South Sudan Joint Response 7 (SSJR7) SUMMARY: 
The SSJR Alliance with Save the Children (lead), Plan Nederland, War Child Holland, Tearfund, CARE, Stichting Red een Kind, Dorcas Aid International implements from 1.1 - 31.12.2021 in Pibor, Koch, Malakal and Fashoda, Aweil East, and Wau and Jur River.
Plan Nederland will implement its project in Malakal, continues to respond to increasing protection concerns, and will help to reach more vulnerable HHs with FSL supports and MPC assistance to address severe food insecurity reported. Plan will reach 13.715 vulnerable people. Prior to the emergence of the COVID-19 threat, more than half of South Sudan’s population, 6.5 million people out of nearly 12 million, were expected to face severe food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and above) at the height of the annual hunger season (May-July 2020) . 
Malakal is at IPC 4 level (sever food insecurity), mainly inhabited by IDPs and returnees. There is significant increase in teenage pregnancy and abortion. Child marriage, sexual violence, self-harm and psychological distress in Malakal continues to increase, heavy rain and subsequent floods forced many people to move to Malakal from the surrounding flood affected counties. 
Malakal has unmet FSL, MPC and protection needs as FSL partners faced funding shortage and WFP also reduced the quantity of food ration per HH. Increasing returnees to Malakal created stress on existing humanitarian services (protection, FSL and MPC). Congested settlement coupled with COVID 19 restrictions and food insecurity has resulted in increasing protection concerns such as early/forced marriage, teenage pregnancy, abortion, self-harm/psychological harm and child labor as adolescents and families tend to adapt negative coping mechanisms. The SSJR program will continue to provide life-saving assistance and aim to enhance the transition from humanitarian assistance to resilience programming, addressing root causes, enabling vulnerable and at-risk communities to build resilience to acute shocks and chronic stresses, and recover from crisis. Lastly, the SSJR program will continue to address critical problems relating to physical and mental wellbeing, strongly reinforcing protection throughout the program, both integrated within other sectors, and as a separate sector.
The Alliance will continue to all 2020 HRP strategic objectives and will support efforts in containing and preventing the spread of COVID-19 while employing a COVID-19 adapted approach to respond to the ongoing emergency. 

Plan continues to respond to an increasing protection concerns and will scale up GBV, CP, PSS and case management interventions to support additional children affected by sexual health and protection concerns in Malakal. It will help to reach more vulnerable HHs with FSL supports and MPC assistance to address sever food insecurity reported in Malakal. The SSJR7 is a continuation of the South Sudan program funded by the Dutch Relief Alliance. The target group for the SSJR 2021 will continue to target the most vulnerable households amongst IDPS, returnees and host communities, with a particular focus on child-headed households, female headed households, PLW, elderly, households with children facing SAM/MAM, malnourished children, youth, vulnerable adolescent boys and girls. In Malakal Town and Malakal PoC,  13.715 vulnerable people will benefit from FSL, MPC and Protection support provided by Plan. JR locations have seen an increasing number of returnees from refugee and IDP camps and flood affected areas, which have created stress on existing humanitarian services. Congested settlement, coupled with COVID-19 restrictions and food insecurity, has resulted in increasing protection concerns as adolescents and families tend to adapt negative coping mechanisms. Therefore, Plan will increase the Protection support provided in 2021.
Plan will continue to use the innovative Up2U card to distribute cash to beneficiaries in 2021, and more CFW activities have been planned for, seeing their success in 2020, and also taking into consideration the need for more roads leading to schools and socio-economic centres (market/churches) will need to be cleared to facilitate everyday life, especially as more displaced people return to Malakal. Considering the impact of school and CFS closure on GBV and CP activities in 2020, in 2021 small group-based approaches will be used to reach adolescent girls and children. 

Activities per sector:
Plan will provide training/coaching on agro-practices, agricultural inputs (crops and vegetable seeds) and cash to protect livelihood assets to 500 vulnerable HH. Regular price monitoring will be done to ensure CVA programming is and remain possible; conditional cash will be provided in the form of e-vouchers using the Up2U system for 4 months. 
4 events will be organised  to raise awareness on SRHR, GBV and MHM and 2 Intergenerational dialogues to discuss CEFM and SRHR. 
12 Adolescent clubs (AC) and 4 Youth Clubs (YC) members ( 300 individuals) will be trained and coached on basic GBV, SRHR, gender equality, dialoguing and awareness raising methods as well as on their roles and responsibilities and they will be engaged in GBV safety audits and Risk and Resources Mapping. 50 Adolescent mothers will be trained on positive parenting, basics of GBV, MHM and SRHR. 150 teachers and other educational personal, 80 traditional and religious leaders and 80 staff from service providers and line ministries will be trained on adolescent development, including SRHR, gender equality and GBV, incl. referral pathways. 
310 adolescent girls at risk of GBV will be sensitized on GBV and MHM and provided with dignity kits to protect them from GBV, along with 5 matrons in school. Support will be provided to Youth Unions to perform group activities for child and youth well-being, especially sports. 
150 most vulnerable HHs (900 indiv.) unable to participate in the CFW, nor farming, will be provided with unconditional multipurpose cash. Unconditional cash will be provided in the form of physical cash for 4 months. 
300 vulnerable HH (1800 indiv.) will be provided with conditional multipurpose cash in the frame of a Cash for Work program to contribute to the rehabilitation of community assets. Plan will continue to strengthen the capacities of their local partners as part of the ongoing project through training and on the job support. 
Localization efforts in 2021 will include additional activities to ensure that as a SSJR, we contribute to ensuring we amplify local voices. Joint coordination budget will be used to improve visibility of local partners and make it a priority to improve it nationally and internationally, and budget has also been reserved to ensure our partners are able to participate in regional and/or global meetings and discussions related to localization, and to ensure that they are able to share experiences and learning at these engagements.