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a mismanagement of the global commons by poor and rich countries alike – is going to create recurrent natural disasters that will trigger further food crises. So yes, we will have to live with food crises for some time to come, and learn how to cope with them more effectively. Part of the answer will be a better integration of humanitarian and structural development aid, based on the recognition that they form a continuum, and that governments and agencies must be able to use them flexibly and in shifting combinations. But it will be equally important to help countries address the underlying policy misalignments.
E2C: How does the crisis manifest itself in the daily life of the people in the affected regions?
LDA: Almost 1 in 3 people in South Sudan have been displaced since the conflict
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began. Those who had been displaced have lost almost all their economic assets and possessions. At present, South Sudan is the third-most fled country in the world, after Syria and Afghanistan. Many people, including the people targeted as beneficiaries of our PRO-ACT( see box) project, are now living as internally displaced persons, though some are recently trying to return to government controlled villages / counties. They have limited assets or access to basic services and food.
E2C: All of you have worked either directly or indirectly with organisations that are active on the ground. What are the main challenges that these organisations face in the implementation of their activities?
KJK: The main problems that we usually face are insecurity, logistical
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and infrastructural constraints and inflation. Security threats stop any kind of humanitarian assistance and sometimes even lead to the evacuation of expatriates. In terms of logistics, it has become a hard and lengthy process to get supplies from one side of the conflict to the other, especially when transporting procured materials or commodities from government to opposition-controlled areas and vice versa. The dramatic increase of prices also implies that whatever was budgeted a few months ago, cannot be implemented using the same budget today.
LDA: Cordaid and its partner have temporarily scaled down the PRO-ACT project implementation in the Upper Nile twice in the last 18 months due to on-going fighting and insecurity. Recent offensives by government forces have driven the opposition forces together with
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Kujiek Ruot Kuajien IOB GOV student( 2017-2018) |
Lemessa Demie Anbessa DEM alumnus( 2012-2013) |
Robrecht Renard IOB Professor Emeritus |
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Work |
Oxfam Stouh Sudan |
Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid( Cordaid) |
Emeritus professor providing policy support services to development actors, including World Food Programme |
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Function |
Planning, Monitoring, Accountability and Learning( PMEAL) officer |
Project Coordinator |
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Project |
We engage in emergency food distributions( EFD) in conjunction with the WFP and in livelihood components supported by the European Union. We introduced a food for assets( FFA) programme, based on conditional food aid. The beneficiaries engage in small activities aimed at assets creation and get food in return. The livelihood projects supported by the EU are aimed on the production of nutritious foods, such vegetables, and the distribution of seeds and tools. In addition, market support and cash transfers are foreseen. |
The Pro-Resilience Action( PRO-ACT) project is enhancing the food security and disaster resilience of vulnerable communities in the 3 counties in Upper Nile State, South Sudan. This project is funded by the European Commission( EC) and implemented by Cordaid in partnership with local NGO, SSUDA. The Project’ s overall objective is to improve food security and disaster resilience of 3,000 vulnerable households in conflict affected areas by enhancing the capacities of disasterprone communities to sustainably produce, utilize and / or access nutritious food. |
In decades of intervention of WFP agricultural policies have changed, notably in Europe, and many donors now provide untied cash aid to WFP, so that the organisation can secure food competitively on world markets, often buying it in the region or even in the country that is being assisted. Thus liberated from the strictures of tied aid, WFP has broadened its objective from providing food aid to what it calls‘ food assistance’. It means that in appropriate cases WFP will now provide cash or vouchers to hungry people rather than bags of food, so that beneficiaries can buy food for themselves. |
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