Despite Sudan's substantial humanitarian needs, financial requirements are constrained by a challenging operating environment marked by unstable, unpredictable, and unsafe access in certain areas. This restricts the reach of humanitarian efforts. In 2024, the humanitarian community managed to assist 12.7 million people, reaching 87 per cent of its target with some form of humanitarian assistance.
While the aim of the humanitarian community is to reach the 20.9 million people targeted, in order to ensure that those at higher risk and facing the most dire conditions are assisted first; the response prioritizes urgent needs, especially for internally displaced and conflict-affected populations, balancing these needs with the realities of limited access, operational capacity, and staff safety in an unpredictable and volatile setting.
The prioritization is guided by:
- Focusing on localities with intersectoral severity 5, those at risk of famine, areas with high GAM rates (>30%), high cholera case fatality rates (CFR), localities with more than four Clusters in severity 4, with one Cluster at severity 5, including protection.
- Ensuring that activities remain strictly humanitarian, and that resilience-building and development initiatives are incorporated in complementary frameworks.
This prioritization ensures that 54 localities across Sudan will be prioritized encompassing all three population groups, while also including all IDPs residing outside these prioritized localities. Clusters may also prioritize people with cluster specific high severity needs, including those who fall outside of inter-sectoral geographical prioritization, to ensure children and families with severe needs are not left behind, e.g. children under-five with severe acute malnutrition; or people using untreated surface water sources.
Given the dynamic operational landscape, the HCT will closely monitor the response plan throughout 2025, adjusting the approach as and when conditions change. If significant changes in the context and shifts occur, such as improved access to previously "hard-to-reach" areas and significant population movements, the plan will be revised and adjusted to incorporate additional activities and resources needed to enhance the response effectively. A mid-term review is also envisaged, under the overall guidance of the HCT.