Foreword by the Humanitarian Coordinator
For millions of people in South Sudan, 2015 was characterized by unspeakable devastation. Civilians faced brutal and intense violence and humanitarian needs increased exponentially. People were forcibly displaced – many multiple times – from their homes and land, livelihoods were disrupted and decimated, and basic services were destroyed, damaged or shutdown. By the end of the year, over 6.1 million people – more than half of the country’s population – were in need of humanitarian assistance.
Despite the enormity of the challenges, humanitarian partners worked tirelessly across the country to reach people in dire need, including in some of the most dangerous and difficult areas.
Throughout the year, the South Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) played a vital role in enabling humanitarian action, providing flexible, prioritized and timely resources. We allocated US$92.3 million to 184 projects implemented by 68 partners across the country, making the CHF the fourth largest donor to the 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan.
Under the CHF Advisory Board’s stewardship, our standard allocations funded the highest collective priorities, kick-starting the most urgent activities under the 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and providing an important injection of funding at the mid-year point.
As the crisis escalated, we used the CHF reserve proactively to respond to rapidly rising needs, from supporting the release and return of children associated with armed groups in Jonglei, to assisting people fleeing intensifying violence to Protection of Civilians sites, and scaling-up humanitarian operations in southern Unity in response to the immense needs generated by the large-scale offensive which took place in the latter half of the year.
We also leveraged the CHF to support a diverse array of humanitarian actors. Our intensive engagement with national and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) paid off, with NNGO allocations reaching 11 per cent in 2015 (up from 8 per cent in 2014 and 7 per cent in 2013). In addition, some 30 per cent of CHF funding went directly to international INGO frontline projects, while some 59 per cent went to UN agencies (80 per cent of which was for common pipelines and services that enabled frontline projects).
I am proud of the strides we made in 2015 in using the CHF as a catalyst to promote quality programming, placing protection at the centre of decision-making and ensuring that the unique needs of people of different ages and genders were at the forefront of programmatic analysis and response.
As we look to 2016, funding levels for South Sudan are regrettably declining. We therefore need, more than ever, to ensure that money goes to the partners and projects that have the greatest impact. I remain convinced that the CHF is an invaluable tool in this endeavour, reinforcing our collective prioritization and strategic vision with funding at vital moments.
I sincerely thank all of our partners - NGOs, UN agencies, and donors - for making the CHF a success in 2015, and look forward to our continued close collaboration in the year ahead.