Crisis overview
In 2025, the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) will target 5.4 million people—40 per cent of South Sudan’s population of 13.4 million—with humanitarian assistance. While the overall population in need has increased compared to last year, the 2025 target is lower than in 2024. This reflects the Humanitarian Country Team’s (HCT) decision to prioritize the most acute humanitarian needs driven by shocks over areas affected by chronic issues, which require other planning frameworks. These shocks include armed clashes and intercommunal violence, climatic events such as floods and droughts, disease outbreaks and the effects of the conflict in Sudan.
By the end of October 2024, nearly 850,000 people had fled Sudan to seek refuge in South Sudan following the outbreak of conflict in April 2023. Between July and September 2024, approximately 940 people crossed the border daily. Among the arrivals, one quarter are Sudanese citizens seeking asylum, and the rest are South Sudanese returnees, many who lived in Sudan for decades. Many of these arrivals face extreme risks, including malnutrition, gender-based violence (GBV) and severe deprivation. Returnees and refugees need transport, shelter and sustained humanitarian assistance. With continued conflict in Sudan, South Sudan is expected to receive another 400,000 arrivals in 2025. These influxes may escalate tensions as resources and services are stretched thin.
Flooding is another significant crisis with effects likely to persist into 2025. As of 31 October 2024, floods had displaced 350,000 people and affected 1.4 million. The disaster devastated farms and livestock, disrupted access to essential services like water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health services and education, and heightened protection concerns, particularly for women and girls.
The aftermath of the 2024 floods will worsen food insecurity, helping push the number of food-insecure people from 7.1 to 7.7 million. Tight domestic food supplies, sharp currency depreciation and disruption of trade with Sudan will continue to drive up food prices, with the cost of a household minimum expenditure basket soaring by 250 per cent between January and September 2024.
Renk, Upper Nile State, South Sudan
A mother and her two children are among the thousands of refugees who fled from Sudan due to conflict that erupted in April 2023. They are heading to the Maban refugee camp in Upper Nile State. Many refugees in Maban face isolation as heavy rains and floods cut off the camps from the rest of the country.
OCHA/Liz Loh-TaylorMalnutrition remains critically high. In 2025, an estimated 2.1 million children under age five will face acute malnutrition, and 1.1 million pregnant and lactating women will require treatment for acute malnutrition. The economic crisis is exacerbating this issue, with a projected 33 per cent increase in children experiencing severe acute malnutrition in 2025.
South Sudan’s economic problems have deepened due to the conflict-related rupture of a major oil pipeline passing through Sudan in February 2024, which slashed government oil revenues. As a result, public sector workers have been unpaid for up to 11 months, worsening economic vulnerabilities.
Delays in public sector pay could further destabilize the country. Transitional governance under the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan has been extended until 2026, potentially fueling social and political uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the outlook for humanitarian funding remains grim. Needs are growing in other regions, and major donors have announced funding cuts. The political situation complicates efforts by International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and bilateral development agencies to plan.
Bentiu, Unity State, South Sudan
An aid worker screens a child for malnutrition at the Bentiu State Hospital Stabilization Centre, operated by a humanitarian partner. In 2024, an estimated 1.65 million children aged 6-59 months were at risk of acute malnutrition in South Sudan, including 480,000 million expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and 1.17 million from moderate acute malnutrition.
OCHA/Liz Loh-TaylorResponse priorities in 2025
In 2025, the HCT will continue implementing its two-year vision for humanitarian action in South Sudan adopted in 2024. This vision focuses on three strategic objectives;
- Reduce morbidity and mortality among vulnerable crisis-affected people by providing equitable, safe and dignified access to life-saving assistance.
- Mitigate protection risks for vulnerable crisis-affected people by upholding the commitment to the centrality of protection in humanitarian action, guided by community priorities.
- Strengthen vulnerable people’s capacity to withstand shocks and optimize linkages between humanitarian, development and peace actors for longer-term resilience.
In 2024, humanitarian partners delivered timely, life-saving, multisectoral assistance, improving survival rates and reducing morbidity among the most vulnerable populations, especially new arrivals from Sudan. By the end of 2024, 5 million people-83 per cent of the targeted 6 million-are projected to have received life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection services to new arrivals at border reception centres, onward transportation to destination counties, and emergency aid for dignified reintegration. Food security partners delivered emergency food to 2.3 million people, meeting 65 per cent of the target and addressing critical needs, including those arrivals from Sudan.
Listening and empowering communities to shape their own futures
The Flagship Initiative, launched in 2023, aims to reshape humanitarian action by prioritizing the needs and aspirations of crisis-affected communities. South Sudan is one of the pilot countries for this initiative.
In Taragok, Jonglei State, humanitarian agencies met with displaced people to hear their concerns. The message was clear: they didn’t want food aid. After three years of living on handouts and being uprooted from home, they yearned to return to farming and provide for themselves.
The agencies listened and took the feedback seriously. Some received seeds and tools from aid agencies and were able to harvest a good crop. Humanitarian agencies had successfully lobbied local government and community leaders to allocate land to displaced people. With land secured, the community took charge of the rest.
