nlp-thedeep/humsetbias huggingface dataset:
The main impact is delays in cargo movement as the border processing time has increased. This may impact prepositioning and requires a shift to air transport.
Furthermore, more than 90 per cent of IDPs reside in rural areas, where competition for resources may unravel the relationship between IDPs and host communities  ( IOM DTM 2020a ) . This contributes to higher protection needs, especially for children and women, prompting people to seek protection in locations where humanitarian actors operate
Restrictions on movement have a strong effect on IDPs. For example, in Wau county in April 2020 IDPs residing in four collective centres were expelled by the owners of the land, the local church administration, due to concerns about COVID 19 spreading in the congested sites. The government temporarily restricted movement in and out of other PoC sites at Juba and Malakal, affecting IDP livelihood activities, provision of services within the sites, and maintenance by humanitarian agencies.
South Sudan's road sector institutions have serious limitations, as the country lacks the required policy and institutional framework to fully support logistics, and budget execution for infrastructure was as low as 2 per cent in 2019.
Since ongoing interventions are already life saving, future actions to contain the spread of the pandemic among mobile people in need will continue.
Refugee communities, including girls, women, youths and children continue to receive sensitization sessions, training and technical support  ( including RCCE )  in coordination with the Commission for Refugee Affairs and other relevant local authorities, as well as international and national non governmental organization partners and refugee structures in refugee camps and settlements.
While to date CTS has only supported the Logistics Cluster and humanitarian partners, the service can be expanded to support COVID 19 response under the UNCF.
Additional shuttle buses are also needed to allow for social distancing.
The United Nations has been engaging with local authorities on illegal checkpoint fees and in rehabilitation, upgrades and construction of roads aimed at supporting operations to ensure food supplies are delivered and enhance access to markets, trade opportunities and other services.
In addition, ongoing road construction and rehabilitation works have slowed down because of the difficulty in ensuring quality assurance and transporting construction materials from one state to another, especially from Juba to remote locations. The forthcoming rainy season  ( approximately May– September )  will further impede the progress of construction.
An outcome of this was the national Framework for Return, Reintegration and Relocation of Displaced Persons, which was released to guide interventions and outline priorities  ( Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, 2017 ) .
In refugee camps and settlements, United Nations AFPs and UNMISS have been working closely to address the needs of IDPs, returnees, and vulnerable migrants. Activities include:
The pandemic affects mobile people in need of assistance in several ways. Notably, IDPs in congested camps or camp like settings face higher risk of transmission of communicable diseases such as COVID 19. Crowded environments increase the likelihood of IDPs becoming infected and do not allow for social distancing and isolation. Undocumented migrants who may currently be in detention or share small apartments face similar concerns.
Efforts to protect justice frontline staff through provision of PPE is a priority to safeguard them from infection and ensure that criminal justice institutions continue providing essential law enforcement and justice services
Limited access to justice and resulting impunity will be a compounding factor, leading to further violence and retaliatory attacks. In turn, this may catalyse heightened levels of lawlessness, disorder and crime, particularly in relation to armed male youth and cattle raiding.
In three displaced settlements surveyed in South Sudan prior to COVID 19, the rates of intimate partner violence ranged from 54 to 73 per cent while the rates of non partner sexual violence were much lower at 28 to 33 per cent  ( Global Women's Institute et al., 2017 ) .
Disruption in the delivery of justice services: The impact of COVID 19 on the already strained justice chain, including curtailment or suspension of court services in criminal proceedings and civil matters, coupled with the prevention of deployment of justice actors to locations with limited statutory justice presence, impedes access to justice, enhancing impunity and civil grievances such as those related to property rights. Moreover, it may create a residual upsurge of case backlogs, and exacerbate prolonged and arbitrary detention, among others.
