GBV: Strengthening life-saving GBV Response for vulnerable populations in Ulang   County in Upper Nile State, South Sudan South Sudan remains in a serious humanitarian crisis due to the cumulative effects of years of conflict and violence against civilians, which have destroyed people’s livelihoods and forced 4.2 million people to flee their homes – nearly 2 million inside and nearly 2.2 million outside the country. Women and children continue to be the most affected. The revitalized peace process promises to offer new opportunities in 2019 for South Sudan’s women, men and children. However, the cumulative effects of years of conflict, violence and destroyed livelihoods have left more than 7 million people or about two thirds of the population in dire need of some form of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2019-the same proportion as in 2018. While the situation is no longer escalating at a rapid speed, the country remains in the grip of a serious humanitarian crisis. SGBV, particularly sexual violence, is a widespread and alarming element of the crisis in South Sudan. Sexual violence is used as a tactic of terror in the armed conflict, primarily targeting women and girls. As displacement becomes protracted, families resort to negative coping mechanisms under the strain of prolonged uncertainty and diminishing resources. For South Sudanese, displacement has exacerbated already high rates of intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation, harassment and early and forced marriage that existed prior to the recent conflict. The vulnerability of certain groups, such as female-headed households, widows, women with disabilities and adolescent girls, compounds the challenges they face. To ease the manifestations of GBV, since May 2017, ARC have been implementing comprehensive GBV response and prevention interventions in four Payams of Ulang County through funding from OFDA. These activities are integrated with WASH to minimize GBV risks associated with access to and lack of WASH facilities. These Payams are Nyang’ore, Rirnyang, Barmach and Ulang Centre. Also, ARC have established and running four (4) Women and Girls Friendly Spaces (WGFS)-one in each Payam. Additionally, a pilot Youth Centre was established in Ulang Centre Payam. ARC is engaging both male and female youth in structured indoor and outdoor PSS activities at the Youth Centre.  ARC will use complementary funds from SSHF funds to fill existing gaps in Ulang County by establishing and operationalizing one additional WGFS in Barmach Payam where new arrivals from neighboring Counties have settled since 2017/2018 following displacement due to insecurity. ARC will seek to strengthen on going response activities by establishing children's corners within the WGFS and provide basic play items for children. A Caseworker will be available to keep the children engaged while their mothers to get an opportunity to fully participate in the WGFS activities without worrying about the children. ARC will ensure that OFDA and SSHF activities are well linked 
All the WGFS operations and activities will conform to UNICEF’s WGFS guidelines for South Sudan.  Proposed activities will include but will not be limited to (1) Case management services and referrals, (2) Psychosocial support (PSS) services, (3) Awareness raising on services available (4) Information dissemination sessions on GBV, WASH, nutrition and reproductive health etc. (6) Open days/unstructured sessions (6) Skill building activities, and (7) integration activities with other Clusters such as nutrition, NFIs, food, livelihoods and child protection.