SSUDA in November/ December 2015. The community members describe the distribution of emergency livelihood kits’ distribution as a total life saving as most families were almost depending on wild fruits and water lilies found in the river Nile waters as means of survival. The team observed that there was no animal health services in Manyo even though there are many households keeping livestock. The river that uses to be lifeline of Manyo community is now a theatre of conflict. Economic activities have stopped with most young people joining armed forces.

Majority of the people in these areas are currently adopting coping mechanisms including use of natural resources such as fisheries (using FAO fishing kits distributed by SSUDA in December); charcoal burning which is negatively posing serious threat to the environmental; hunting and gathering of wild vegetables and fruits alongside small income generating activities including local brew. In many families, women have become the bread winners. And with schools becoming dysfunctional dowries drawn from early marriages have become common practice.

Most IDPs in areas visited by the team have been assimilated into the host communities and share the little available resources, hence straining on the food basket of the host communities. Manyo remains cut off during rainy season as no vehicles can move either from Kodok or Wau shilluk due to flooding. The winged planes cannot land in Kodok since the airstrip is not tarmac.

b) Education

Despite availability of learning spaces such as Delal Ajack, Demoth and Adhidwoi primary which are permanent buildings and only need a little repair for use, there is no single sign of education activity currently going on in the whole Manyo county, the county commissioner explained to the

Page 6 of 13 team that there are no teachers currently since most teachers flee during the conflict while the rest have moved to Wau Shilluk and Malakal PoC to be employed by NGOs who are considered to be pay them better remuneration than the government who completely stopped paying teachers’ salaries, education in Manyo county since December 15 th 2013. The lack of education is one of the major contributing factor to children joining armed forces.

The County Education director told the team that the community are willing to identify some volunteer teachers to teach in the schools, however, like in other parts of Upper Nile, the tough times facing everyone in Manyo has kept people to from prioritizing education but find daily bread for their families. The team talked to young people who expressed willingness to become volunteer teachers if they are provided with some incentives/support to keep them alive. Other than the above named schools with permanent structures, other schools in Manyo like Nyiliech, Thur, Panyikang Nyiut and others are semi permanent and are in a very bad shape that requires a lot of rehabilitation work to become usable. Among the schools visited by the team, the classrooms had no any desk except in Delal Ajack primary where a few desks were available in one of the classrooms.

Table showing primary schools in three payams of Manyo County

No Name of the School Payam GPS Comment 1 Adhidwoi Primary Adhidwoi N10’14’50.24” Permanent structure, need E032’14’39.67” renovation. 2 Thur Primary 3 Nyiliech primary N10’12’46.67” Semi permanent in bad E032’15’14.40” condition. 4 Panyikang Primary 5 Demoth Primary 6 Ogon Primary 7 Dilal Ajak Primary Kuoch N10’24’3.97” Permanent structure, need E032’14’1.97” renovation 8 Aweth Primary N 10’20’27.63” E Permanent structure, need 032’13’6.34” renovation 9 Nun Primary N10’24’46.37” In worse condition E032’11’36.22” 10 Nyiud Primary 11 Kaka A primary Kaka N 10’34’37.22” E Permanent structure in bad 32’09’11.00” condition 12 Kaka B primary 13 Kaka Salam Primary 14 Ganwad Primary 15 Akorwa Primary 16 Aderi Primary

c) Water and Sanitation - WASH

The team observed very poor WASH conditions in all the areas visited. The level of hygiene in IDP settlements in Akrowa, Abuor and Nyibor was also wanting with communities practicing open defecation in open fields and along the river bank which is a time bomb and fatal in case there would be cholera outbreak in the area especially during rainy season. Women in particular are so

Page 7 of 13 affected by the situation because they have to wait for fall of darkness to relieve themselves. This not only poses health challenges to women and girls but also lower their dignity

No safe water sources were observed as the communities majorly depend on raw water from River Nile for drinking and other domestic uses. The level of hygiene is very poor with children and women more at risk of water related diseases. There is open defecation along the water sources, in all the areas visited, same water source is used to water large hard cattle, sheep and goat putting the community at risk of contracting water bone diseases. Food (fish which is one of the major food) and water handling and preservation were also identified as another important area that needs to be addressed. In case of cholera or water related disease outbreak, it would be very difficult to contain because there are very few health facilities and drugs.

d) Protection

Due to lack of functional schools in Manyo community leaders confirmed that a good number of male children under the age of 18 voluntarily join armed groups. The assessment team witnessed very young children offering security in shifts by taking care of community from being attacked while others had just joined the police forces and were undergoing orientation in Kaka town. Though the community value both boys and girls, there seem to be biasness on the side of the girl child as they are seen as source of wealth, forced and early marriage is a common practice in the areas visited. An interview with a paramount chief in Adhidwoi explained that December – June when there is extreme hunger, many families forced their young daughters out for marriage so that they can get dowry in return to save them from bitter pangs of hunger and keep them alive.

e) Health and Nutrition

The county has 3 PHCU in Kaka, Athidhwoi, Ogon bomas, and one mobile clinic in Delal Ajak. One PHCC is located in Awet Boma. The total number personnel providing health services are 39 and 12 Volunteers for EPI. Health services are being offered by IMA (Inter church Medical Association) with support from WHO, the health centers assessed are functional. EPI team is only being engage when the needs arise. There is no confirmed or suspected outbreak disease so far however there is an indication of increase number of malaria and diarrhea cases.