Despite the COVID 19 related restrictions which include closure of borders, South Sudan has continued to live up to its national and international legal obligations to provide access to its territory to people arriving in the country to seek asylum. South Sudan authorities continue to apply the COVID 19 related health measures to newly arriving refugees in the country
The situation is worse for women and girls, who have limited access to justice, which worsens when perpetrators are allegedly state agents or soldiers outside the ambit of the law and judicial processes, or are protected from prosecution. Gender inequality and discrimination in the security and justice sectors have wider societal and inter ethnic effects that threaten the sustainability of peace in South Sudan.
Recent foreign direct investment has been largely in the oil industry  ( especially from companies in Asia and China ) , as well as in the mining sector.
Business continuity support is also provided to facilitate the government's applications for quick disbursing of financial assistance, such as the IMF Rapid Credit Facility or the debt service suspension initiative. UNDP and UNICEF will adapt the joint PFM project under the SDG Fund  ( US$1 million )  in light of COVID 19; the joint programme focuses on increasing domestic revenue generation through strengthening revenue authorities and supporting PFM processes, including for budget preparation and reporting in select states.
Net portfolio outflows are expected to intensify. Official development assistance for project financing could also be lower. Whereas government has been negotiating in kind oil in exchange for infrastructure development, only about 25 per cent was realized in the FY2019/20 budget.
The proportion of IDPs living in settlements without lockable bathrooms increased by 21.1 percentage points, or 89,980 individuals, while for returnees it decreased by 1.8 percentage points, despite an absolute increase of 22,780 individuals living in settlements without lockable bathrooms. The increase in the absolute figure is driven by the overall increase in returnee numbers.
The country is likely to experience lower agricultural activity and production due to a reduced workforce and market closures, a situation that is very grave because South Sudan depends on imports for about one third of its food needs, and the contribution of agriculture to GDP as part of the non oil sector is significant.
At the same time, non oil tax revenues are expected to be 3 per cent lower than budgeted, with a shortfall of about US$4.7 million. With these developments, the fiscal deficit is expected to reach US$510 million  ( 7.8 per cent of GDP )  versus the US$166 million  ( 2.5 per cent of GDP )  initially planned.9 This will hinder service delivery, affecting more vulnerable segments of the population.
The FY2019/2020 budget envisaged gross oil revenue receipts of about US$1.7 billion and net oil revenues of about US$1.3 billion. With the recent plunge in oil prices, gross oil revenues are likely to be US$940 million with net oil revenues expected to be only about US$527 million, leading to a shortfall of about US$370 million in the current budget.
The fall in the global oil price from nearly US$70 a barrel in early January 2020 to about US$30 in May 2020 is particularly detrimental for public finances in South Sudan
Considering public finances, poor budget management and execution have been exacerbated by lower revenue collection. In turn, these have further compromised spending on infrastructure and service delivery.
At the same time, the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates remains high and was reported at more than 80 per cent in May 2020, which represents a major distortion in the price system.
In this recessionary context, monetary policy is expansive. The Bank of South Sudan reduced the central bank interest rate by two percentage points to 13 per cent and the reserve requirement ratio was reduced from 20 to 18 per cent. These measures are intended to reduce the cost of credit while supporting banking sector liquidity. Given the budget deficit, fiscal policy is very limited though, and used mostly on fiscal reprioritization.
The huge backlog of 186 national pre transition and immediate revitalized transition activities are set to lag further.
The economy of South Sudan is extremely dependent on oil. Despite rehabilitation of oil fields and resumption of oil production in Unity State, production is not expected to reach pre crisis levels in the short term – expected oil production for export is 175,000 barrels per day during FY2020/2021.
The economy has contracted on average by 8.1 per cent per year between 2015 and 2018, before recovering in 2019 with a growth rate of 3.2 per cent  ( World Bank, 2020b ) . Economic growth prospects for FY2019/2020 have been affected by falling oil prices, COVID 19 containment measures, and shocks to agriculture.
The 80 per cent drop in the national budget for the 2019/2020 fiscal year  ( FY )  has resulted in a decrease in the budget line for peace implementation by over 60 per cent.
