2.1 Humanitarian response strategy
In 2024, the South Sudan Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) agreed on a two-year strategy for 2024 and 2025. Since the humanitarian context remains largely similar, the strategic objectives will remain the same in 2025. To reinforce the strategy, the HCT agreed on three work areas in 2025, including maintaining readiness to respond to sudden-onset emergencies, mitigating the impact of current emergencies and moving towards recovery and resilience. While systems will be put in place to ensure timely and agile responses to rapid-onset emergencies in prioritized and non-prioritized counties, efforts will also be dedicated to durable solutions and resilience-building in collaboration with the Government of South Sudan and development partners. The response will continue to build on different long-term and solutions-based initiatives through humanitarian-development-peace collaboration to address the needs comprehensively.
Centrality of protection
In 2025, the HCT will ensure that the centrality of protection continues to lead the decision-making processes and informs all actions in the humanitarian response in South Sudan. All humanitarian actors will collectively engage in achieving meaningful protection outcomes that reduce risks to affected communities by decreasing threats, reducing vulnerability and enhancing capacities. The HCT recognizes that protection is central to all aspects of humanitarian action, especially given the pervasive and compounding protection risks faced by civilians in South Sudan. The 2024 HCT Protection Strategy remains relevant for 2025, highlighting the need for strategic advocacy and system-wide change to address protection risks – with a focus on enhancing the Government's capacity to fulfill its primary responsibility to protect civilians and improve service delivery. The humanitarian response must prioritize protection outcomes, ensuring that safety, dignity and the rights of affected people are at the forefront, and that all interventions are conflict-sensitive and adhere to the principle of "do no harm”.
The Protection Cluster will continue working closely with other clusters and mobilize key actors beyond the humanitarian system to advocate protection concerns in decision-making at all levels. These include supporting partners with technical guidance, monitoring compliance with protection principles and fostering collaboration to address emerging protection issues. Through these efforts, the humanitarian response should deliver tangible outcomes that safeguard the safety, dignity and rights of affected communities.
Integrated response
The humanitarian response will emphasize a coordinated, multisectoral approach that integrates efforts across clusters to enhance efficiency, improve collective outcomes, and maximize health and well-being impact. Interconnected actions will guide the multisectoral response, including (i) joint assessment and analysis to identify priority needs, geographical areas and vulnerable populations; (ii) integrated response planning to outline shared objectives and roles across clusters; (iii) joint resource mobilization and advocacy to secure flexible funding; and (iv) well-aligned implementation and joint monitoring and evaluation to track progress, adapt strategies and enhance accountability. Special attention will be given to people in areas with high rates of malnutrition and food insecurity, ensuring the response remains relevant and effective. Expected outputs from the integrated response include reduced morbidity and mortality, improved nutrition and food security and enhanced community resilience through integrated service delivery and strengthened local capacities.
Rapid response mechanisms
While the primary focus of humanitarian response will be in the priority 1 to 3 counties with the highest severity of needs, the HCT will invest in robust and agile rapid response mechanisms (RRMs) to address the impact of new shocks in deprioritized areas. The RRMs will be strengthened to deliver life-saving assistance to people affected by sudden-onset shocks through timely, coordinated and multisector first-line emergency response within 14 days from the date of alert. Efforts will be made to enhance coordination among RRM actors and with other stakeholders, including long-term partners, clusters and the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG). Referrals to second-line response will be systematically planned with static partners, clusters and authorities to ensure a smooth transition. In locations where the needs identified during assessments are beyond the RRM scope of coverage and/or do not meet the specified triggers, RRM partners will share the information with relevant clusters for further follow-up and response.
