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 Upper Nile and Warrap States, the conflict however impacted very negatively on SSUDA where the head office in Malakal 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 Kodok 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.