Building Communities’ Resilience and Strengthening Gender Equity through a FSL Intervention in Red Sea State – Haya and El Qaneb Localities The Government-led Food Security Technical Secretariat (FSTS) estimates that the deterioration of the economic situation in Sudan has affected 5.7 million people these individuals were estimated to be in crisis (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification 3) or emergency (IPC 4) levels of food insecurity from October to December 2018. The number of affected people increased from 3.8 million during the same period last year. 

Over decades, the livelihood system in the Red Sea State has been influenced by different environmental, climatic and social challenges. These include drought, floods and long dry spells, which negatively impact the food security situation of the local populations. The State is one of the many states in Sudan facing high food insecurity, 

The current macro-economic situation, including increasing inflation rates and a lack of available fuel and cash, is causing Sudan to experience a breakdown in the delivery of basic services and for producers to face high production cost. There has been a noticeable rise in cost and drop in Sudanese consumer purchasing power for commodities and medicines. WFP estimates that more than 80 percent of the country’s population may not be able to afford the price of a local food basket. Vulnerable communities have begun adopting negative coping mechanisms, which have massive negative implications on household nutrition, food security, and social welfare.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Production and Economic Resources and Industries, CRS identified FSL gaps for the two targeted localities. The gaps include the most extreme loss of livelihood assets, largely attributed to the removal of subsidies for various commodities, fuel shortages that have increased cost of transport, droughts, low yields and crop failures, and lack of access to input, service and output markets, Cereal production in Red Sea State was 65-90 percent lower than in the previous year, contributing to grain price and livestock inflation and leading to high food gap where the targeted localities are mostly affected. 

CRS is proposing to implement an FSL intervention as an approach to address food insecurity in the two localities of Haya and El Qaneb. The intervention seeks to support communities by providing agricultural inputs (seeds amp tools) and small livestock through direct distribution and building capacities of communities in the two localities, which were prioritized in the 2019 HNO report. The proposed FSL intervention is designed to meet needs of affected targeted communities in an inclusive manner, promoting synergy and increasing the intervention’s impact. The approach will also promote sustainability and self-reliance for reducing the future need of communities for humanitarian aid.

The proposed FSL intervention will be sequenced to implement first the livestock, SILC and capacity building activities for all beneficiaries starting July 2019, followed by distribution of vegetable seed for the winter season to 500 farmers in November 2019 for planting in December. As the rainy season  is over, millet and sorghum improved seeds will be distributed to 1,000 farmers in May-June 2020 for rainy season planting in July. The start and end dates of July 2019 and June 2020 allow the proposed FSL intervention to distribute grain seeds for the rainy season in 2020 before it closes out., . As the rainy season is over, the millet and sorghum improved seeds will be distributed to 1,000 farmers in May-June 2020 for rainy season planting in July. The start and end dates of July 2019 and June 2020 allow the proposed FSL intervention to distribute grain seeds for the rainy season in 2020 before it closes out.