UNICEF Child Protection and WASH System strengthening in Sudan UNICEF Child Protection and WASH System strengthening in Sudan Samarbetet med UNICEF Sudan innefattar ”Child Protection and WASH System Strengthening in Sudan”.

Det övergripande målet för samarbetet med UNICEF Sudan är att bidra till att stärka skydd av barn samt förbättra deras tillgång till vatten, sanitet och hygien (s.k. WASH) i de delstater som är relativt stabila och där UNICEF kan bedriva verksamhet, exempelvis Gezira och River Nile states.

I Sudan saknar 16,4 miljoner människor WASH-infrastruktur som kan tillgodose deras grundläggande behov. Till den omfattande krisen inom WASH, kommer den rådande livsmedelsosäkerheten, extrem fattigdom och utbrett könsbaserat våld. Ungefär 6,5 miljoner barn beräknas vara i behov av skydd.

UNICEF Sudan arbetar med att stärka skyddet av barn och ge dem grundläggande WASH-infrastruktur genom specifika åtgärder som inkluderar:
- Upprättande och underhåll av WASH-infrastruktur och hälsocenter för barn;
- Främjande av basala hygienrutiner och god hygienisk standard;
- Säkerställa rutiner för skydd av barn.

Förväntade resultat inkluderar:
- Lokala socialarbetare har stärkt sin kapacitet och förmåga att skydda barn;
- Stärkta mekanismer för att skydda barn från våld, övergrepp, könsstympning, barnäktenskap mm.;
- Ökad kunskap om hygienisk standard;
- Hållbar tillgång till förbättrade faciliteter för dricksvatten;
- Stärka institutionell kapacitet för WASH-tjänster.

UNICEF har arbetat i Sudan i över 60 år och är en pålitlig och mångårig partner till Sida. Sida:s tidigare partnerskap har innefattat stöd till UNICEF:s landprogram i Sudan (2019–2021), samt stöd med fokus på skydd av barn. Inom ramen för stödet till landprogrammet visade UNICEF Sudan goda exempel på partnerskap med institutioner på federal- och delstatsnivå samt lokala och internationella aktörer. UNICEF:s mångåriga erfarenhet och samarbetsförmåga är avgörande för att uppnå resultat avseende skydd av barn och stärkande av WASH-infrastruktur. Dessutom möjliggjorde UNICEF:s strategiska och organisatoriska struktur att insatserna kunde genomföras med goda resultat även i en svår konfliktdrabbad kontext som Sudan. Det är Sidas bedömning att UNICEF under rådande förutsättningar har god förmåga att genomföra sin verksamhet utifrån sitt mandat. The cooperation includes support to UNICEF Sudan’s Country Programme on Child Protection and WASH System Strengthening in Sudan. The overall goal of the programme of cooperation is to contribute to Child Protection and WASH System Strengthening in states that are relatively stable and where basic services are still functioning in some capacity, for example Gezira and River Nile states.

An estimated 16.4 million people in Sudan are expected to be in need of WASH services. The magnitude of the ongoing WASH crisis is worrisome, with the most at-risk groups either not having access to WASH services or being unable to afford basic WASH services, whilst battling food insecurity, extreme poverty and gender-based violence. Additionally, the population in need of child protection services in 2024 is estimated to reach 6.5 million people.

UNICEF Sudan aims to achieve Child protection and WASH system strengthening via institutional capacity support to the social service workforce and frontline workers, ensuring integration with child protection, education, and health and nutrition sectors, and through specific measures that include a mix of interventions:

- Rehabilitation or construction of water and sanitation infrastructure in communities, child friendly spaces and health centres;

- Social mobilization to stop open defecation in the communities, and the promotion of hygiene practices, especially handwashing;

- Activities aimed at ensuring sustainability of WASH services;

- Establishment of Child protection case management systems.

Outcomes of the programme of cooperation include:

- Service providers at the state and local levels in UNICEF targeted areas have strengthened capacities and deliver quality emergency and long-term specialized child-protection services with appropriate referral mechanisms in place;

- More communities have strengthened mechanisms to protect children from violence, abuse, and exploitation including female genital mutilation, child marriage and child recruitment;

-  More children and their families have enhanced knowledge and resources to adopt adequate hygiene practices and eliminate open defecation;

- More children and their families benefit from equitable and sustainable access to improved drinking water facilities;

- WASH sector institutional capacity and systems are strengthened for scaled up equitable and sustainable access to improved basic WASH services.

UNICEF has been working in Sudan for over 60 years and is a trusted and longstanding partner in development cooperation, with a strong reputation and solid track-record with Sida in general. UNICEF’s strategic and organisational set-up provides an enabling vehicle to implement its mandate. After the recent outbreak of war in Sudan, it is Sida's assessment that UNICEF is able to continue operations in states where the security situation is more stable. The Programme on Child Protection and WASH System Strengthening in Sudan will be implemented between January  December 2024 in relatively stable areas, such as Gezira and River Nile states. In these states, 130,000 most vulnerable conflict-affected children and family members will be reached with sustainable WASH services and over 15,000 children and people in need with child protection prevention and response through direct interventions.

The programme aims to strengthen social welfare and WASH systems at state and local level to ensure the delivery of integrated services in building individual and collective resilience and empowerment of vulnerable communities and households, through provision of increased access to protection services and basic sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene services.

This will be achieved through support to the social service workforce and frontline workers in the host communities receiving high number of displaced people and through effective community mobilisation grounded in participatory action, gender transformative approaches, with a focus on sustainable services, community engagement throughout planning, designing and delivering of services to reduce risks of gender-based violence and other protection concerns, including harmful practices while also empowering women and girls to participate in decision making processes and management of community assets such as water resources.

Expected impact/results

WASH service provision will be enhanced in vulnerable communities, ensuring integration with child protection, education, and health and nutrition sectors. This will be delivered through a mix of hardware and software interventions. Hardware interventions will include the rehabilitation or construction of water and sanitation infrastructure in communities, child friendly spaces and health centres.

The software component will include social mobilization through CLTS approach to stop open defecation in the communities, and the promotion of hygiene practices, especially handwashing at critical times. This will be complemented by activities aimed at ensuring sustainability of the WASH services, such as empowering communities in the management of water facilities by establishing and training of institutionalised WASH Committees, putting in place WASH information management systems both at locality and state level to better track progress and address inequities and enhancing capacities of locality and community level WASH practitioners.