A year later, in October 2024, humanitarian workers revisited Taragok to hear how things had progressed from the same group of people. The message this time was strikingly different: “The harvest was good, and we have food for our families. We have also assisted our neighbours who did not participate in our first farming season,” said Mary Achol. Evidence of a bumper harvest, mainly of sorghum, was everywhere. “From 2020 to 2023, we relied on humanitarian assistance, including food aid, with no obvious impact on our well-being,” Achol reflected.
This shift from passive recipients of food aid to active participants in their own recovery, has transformed the lives of over 400 families. Those who were once dependent on food aid are now providers for themselves and even others.
This is just the beginning in Taragok. In the coming season, 200 more families will join the journey toward self-sufficiency, clearing land and planting vegetables, ground nuts, maize and of course, even more sorghum.
For 2025, the HCT has provided strategic guidance to the HNRP process, emphasizing acute humanitarian needs caused by shocks. The response will prioritize counties classified as priority levels 1 and 2, where needs are most severe and where inter-sectoral shock-driven needs converge. This is based on the Joint Inter-sectoral Analysis Framework severity classification, along with additional information on shock intensity, expert inputs and partner perspectives. Clusters will coordinate to deliver integrated response activities wherever possible.
Counties classified as priority level 3 will be included in the response plan for six months, allowing targeting seasonal peaks of acute need. The Needs Analysis Working Group will monitor all counties and adjust priorities as conditions evolve. In lower-priority counties (priority levels 3 to 5), the HCT will establish a monitoring framework to continuously analyze humanitarian needs. A contingency mechanism will ensure rapid response if new crises emerge, or conditions worsen.
To address the root causes of recurring needs in lower-priority counties and protect communities from worsening conditions, the Humanitarian Coordinator and the HCT will lead a coordinated, multi-stakeholder engagement process. This approach seeks to foster collaboration among government entities, IFIs, development actors, the private sector and other stakeholders. The goal is to create sustainable, long-term solutions that build resilience, promote stability and help transition communities from emergency relief to sustainable recovery.
The HCT will also prioritize quality and inclusive programming by collectively mitigating protection risks, establishing referral systems, enhancing risk management to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse and scaling up community engagement to promote accountability to affected people. Revitalized synergies between the Communications and Community Engagement Working Group and the protection from sexual exploitation and abuse task force, as well as other cross-cutting thematic groups will enhance feedback mechanisms and improve responsiveness to community needs.
Upper Nile State, South Sudan
Musa, a 26-year-old Sudanese refugee, boards a truck from the Renk transit site to the Maban refugee camp. The Government and humanitarian partners are providing transportation to refugee camps and final destinations, easing overcrowding at transit centres. However, efforts are hindered by insecurity and poor road conditions.
OCHA/Liz Loh-TaylorFinancial requirements
In 2025, the humanitarian community in South Sudan will target 5.4 million people at a cost of US$1.7 billion. This is a reduction from 2024 requirements due to the prioritization and stricter definitions set for the response (priority 1 and 2 counties for the full year and priority 3 counties for six months). The cost per person for most clusters has increased due to inflation and higher operating costs in the country. Unit-based costing was used to calculate the financial requirements for the 2025 HNRP.
South Sudan
2024 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction
Response highlights
By 31 December 2024, 5 million women, girls, boys and men across South Sudan –83 per cent of the 6 million targeted under the 2024 HNRP—are projected to have received humanitarian assistance and protection services, including 2.75 million females and 2.25 million males.
Key achievements for 2024 include:
Food Security and Livelihood
Over 3.5 million people received food assistance, livelihood support or cash transfers.
Health
More than 1.8 million people accessed health care.
Protection
Approximately 1.4 million people benefited from protection services.
Water, sanitation and hygiene
About 1.1 million people accessed safe water.
Nutrition
Nearly 1.3 million children and pregnant and lactating women received emergency nutritional assistance.
Shelter
An estimated 555,400 people received essential household items and emergency shelter.
Camp coordination and management
Nearly 940,700 people were supported through camp coordination and management services.
Education
Over 544,000 children accessed emergency education support.
Consequences of inaction
Funding shortfalls between January and May 2024 meant only 65 per cent of the food assistance target was reached, with 90 per cent receiving only half rations. This exacerbated food insecurity and malnutrition. Livelihoods support reached just 21 per cent of the target, undermining emergency food production which could have been achieved through seeds and tools distribution, likely worsening food insecurity in 2025.
In August, a supply pipeline break in the WASH Cluster left partners without critical supplies. This led to a 14 per cent increase in water-related illnesses compared to the same period in 2023, and a rise in malnutrition. Insufficient WASH interventions contributed to a nationwide spike in clinic visits for diseases linked to poor water quality and sanitation.
Humanitarian operations in South Sudan faced severe access constraints in 2024:
Humanitarian access
Attacks on aid workers and facilities increased alongside over 120 checkpoints on main supply routes, causing delays, searches and demands for irregular payments which restricted humanitarian actors’ ability to pre-position supplies.
Physical access
Flooding rendered over 60 per cent of key supply routes impassable at times, particularly in Upper Nile.
Bureaucratic impediment
Local authorities imposed arbitrary taxes, fees and burdensome registration requirements, increasing costs and causing delays.
Attacks
Attacks on humanitarian convoys, such as those in Jonglei State, resulted in staff endangerment and looting of essential supplies.
Insecurity
Abductions of humanitarian staff in July further strained operations.