Advancing the humanitarian resilience linkages and area-based coordination
The HCT and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) will aim to achieve collective results in South Sudan by promoting collaboration, adaptability and context-specific interventions. By linking humanitarian responses with resilience efforts, operationalizing area-based coordination (ABC), and addressing root causes, the approach will seek to reduce aid dependency and guide communities from crisis to resilience. The strategy fosters synergy among humanitarian, development and peacebuilding initiatives to effectively address South Sudan's interconnected challenges. It emphasizes the importance of addressing immediate needs while nurturing long-term solutions through sustainable partnerships. To mitigate future crises, disaster risk reduction will be crucial, particularly in flood-prone areas. Through localization, local communities, civil society and authorities will be empowered to lead responses, ensuring culturally appropriate solutions and resilience by fostering community involvement and accountability.
The ABC model will be piloted to provide the operational framework for implementing the strategy. Recognizing that risks and capacities vary across regions, the ABC model emphasizes decentralized, context-specific responses. The operational model in priority areas will bring together humanitarian, development and peace actors, local authorities and civil society to align efforts and resources effectively. The strategy highlights the need for dialogue and joint analysis to identify common priorities.
A key element of the strategy is shifting from an emergency-focused mindset to prioritizing resilience and prevention. This requires a holistic approach to risk management, acknowledging that vulnerabilities evolve and responses must be adaptable. Balancing priorities ensures that immediate relief efforts uphold long-term development and peacebuilding. Programmes would also promote self-reliance and empower communities to take charge of their futures. For instance, a cash-for-work programme rehabilitating infrastructure can meet immediate needs while creating lasting benefits for local economies. Efforts will be made to prioritize inclusivity, ensuring that those most at risk are not left behind. By engaging communities in planning and decision-making, the strategy ensures ownership and fosters equitable development.
Community engagement
South Sudan is one of the four pilot countries implementing the Flagship Initiative. Humanitarian partners in South Sudan are moving towards a further strengthened community-centred approach to humanitarian assistance that is driven by affected communities and their priorities. Partners carried out participatory community consultations in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states to inform the 2025 humanitarian response. By actively co-analyzing and co-planning with communities, humanitarian partners developed an overview of their most urgent priorities and the contributions required to address them. Qualitative data on community priorities were triangulated with quantitative data from the inter-sectoral needs assessment (ISNA) and other global standard methodologies to inform response planning and programming. Cluster partners developed complementary or multisectoral strategies to address community priorities, and will advocate with the Government and development partners to address non-humanitarian aspects. Humanitarian partners plan to further expand community consultations throughout 2025.
2.2 Response boundary-setting, prioritization & risk-informed action
The humanitarian response will focus on inter-sectoral priority counties classified as 1 and 2, where the needs are most severe, and a convergence of shock-driven needs exist. The inter-sectoral priority 3 counties will be considered for six months in the response plan. Through the Needs Analysis Working Group, the needs will be monitored across all counties and the priority counties will be adjusted as and when necessary.
Boundaries of the humanitarian response (who, where and what)
The global Joint Intersectoral Analysis Framework 2.0 benchmarks were used to assess the severity of all counties and calculate the target humanitarian caseload. Clusters applied robust vulnerability criteria to estimate the people in need and people targeted for response and used layers of criteria, including the impact of recent shocks, to prioritize the counties into different categories. Although the population groups considered for the response include IDPs, returnees and resident population, vulnerabilities were generally determined irrespective of status.
Risk-informed planning
For the lower priority counties, a robust monitoring framework will be put in place for chronic vulnerabilities within the scope of analysis or recurrent humanitarian needs, with a fallback mechanism to respond rapidly if new crises emerge or the situation deteriorates. The humanitarian community will respond to sudden-onset emergencies in such locations through strengthened and well-coordinated contingency and operational planning at the state level and strengthened RRM coordination. These include pre-positioning supplies, deploying mobile teams in collaboration with local actors, and strengthening integrated and multisectoral responses.
Gender
Gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in South Sudan, perpetuating a cycle of vulnerability and limiting access to essential services and opportunities for women, girls and marginalized groups, such as persons with disabilities. Harmful social norms and practices, often exacerbated by conflict and displacement, restrict women and girls' participation in decision-making, economic activities and education. These inequalities contribute to heightened risks of GBV, including intimate partner violence, early and forced marriage, and denial of access to sexual and reproductive health services.
