Distribution of lifesaving non-food items, shelter materials and cash for shelter for the most vulnerable displacement affected populations in South Sudan. As a lead protection agency, DRC is committed to the protection and gender-sensitive approach throughout its shelter and non-food item (S/NFI) programming, which recognizes and addresses the different risks, vulnerabilities, and capacities of affected women, men, girls, and boys. The project seeks to address the S/NFI needs of vulnerable conflict and disaster-affected populations in Upper Nile and hard to reach areas across South Sudan. The intervention will directly target 21,500 individuals / 3,583 HHs (3,229 men, 5,369 women, 6,452 boys and 6,450 girls) with S/NFI support. To implement the project, DRC established a semi-static response team in Malakal and a mobile team based in Juba with rapid response capacity able to quickly deploy to hard to reach locations across Upper Nile, Jonglei, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap State, and any other locations in South Sudan prioritized by the ICWG and the S/NFI cluster. By having response teams in both Malakal and Juba, DRC will be best placed to support new displacements and spontaneous returns across Upper Nile, Jonglei, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap and other priority hard to reach locations in South Sudan.

The DRC mobile response team based in Juba will support the most vulnerable and underserved populations in Upper Nile, Jonglei, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap and other hard to reach locations affected by displacement through the provision of multi-sector survival kits, non-food items, and emergency shelter support. All interventions will be led by a protection-centered S/NFI analysis that will determine the exact nature of the response. 

The response from the Juba-based mobile team will focus on emergency distributions of survival kits, distributions of life-sustaining NFI and shelter kits to newly affected locations, while the Malakal-based team will target the most vulnerable conflict-affected communities through the distribution of emergency S/NFI materials in areas of Upper Nile where road and river access is feasible. Following a thorough market analysis in areas of priority with functional markets and available local resources, the mobile teams will recommend for cash for shelter and NFI response by specialized agencies with the capacity to implement cash for SNFI activities.

All S/NFI materials distributed by the Malakal and Juba-based response teams will be supplied through the cluster pipeline and will not be budgeted under the project. These items include survival kits, NFI kits, and emergency shelter items available through the pipeline supply. DRC will operate mobile complaints desks to enable beneficiaries to flag concerns or complaints in person or anonymously, improving participation and accountability for all affected populations. DRC also has a toll-free hotline number that beneficiaries can call to register complaints or feedback. As standard project monitoring best practice, post distribution monitoring (PDM) will be conducted in areas where second-time access is feasible following the response mission. However, in hard to reach areas where access is limited, DRC will implement rapid monitoring tools alongside the response missions. The PDM and the rapid monitoring exercise will highlight any risks by the S/NFI intervention as well as lessons for considerations for future responses.