Provision of Water Sanitation and Hygiene , Nutrition and Livelihood Assistance to Vulnerable, Conflict-Affected Communitiesin Sunta, Katyala and El Salam localities in South Darfur State Mercy Corps considers the acute needs of the targeted localities and vulnerabilities of these people and will ensure increased household access to basic services and will help reduce vulnerability to diseases including the spread of COVID-19. Mercy Corps will address WASH needs through rehabilitation of water sources at both community and institutions, formation and training of WASH committees to ensure improved access to clean and safe water. Mercy Corps will then complement the water supply activities through hygiene promotion and train community hygiene promoters who will carry out hygiene promotion awareness raising activities to enhance health and wellbeing of the targeted individuals. During the implementation, MC will ensure COVID-19 prevention measures are intertied to reduce the risk of the spread. Mercy Corps will complement WASH activities through installation of hand washing stations at strategic locations including markets, enhanced hygiene promotion through broadcast short messaging via phones disinfection of touch points and provision of IEC materials in local languages to at water points on prevention practices including physical distancing between individuals.
MC will strengthen FSL opportunities through the provision of agricultural inputs and promotion of community awareness on sustainable and responsible farming. 
Given the urgent nutrition needs and inadequate community based support MC will implement community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and infant and young child feeding to promote healthy behaviours that improve IYCF practices, with a primary emphasis on the first 1,000 days of life (from conception up to age two). This program will build on existing community groups wherever possible and will be based on the mother support groups (MSG) model. This is a peer-based nutrition promotion program that aims to create individual and community behaviour change in nutrition practices through dissemination of key nutrition messages. 

To complement nutrition and FSL interventions, Mercy Corps will provide multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA) to help households meet their basic needs during the lean season and reduce their dependence on external assistance. The MPCA will target mostly refugee and IDP women by providing cash assistance which will be used to provide basic COVID-19 protective materials such as sanitizers, face masks, soap and other hygiene materials which will improve their personal hygiene. The MPCA will also aim at proving cost for food which will reduce the tendency of the most vulnerable of refugees leaving their houses in search of food which significantly increases their chances of contaminations. Additionally, the MPCA will targeting families with children who have severe acute malnutrition (SAM) with complications at the Mercy Corps-run outpatient therapeutic program (OTP) who have been referred to the stabilization center. This cash will enable them to buy children needs like clothes and food.

Mercy Corps will adapt activities to contribute to the COVID-19 response through awareness raising on infection prevention control measures and provision of WASH, FSL and Nutrition services. For example hygiene promotion campaigns will be adapted according to WHO and MoH guidance on COVID-19 risk mitigation, to discourage crowds while ensuring access to this crucial information in a timely manner. FSL cash and agricultural activities will take into account the need to have reduced number of beneficiaries at distribution points while also using mobile money and banking transfer for cash to ensure people remain indoors. Mercy Corps is well-positioned to implement WASH, Nutrition and FSL activities and will ensure that protection and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention is mainstreamed across the programming.