The protracted humanitarian crisis in South Sudan further compounds these challenges. Displacement, food insecurity, and limited access to basic services disproportionately affect women and girls, increasing their vulnerability to GBV and sexual exploitation. In conflict-affected areas, women and girls face heightened risks of sexual violence, while economic hardships can force them into early marriage or transactional sex to survive. Addressing gender inequalities and promoting gender equality is critical for effective humanitarian response programming and sustainable development in South Sudan.
People in need and people targeted by sector/cluster 2025
People in need and people targeted by sector/cluster (in million) 2025
2.3 Strategic Objectives
Strategic Objective 1: Vulnerable crises-affected people have reduced morbidity and mortality through equitable, safe and dignified access to life-saving assistance to meet their needs. Humanitarian partners are dedicated to ensuring timely, life-saving, multisectoral responses that enable the survival and reduction of morbidity among the most vulnerable populations. The collective response is to ensure that those affected by crises attain equitable access to high-quality, gender-responsive and inclusive life-saving services.
Strategic Objective 2: Vulnerable crises-affected people’s protection risks are mitigated as humanitarians uphold a commitment to the centrality of protection in humanitarian action informed by communities’ priorities. Humanitarian partners will aim to improve the living and protection conditions of highly vulnerable IDPs, returnees and resident population through equitable and safe access to assistance and protection. Partners will provide specialized protection and multisectoral services that are sensitive to gender, age and disability among vulnerable groups, including survivors of GBV, neglect, and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). The response will ensure conflict- and gender-sensitive access to safe HLP for women, men, girls and boys, including sufficient security of tenure to enhance access to essential HLP services and livelihoods – such as access to dispute resolution mechanisms. The response will be delivered through a people-centred approach that ensures that crises-affected people are consulted and engaged throughout the response and their inputs are considered in decision-making to promote collective actions towards accountability to affected populations (AAP).
Strategic Objective 3: Vulnerable people’s capacity to withstand the impact of shock is increased and resilience-building opportunities are optimized. Humanitarian partners will collaborate to enhance the resilience of affected communities and strengthen their capacity to withstand shocks. Collaboration will involve working closely with development and local actors, including the Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations and faith-based groups. The approach aims to create synergies among humanitarian, peace and development actors to address the underlying causes of vulnerability.
The response plan’s monitoring framework is available on Humanitarian Action (bit. ly/3OBVir9). The monitoring framework includes the complete set of indicators attached to strategic objectives, specific objectives, cluster objectives and cluster activities.
2.4 Planning Assumptions, Operational Capacity & Access, & Response Trends
Planning assumptions
The economic situation in South Sudan will not substantially improve and the cost of living will remain high. The conflict in Sudan will continue to have economic impacts, drive the arrival of refugees and returnees, and may cause insecurity along the border and in the Abyei Administrative Area. International donor funding constraints will limit the available resources for humanitarian response. Government revenues will not return to levels seen before April 2023 even if pipelines restart. Payment of government workers may remain in arrears. Rising criminality will be a significant security threat. The bureaucratic, logistical and security context will continue to be challenging for partners, adding up to a high-cost profile. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan will remain in place and provide some operational backup (e.g., aviation, logistics, etc.) for humanitarian actors, usually as a last resort.
Operational capacity
Humanitarian partners who coordinate through the cluster approach will contribute to achieving the strategic objectives of the South Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP). International agencies operating outside the HNRP, including the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Médecins Sans Frontières, will play a significant role in some sectors and regions. Faith-based groups and community-based organizations will continue to provide some degree of social safety net. The confluence of humanitarian needs, lack of development investment and limited government investment in providing basic services will continue to place a huge burden on humanitarian partners. The number of international and national partners may reduce as domestic and international funding declines.
Access, constraints and challenges
The humanitarian operating environment in South Sudan remains complex and challenging. Intercommunal violence, armed groups, cattle raiding, political instability at national and regional levels, economic fragility and physical access constraints continue to hinder access to people in need.
