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South Sudan

Strengthening emergency response in South Sudan

What does REACH do in South Sudan?

REACH has been active in South Sudan since August 2012 when the first team arrived to respond to the refugee crisis on the border with Sudan. The program has since grown to cover additional refugee sites, flood mapping, livelihoods assessments, and now the emergency response related to the violent conflict that began in December 2013. REACH staff travel across South Sudan’s ACTED bases to collect data, create maps, and write fact sheets that support improved ACTED humanitarian aid.

How do REACH and ACTED teams work together?

REACH staff work closely with ACTED colleagues to improve service delivery and learn more about the communities they assist. In Gendrassa refugee camp, Upper Nile State, the REACH team conducted a large assessment, using smart phones to administer a questionnaire to every household in a population of over 16,000 refugees! ACTED staff, who manage the camp, water and sanitation activities, livelihoods programs, food distribution, shelter construction and more benefitted from the REACH assessment results that identified, for example, that security is the main concern for 55 per cent of refugees, agriculture is the most common livelihood skill, and all households use ACTED-provided water facilities.

How does REACH data strengthen ACTED’s emergency response?

In the capital, where ACTED manages two displacement sites, the REACH team works closely with ACTED to support the emergency response. Highlights of the REACH-ACTED collaboration for the emergency response include maps of sense of security, flood-prone areas, and the weekly-updated cholera response.

“REACH conducted rapid assessments in both displacement sites shortly after the start of the crisis. The resulting maps and fact sheets have been indispensable to our camp management activities, allowing us to improve the efficiency of our response by identifying community governance structures and giving us a better understanding of the demographics of the displaced people we assist. As the site population changes, the frequently updated REACH satellite maps have been essential to our operations and those of our partners.”

ACTED Site Manager, UN House, Juba, South Sudan