Mobile Protection Response for the most affected population in Aweil South and Greater Tonj Through this project Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) will deploy a mobile protection team to respond emergency protection concerns resulting from widespread food insecurity exacerbated by flooding that has affected more than 1 million people across South Sudan, since July 2020 (SSHF Allocation Strategy Paper- 3rd reserve allocation, January 2021). Most protection needs arising from these kinds of situations are as follows: displacement, increase of Gender-Based-Violence (GBV) cases, primarily against women and children, unaccompanied children, child-abduction, forced recruitment and inter-communal violence. NP is aiming for an integrated approach and contributing to a better collaboration in emergency response. Consequently, NP will conduct missions to analyze the specifics of the linkage between food insecurity and protection in these locations to inform response and prevention interventions. Furthermore, NP will respond to identified protection needs for specific location in collaboration with Food Security and Livelihood (FSL) partners. 

NP plans to conduct at least four assessment and response missions over the period of five months in Aweil South and Greater Tonj (Tonj East, Tonj North and Tonj South) with a duration about 14 days per mission. Missions will be conducted to hard-to reach areas, or where no strong or static protection presence exists, to respond to these protection needs. Each mission will be determined in accordance with the Protection Cluster (PC) analysis, including consultation with roving colleagues and partners in these locations, state level PC, as well as with the Needs Analysis Working Group (NAWG), Inter-Cluster Working Group (ICWG), and OCHA.
 
To support this process, NP will operationalize the following planning processes:
1) Preparations, in consultation with OCHA and the Protection Cluster (PC), and state level PC(if possible) confirming response locations, contacting local partners and arranging logistical and security aspects.

2) Following NP’s deployment to the area, NP will undertake response activities (which are expected to take around fourteen days per response, considering possible changes due to needs and security situation to address the most pressing needs identified to increase the safety and security of at-risk civilians. These activities will include strategic patrolling, protective presence, referral, community capacity building/awareness raising on GBV and Child protection (CP) as well as on community-based protection mechanism, provision of child safe spaces (CSS), as well as protection mainstreaming to partner organizations and technical protection support during registration and distributions. Such activities seek to enhance the protection needs of those affected by food insecurity in regions where no static protection partners are present, supporting the cluster’s response through a mobile protection team

3) NP will then provide a de-briefing in Juba to share analysis, produce and disseminate assessment and response reports to the PC and relevant stakeholders. Should there be urgent need, the team may share early findings with the PC and OCHA from the field or immediately upon return to Juba to support and inform inter-sector, frontline response. A full protection mission analysis report, with emphasis on emerging risks and mitigation measures, will then be submitted to the PC and OCHA within one week. Extensive follow up on recommendations will be made through subsequent PC meetings, as indicated in the description of activity 1.1.1.

In light of the current situation of the outbreak of COVID-19, NP will always act based on the recommendations from the HLTF on COVID-19 pandemic in order to comply and to safeguard the security for the staff but also for the community members.