Between January and October 2024, 391 incidents related to humanitarian access impediments were reported, marking a 16 per cent increase from the same period in 2023. Bureaucratic impediments, demands for fees and interference in recruitment added extra costs and occasionally led to arrests and harassment. Illegal taxation and extortion at checkpoints on roads and rivers further delayed aid delivery, increasing expenses and transportation time. South Sudan's inadequate infrastructure and frequent flooding severely disrupted the delivery of humanitarian supplies to rural areas, especially during the rainy season when roads are often impassable. Efforts to pre-position essential supplies during the dry season may be obstructed by clashes involving armed groups or militia.
The Access Working Group (AWG) remains the primary forum in South Sudan, through which operational coordination, analysis and discussion of humanitarian access take place. Through sustained engagement, dialogue and detailed monitoring of access constraints, the state-level Access and Civil-Military Working Groups (A/CMWGs) have contributed to a more efficient and principled humanitarian response. In 2025, efforts will further strengthen the state-level A/CMWGs and enhance engagement at all levels.
2.5 Accountable, Inclusive and quality programming
Accountability to affected People
The HCT Compact and AAP Strategy guide partners in South Sudan to implement coordinated actions informed by the preferences, needs and priorities of affected communities. The Communication and Community Engagement Working Group (CCEWG) provides leadership, technical support and guidance for AAP approaches.
Findings from perception surveys, needs assessments and post-distribution monitoring surveys indicate low levels of community engagement in the overall humanitarian response. According to “Voices from South Sudan: Affected Communities’ Perceptions on Humanitarian Aid,” a report by REACH, Internews and the CCEWG, respondents in a quarter of the focus group discussions felt that humanitarian organizations do not proactively seek their inputs to inform humanitarian assistance. The 2024 ISNA indicates that 54 per cent of respondent households are not aware of any complaint and feedback mechanisms regarding humanitarian assistance and workers. As outlined in the report, respondents who used complaints and feedback mechanisms set up by humanitarian partners indicated a lack of timely response. The 2024 ISNA findings indicate that community leaders, NGOs and local radio stations are the key sources of information trusted by communities. However, 41 per cent of the households reported barriers to accessing information on humanitarian assistance.
In 2025, humanitarian actors will strengthen consultation approaches, such as focus group discussions, community meetings and household visits that increase participation. Together with affected communities, the CCEWG will explore collective complaints and feedback mechanisms to reduce the fatigue of affected people in using multiple and duplicative systems. Synergies between the CCEWG and the protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) Task Force and other cross-cutting thematic groups will be revitalized. Standard operating procedures on community feedback-sharing, which respect confidentiality and the rights of complainants, will also be developed. Other activities such as perception surveys will be conducted to understand the extent to which the voices of affected people are being heard by those who seek to assist them.
Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse
South Sudan has a PSEA Task Force, whose core functions encompass engagement with affected people, SEA prevention, establishment of reporting systems, victim assistance, referral for investigations and coordination. The task force is a multi-agency body comprising UN entities, NGOs, the International Committee of the Red Cross and protection-related sub-clusters. PSEA is mainstreamed across various programmes, including needs assessments, capacity building, community engagement and awareness initiatives. To bolster PSEA efforts, a dedicated Inter-Agency PSEA Coordinator is housed in the Resident Coordinator’s Office, supporting senior leadership and strategy development.
SEA referral mechanisms have been established in response to crises, complementing existing complaint channels. The task force follows standardized operating procedures for SEA prevention, reporting, response and accountability. The PSEA Task Force is developing a new PSEA Strategy for 2025-2029, informed by the outcome of the 2024 PSEA deep-dive review and nationwide SEA risk assessment. The UNCT-HCT 2025 Action Plan is centred on five key outcomes: (i) PSEA through workforce behavior change in compliance with, commitment and alignment to international PSEA policy and standards; (ii) safe, accessible and appropriate reporting channels; (iii) quality victim-centred assistance; (iv) swift investigations and enhanced accountability; and (v) galvanized partnership for collective accountability to address SEA in South Sudan. Priority actions include establishing SEA referral systems, enhancing risk management, mobilizing resources and strengthening the capacity for collective accountability to address SEA.
