Spotlight on Area-Based Coordination in South Sudan’s Upper Nile Region
Spotlight on Area-Based Coordination in South Sudan’s Upper Nile Region
Mary has had to run twice in her life. First, she fled Malakal for Khartoum years ago. Then when war came to Sudan, she had to return back home to South Sudan. Both times, she lost the papers that showed her family's land was theirs. Now she is back in Hai Matar, and things are finally looking up. With help from EU, UNHCR and partners, Mary and her family have a new house on their old land. She was luckier than some - her family's plot was easier to find than others. "It was not easy," Mary says, "but now my children and their children have a safe place to sleep at night. We are putting down roots again, little by little." A European Union-funded initiative supports displaced and host families in Malakal through housing and land rights.
As part of the Upper Nile Roadmap for Durable Solutions, area-based coordination is uniting government authorities, humanitarian agencies, and development actors under one framework to create lasting solutions for displacement in Malakal, Renk, and Fashoda in South Sudan. The roadmap focuses on three key objectives: establishing principles for durable solutions, developing strategies to overcome displacement challenges, and determining resources needed for voluntary return, local integration, and resettlement.
This initiative directly supports the response to the Sudan crisis. Upper Nile State – now the epicenter of displacement – hosts most of those who have fled Sudan towards South Sudan since April 2023. Its strategic border location makes it a vital entry point for refugees and returnees, while also managing the needs of communities internally displaced by intercommunal violence.
With support from the European Union, UNHCR and partners are helping returnees from Sudan – many displaced from Malakal a decade ago – legally regain their land through the Housing, Land and Property initiative, translating the roadmap’s commitments into tangible progress.
In the accompanying video, Ms. Hilda Ochuonyo, Upper Nile Area-Based Coordinator, highlights how this collaborative approach is transforming the promise of durable solutions into reality.
For more information, please contact Pierre Fichter, Senior Development Officer, UNHCR South Sudan ([email protected])
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