Sudan: Emergency Preparedness and Rapid Response Capacity The aim of this project is to strengthen the capacity of the Caritas family (diocese, national, and member organisations) in Sudan to respond to anticipated emergency situations in the country, including any scenarios that develop during the build up and aftermath of the Referenda as well as other man made or natural disasters.  The overall goal is; To strengthen Church and community structures to mitigate the impact of humanitarian disasters in Sudan. This intervention will focus on the 9 dioceses and one pastoral region in Sudan with the following specific objective; All Dioceses in Sudan will develop effective emergency preparedness plans and have the capacity to deliver the responses in their target communities. The expected results are ; Diocesan and Caritas agencies staff strengthen their skills and knowledge in emergency preparedness and response, Communities in each diocese are prepared to respond to emergencies or disasters, Increased institutional capacity of Diocesan, Sudanaid and other Caritas members to respond to emerging humanitarian needs, Establish a Parish Based Information Systems in all 9 Dioceses in Sudan.
The direct beneficiaries of the project will be those staff trained from the 9 Dioceses and 1 pastoral region, Sudanaid and other CI member agencies with operations in Sudan, establishing minimum capacity within all dioceses and focusing on likely hotspots, to enable them to respond effectively to any emergencies that may arise. Communities in all dioceses will also benefit through participation in emergency preparedness and early response activities. These beneficiaries will be reached through activities such as community managed disaster preparedness. Additionally, potentially up to 100,000 conflict or disaster affected people will be reached through early response activities such as distribution of NFIs. The project will be managed by a Caritas Coordination Unit, and will involve staff from Sudanaid, the Dioceses, and participating CI agencies. CAFOD will participate in the programme steering committee alongside CRS and the national Sudanaid, and will “twin” with 2 dioceses to facilitate appeal activities at diocesan and community level: Yei and Tombura-Yambio.

This contribution to the overall project will target the Dioceses of Yei and Tombura-Yambio and will fund the salary of the 2 Diocese Emergency Coordinators for 1 year, as well as fund the EPR, EPP and CMDRR trainings, and purchase of communication/information systems. There will also be some un-earmarked funds for other project needs.

At the intial stages of this project , there was an assumption that a response may only be required after the referendum in 2011 . However, in light of recent developments , it has been realised that there is indeed a steady stream of Southern Sudanese who have started streaming back from the North in to the Southern Sudan. An additional 150,000 Stg pounds has been requested from CAFODs  General Emergencies Budget to cover response activities related to these new developments for a period of 3 months starting December 2010 through to 28th February 2011. These funds will be used to cover response actions related to the early returnee populations such as distributions of NFIs and other assistance needs as will be determined based on the evolving context.