Localization
Localization remains the HCT’s key priority in South Sudan, aiming to strengthen partnership with local partners and give them a voice to influence the planning and delivery of humanitarian response through community engagement and ABC. The HCT will continue to ensure meaningful representation, participation and leadership of national organizations in humanitarian coordination.
The HCT’s vision is that national and local humanitarian actors are enabled and capacitated to take on a greater role in leading humanitarian action in South Sudan – with a reduced need for international support unless overwhelmed by crisis. The HCT seeks a resilience-building approach and engagement with authorities, development and peace actors to enable a sustainable impact of response.
2.6 Cost of the response
Costing methodology
A unit-based costing approach was used to estimate the total cost of the overall response. The cost per beneficiary is estimated by activity and sector, as well as by geographical location where feasible. Each cluster/sector developed a unit cost based on a realistic rationale agreed upon by their members, including estimations required to ensure mainstreaming of cross-cutting priorities. Each cluster unit cost was then multiplied by the targeted population to develop the requirements. This includes the cost associated with in-kind support and cash and voucher assistance (CVA) where appropriate, both at the inter-sector (joint responses) and sector levels. The overall HNRP requirement is a total of all the cluster estimates.
2.7 Multi-purpose cash and cash & voucher assistance overview
The CVA landscape in South Sudan has seen significant growth and transformation over the past two years. In 2023, approximately US$70 million or 6 per cent of the total funding was delivered to over 6 million people, compared to $16.5 million or 1.3 per cent of the total funding in 2022. Of this, $17 million (24 per cent) was allocated to Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA), enabling vulnerable households to address immediate life-saving needs while preserving their dignity and autonomy. In 2024, CVA reached $86.6 million by September, benefiting over 4.6 million people. Approximately $26.4 million (30.5 per cent) was allocated to MPCA, addressing urgent basic needs and fostering resilience among vulnerable households. With support from REACH, the CWG has played a pivotal role in implementing the JMMI, which provides critical market data. Through tools such as the Market Functionality Score (MFS), key indicators including accessibility, affordability and infrastructure are monitored monthly, enabling evidence-based programming.
For 2025, CVA integration across clusters will remain a key priority, ensuring a coordinated and need-driven approach to meeting both sectoral and multisectoral objectives. Sectoral cash transfers will be monitored by clusters and coordinated with the CWG to inform the overall response. In 2024, the CWG set indicative planning figures for MPCA to support nearly 3 million people with $77.4 million. MPCA will target vulnerable people affected by conflict and climate shocks. The MPCA targets and requirements for 2025 are under development.
Geographical prioritization for MPCA will align with the prioritized HNRP counties and MFS data. The endorsed transfer value for MPCA in 2025 is $217, with one-month transfers for shock response and three-month transfers for sustained humanitarian needs. Efforts are ongoing to enhance referral pathways, linking MPCA recipients to additional cluster activities and social protection systems to ensure complementarity with broader sectoral interventions.
The CWG works closely with clusters, financial service providers and local actors to harmonize targeting methodologies and prevent duplication. JMMI and updated market expenditure basket enable a unified approach to CVA delivery. Market monitoring through MFS will inform CVA programming and improve financial access for vulnerable groups. Key priorities for 2025 include enhancing coordination structures at national and sub-national levels, integrating CVA into emergency response plans and strengthening partnerships with financial service providers. This coordinated structure reinforces the CWG’s ability to guide strategic CVA planning, promote harmonization among stakeholders and address operational challenges.
MPCA aligns with South Sudan’s social protection framework, leveraging shared tools and targeting criteria to foster interoperability. This integration supports a seamless transition from humanitarian assistance to development programming.
The digital version can be found at: bit.ly/4fPi22Q