Before the 2013 conflict, these centers were being managed by the government. According to reports from Delal Ajak, between Jan-Feb 2016, four women who had difficulty in delivery were referred to Kodok , and one died at home before reaching the nearest health center. During the visit in Kaka, the team was told that the community recently witnessed a health condition which they suspected to be chicken pox illness, however due to lack of efficient testing facilities, no action was taken and the affected population resorted to using traditional herbs, the condition slowly subsided. Assessment team was informed that IMA has been supplying the area with drugs which the community readily access for common diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, and common cold among others. This has however taken time, the last time the community received drugs was in November 2015.

f) NFI AND SHELTER

The IDPs in Adhidwoi and Delal Ajack who have been integrated into host community were forced to flee their homes without any personal belonging. When they arrived in the host areas they had to

Page 8 of 13 depend on the host communities and relatives for survival, this has increased needs for NFIs in these locations due to increased abrupt population. Most markets have stopped functioning with traders not bringing goods following sporadic violence. The IDPs with support from host community have managed to construct their small traditional shelters (tukuls) which they are currently using. Several households visited were seen with jerry cans and insufficient kitchen utensils. The community decried the need for kitchen sets, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, blankets, mosquito nets and plastic sheets as a priority need.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

A quick joint assessment to Manyo is highly recommended so that emergency humanitarian interventions can be extended to the population in the County. In terms of intervention, the team identified the following areas: -

a) Food Security and Livelihood

• Training of community animal health workers and distribution of vaccines and drugs. • Distribution of more fishing kits, crop and additional vegetable seeds and tools • Training of farmers on improved agricultural practices • Engage women and youth on income generating activities/construction and rehabilitation of community assets through FFA

b) Education

If Education cannot wait as has been said once and again by education actors then it is a serious need in Manyo. Currently, SSUDA is implementing three activities in Manyo County namely; WASH and NFI funded by CHF besides food security and livelihood funded by UNFAO this is a great opportunity and strength for SSUDA integrate education activities to;

• Rehabilitate dilapidated schools infrastructure • Distribute emergency learning materials for school children and teachers • Provide recreational kits, ECD kits and ALE kits • Manage volunteer teachers’ incentives • Provide teacher training in psychosocial support

c) Health and Nutrition

• Regular drug supply in the area. • Renovation of the PHCC • Support the recruitment of additional man power especially midwifes • Set-up a Stabilization center (SC) to act as a referral center for severely malnourished persons with Medical Complications.

d) Protection

• Support the establishment of community based child protection network. • Launch Back-to-learning campaign. • Immediate launch of child protection activities include child soldier demobilization and Family Tracing and Reunification.

Page 9 of 13

• Mainstream protection into future distributions, especially food rations distributions. • Advocate for Child Friendly Spaces to be established to bridge the gap between the establishments of emergency education activities.

e) WASH

• Immediate delivery of WASH NFIs to improve the drinking water at household level; each household should have at least two 20L storage containers and soap for hand-washing. • Hygiene promotion with special focus on hand-washing at critical moments and treatment of water at household level using sustainable options eg boiling f) NFI • Distribution of NFI kits, particularly mosquito nets, cooking sets, blankets, plastic sheets and sleeping mats, to the people in need. • Distribution of Dignitary/comfort kits to women and girls of reproductive age.

Assessment Team

Name Organisatio Designation Contact Email add ress n Peter Aduok Ajak SSUDA WASH Officer 0914674450 [email protected]

Tipo Gwang SSUDA Food Security 0914584917 [email protected] Paul Oketch SSUDA Field Coordinator 0914374150 [email protected] Sebit John SSUDA Community [email protected] Mobiliser Jelow Ongel Aker RRC Manyo RRC 0923306167 - Coordinator Julius Lapat Health Link Community 0915540374 [email protected] okeny Service Officer Peter Garwech CAD HR Assistant 0915374698 Peter.gatwech@cadsou thsudan.org

Page 10 of 13

ANNEXES

Assessment team holding a meeting with County authorities in Kaka town before starting assessment

Page 11 of 13

General view of Delal Ajack primary left N10’24’3.97” E032’14’1.97” and Aweth Primary N 10’20’27.63” E 032’13’6.34”, right both in Kuoch payam

Page 12 of 13

Assessment team take a group photo at Nyiliech Primary - N10’12’46.67” E032’15’14.40”

Page 13 of 13