Sudan

Summary of Needs

Before the conflict, around 11 million¹ Sudanese people lacked access to basic water services, with 26 per cent of the water supply systems non-functional. The situation has since deteriorated significantly, leading many people to rely on unsafe and unprotected surface water. The sharp rise in fuel costs and unavailability of fuel supplies have rendered fuel-reliant community water yards non-functional and difficult to maintain. Some urban water schemes have either been destroyed by war or poorly maintained², resulting in a lack of revenue generation. The responsibility of maintaining the remaining functional systems, including providing water treatment chemicals and implementing quick fixes to prevent public health catastrophes, has largely fallen mainly to humanitarian actors. In rural areas, functioning hand pumps and protected water wells remain critical sources of improved water.

Sudan had one of the worst sanitation conditions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region even before the crisis, with about 27 million people (63.6 per cent³) lacking access to basic sanitation services. Among these, 10.3 million people (23 per cent⁴) defecate in the open, which poses significant health risks and exacerbates GBV concerns, particularly for women and girls as they become victims of GBV while going far trying to find privacy. The situation remains challenging as the emergency sanitation responses are temporary with the aim to mitigate the immediate public health risks.

The displaced population and other vulnerable groups rely on the humanitarian community for essential hygiene items, including soap and critical WASH supplies such as menstrual hygiene products for women of reproductive age. The increasing concentration of newly displaced people is straining already limited WASH resources, contributing to life-threatening cholera outbreaks and other diarrheal diseases, which exacerbate malnutrition rates.

Currently, there are 12 million IDPs in Sudan, many of whom are living with host communities or in government-identified locations. Additionally, thousands of self-identified gathering points, including schools, complicate the delivery of essential services. Furthermore, 46 per cent of Sudanese schools⁵ lack access to drinking water, 71 per cent lack handwashing facilities, and there is an average of 132 students per latrine. More than half of health and nutrition facilities lack basic water and sanitation services.

Response Strategy

The WASH response will focus on areas with large concentrations of people, ongoing disease outbreaks, hotspots, areas at risk of famine, high GAM rates, and especially areas where WASH coverage is poor. It will prioritize localities affected by natural disasters such as floods and drought. WASH will continue to collaborate and support health, education, and protection facilities where public health risks are high. Cluster partners plan to target around 10.1 million people with emergency basic water services, 2.4 million with gender-sensitive sanitation services shared by households, communal, and household emergency sanitation, and 9.1 million with hygiene promotion and hygiene supplies to promote hand washing with soap in emergency settings. These targets are divided between urban and rural areas. WASH Cluster response will focus on the following priorities:

• Maintain existing WASH services in urban, rural areas, including IDP gathering points. This includes supporting the running of urban water supply systems, operation, maintenance, quick repairs and rehabilitation, water treatment and shared communal and institutional latrines.
• Install new cost-effective emergency facilities and services. This involves installing handpumps, wells, water yards, shared emergency household and communal latrines, handwashing facilities, and hygiene promotion activities. Water trucking is to be introduced and supported where no other options exist (as it is expensive in the long run to sustain).
• Provision of WASH supplies. This is essential for bulk and household water supply and treatment in urban and rural cholera-risk localities; maintaining and improving hygiene practices at all levels, including supplies for vector control, solid waste disposal, and management, which will be important in IDP gathering points and densely populated areas.

WASH cluster will continue to integrate response with other clusters, such as health, nutrition, food security, protection, education, and shelter/NFI, to address interlinked issues . Other key programmatic priorities will include emergency preparedness, prepositioning supplies, public health support, strengthening supply chains, and improving technical and management capabilities. Support for innovative approaches like solar-powered water sources is critical, mainly when access to fuel for power generation is limited. Collaboration and coordination with communities, local institutions, entrepreneurs, and the cluster will be vital, while cash-based assistance will also be considered where appropriate.

Targeting and Prioritization

WASH interventions aim to assist 12.3 million people, including people with disabilities and the elderly. Children comprise 60 per cent of the targeted population. WASH partners prioritize addressing the critical needs of IDPs, who are 60 per cent of the cluster’s People in Need (PiN), while 45 per cent of the host communities and 42 per cent of the non-host population are included in the PiN. Vulnerable groups among these three categories are from localities with the highest severity levels—classified as severe, critical/extreme, and catastrophic (3, 4, and 5).

For water needs, the response includes people who rely on surface water (severity level 5) or unsafe water sources (level 4). For sanitation, considerations include rampant open defecation (level 5), unimproved sanitation (level 4), and poor access to handwashing with soap and water (levels 4 and 5). Vulnerable populations are also prioritized in areas prone to cholera and acute watery diarrhea (AWD) outbreaks, flooding, famine-affected areas, and individuals facing multiple vulnerabilities, particularly malnutrition.

Cost of Response

The cluster requires $301 million for the response, including maintaining standard core supply pipelines. The significant shift in operating costs can primarily be attributed to increased expenses for transportation, WASH supplies, fuel, the operation of water supply services (systems/stations and public water facilities) and installation of emergency WASH facilities and services in locations where access and security challenges persist.