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South Sudan

Systemwide PSEAH Strategy South Sudan 2025 -2029

Attachments

1. Introduction:

ll Background:.

South Sudan has faced significant peace, humanitarian, and development challenges due to ongoing conflict, economic instability, and natural disasters. Within this, communities, affected populations, aid actors and workforce are to be found, operating and existing together in a complex mix of multiple socio-ecological, operational, and contextual dimensions that intersect and overlap causing vulnerability to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and sexual harassment (SH).

This strategy is based on the understanding that to fully manage and mitigate the risks of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment system-wide, a process of transformative change has to be embarked on, that embraces complexity and fosters collective responsibility to deliver integrated and impactful solutions on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH).

Thus, the Inter-Agency PSEA Strategic Plan (2025-2029), sets an ambitious agenda that draws upon the findings of both the /nter-Agency PSEA Deep Dive Review (2024) and Inter-Agency SEA Risk Assessment (2024) by being both evidence-based, and risk informed. In doing so, a strong platform is provided that underpins the content presented within this document and the direction of change it proposes. The strategy requires that all humanitarian, development, and peace actors be more strategic, coherent, coordinated, agile, collaborative, and results-oriented on PSEAH at all levels of their country programmes and operations in-order to achieve the required transformative change.

1.2 Purpose and Scope:

This strategy aims to protect individuals in South Sudan from sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment (SEAH) by establishing a comprehensive framework that involves the government, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), including international and National Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs/NNGOs). It emphasizes collaborative prevention, effective reporting, responsive victim support, and strong accountability measures across humanitarian, development, and peace efforts.
The strategy sets out the direction for a mix of short, medium- and longer-term interventions that are far reaching, requiring an understanding of issues from a systems perspective, leveraging linkages across outcome areas, and investing in capacities and approaches to deliver systemic change country-wide. In the spirit of cooperation, the strategy leverages the combined strengths of inter-agency actors to deliver impact at scale.
This requires actors to be agile, flexible and develop new ways of working, including applying out-of-the-box thinking, and to ensure sustainable and predictable funding. Through coordinated systemwide action, this strategy addresses systemic gaps in previous efforts to ensure sustamable community-centric solutions that create long-lasting change by leveraging socio-cultural norms and perceptions in meaningful ways; and organisation culture that promotes a respectful, safe, and protective environment for the affected population, aid workers and duty bearers.

1.3 Vision:

The strategy envisions a South Sudan where everyone, including affected communities, development, humanitarian, and peace actors can live and work free from sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. It seeks to create a protective environment where communities are listened to, aware of their rights, empowered to report abuse without fear or consequence, and have access to necessary support and protection. By addressing SEAH risks systematically, the strategy aims to build an environment of trust, dignity, and respect.

1.3 Principles and Values:

Leave No-One Behind: Central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ‘leave no-one behind’ reflects a commitment to end discrimination, exclusion and inequalities that undermine individual’s agency as rights holders. Therefore, this strategy commits itself to working in partnership with the workforce, community and affected population demographics to identify and overcome the barriers people face to their engagement, buy-in and ownership of the PSEA frameworks within prevention, safe, accessible and appropriate reporting, victims’ rights to assistance and accountability and investigations strategic outcome areas.
Accountability to Affected Populations: Communities and affected populations have the right to hold individual inter-agency actors to account for any wrongdoing they have encountered, experienced and/or suffered as a result of SEA actions! perpetrated by a member of the workforce. This strategy acknowledges the multiple barriers to doing so and therefore commits itself to working in partnership with each community and affected population demographic to overcoming such barriers and ensuring individuals victim centred rights.
Victim Centred Rights: Both the and

affirm the UN Secretary Generals policy of prioritising the rights and dignity of SEAH victims’. Therefore, this strategy commits itself to ensuring victims’ rights are truly provided for as per the aforementioned Victims' Rights Statement and IASC Approach. Not only does this mean placing the rights, wishes, needs, safety, dignity, and well-being of victims at the centre of prevention and response measures, it also requires inter-agency actors to embark on a process of systems change to ensure that victims’ centred rights are provided for in their entirety.
Do No Harm: The principle of ‘Do No Harm’ is central to both prevention efforts and the victim centre approach. Within prevention, this strategy commits itself to addressing the systemic, behavioural, and cultural issues that allow SEA to occur and the barriers that exist for victims to access the reporting-response pathway. Within the pathway, ‘Do No Harm’ emphasises the importance of treating victims’ as individuals because their needs and wishes are unique to them. As such, the role of inter-agency actors contained within this strategy is to ensure a victims' well-being, that their wishes are respected and that any action undertaken does not cause further harm.