Launch of South Sudan Community-Based Assessment to Strengthen Durable Solutions

UNHCR has launched a Community-Based Assessment with support from the European Union Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA). The assessment evaluates the absorption capacity for the integration of communities hosting displaced populations in Eastern Equatoria State (Magwi, Torit), Central Equatoria State (Morobo, Yei), Northern Bahr el Ghazal State (Aweil Central, East, North, and West counties), and Western Bahr el Ghazal State (Raja County). Developed in collaboration with Samuel Hall, the CBA methodology integrates site visits and mixed-methods data collection to build an indicator framework that examines service availability, quality, and absorption capacity. The findings reveal significant gaps in essential services, including overstretched healthcare facilities and medicine shortages, overcrowded schools and insufficient teachers (one for every 140 students), limited access to safe water, and housing challenges such as land disputes and makeshift shelters. The findings aim to inform evidence-based programming and encourage coordinated development efforts among national and local governments, international agencies, and humanitarian actors, enhancing strategic planning and resource allocation and ensuring more effective, inclusive, and coordinated responses to the challenges faced by returnees and host communities.  

For more information, please contact UNHCR (Pierre Fichter, [email protected], and Alessandro Nava, [email protected])