Also, COVID 19 could potentially distract from outstanding Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity formation priorities – governorship nominees and other local level political authorities not yet in place; operationalization of the cluster arrangements; revitalized transitional legislative chambers; and other oversight institutions and commissions.
For returnees, the pandemic threatens the durability of their resettlement, especially because many areas of return are afflicted by poor health infrastructure, few services, and often lack of education and livelihoods opportunities.
Restrictions on movement in congested environments threaten to increase incidents of SGBV, particularly intimate partner violence, as well as incidents of community violence and/or breakdown in social cohesion. Such restrictions also limit the opportunity to seek support from United Nations partner agencies whose footprint, both in congested sites and in deep field locations, may be hindered due to restriction of movement.
A total of nine short videos on COVID 19 advocacy messages were developed through engaging different key influencers, which include religious leaders, Government officials, youth leaders, popular artists, journalists, and the UNICEF Country Representative  ( promoting handwashing ) . The production of the short videos included an animated video on basic COVID 19 facts. These videos were widely shared on South Sudan Broadcasting Cooperation  ( SSBC )  TV and posted on social media platforms. Billboards with key messages were also erected in strategic locations around Juba town.
There is an urgent need to deploy, without further delay, COVID 19 screening and quarantine facilities at border points and areas where new refugees continue to arrive in South Sudan.
Through the support of UNDP and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, about 6,000 vulnerable youth should have been trained and graduated across 14 trades in 2020 alone. However, the suspension of training has resulted in none of the trainees graduating and being provided with the necessary career advice and placement services, or business development support. With the closure of businesses due to COVID 19, the placement of trained youth with various private sector companies for job and industrial training has also been placed in serious question.
COVID 19 has resulted in the closure of 21 vocational training centres in the country and the suspension of vocational skills training crucial to the enhancement and employability of vulnerable populations, especially the youth.
Similarly, households will be able to receive less remittances, because their relatives abroad  ( wherever they are )  are also negatively affected by the global economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.
The negative causes are not necessarily just local. For example, many South Sudanese in urban areas depend on the sale of imported Chinese household goods in street markets and have been negatively impacted by the production shutdown in China and restrictions for cargo trade.
Bans on cross border trading mean that women have limited access to the inputs needed for candle and soap production. Hence, lockdown measures represent a negative shock to the aggregate supply, which both reduces the range of available products and increases their price – at the same time as households earn less income.
Restrictions on movement also disrupted supply chains and degraded hard won gains in markets such as fish or fish products.
Also, labour opportunities for the urban poor  ( e.g. domestic home help )  are declining. It is estimated that employment in the informal sector has dropped by 40 per cent, e.g. the income of boda boda drivers has decreased by 70 per cent. Some households have completely lost their livelihoods, and this has significant repercussions because households on average have eight members. The impact across society is also uneven, affecting much more vulnerable groups such as women, and is likely to have negative spillover effects on other areas, e.g. for the large number of disillusioned armed young men and members of the state security forces criminality, cattle raiding and intercommunal violence could become attractive options.
Similarly, in the informal sector the activities that constitute the bulk of the economy are extremely sensitive to lockdown measures, e.g. tea stalls run by street vendors have been banned.
In addition to health, there are socio economic variables that heighten the indirect negative effects of COVID 19, such as poverty, gender inequality and mobility, e.g. when people have little income, they are less likely to afford basic goods such as medicines.
The risk of COVID 19 in South Sudan is very high as a result of factors such as severe malnourishment and related health complications; a weak, limited and under resourced health care system, including near absence of palliative care facilities, and the large number of IDPs with limited and/or cramped shelter.
Protection concerns also remain significant, with the population often living in fear due to persistent insecurity, landmines and explosive remnants of war, human rights violations and SGBV, among others
The combination of weak institutions and ongoing conflict were a breeding ground for corruption, and many development projects that could have been executed were not, resulting in a high opportunity cost of the conflict.
The conflict has had far reaching consequences in all areas of development. For example, supply chains were disrupted and existing infrastructure was destroyed or poorly maintained, which forces the country to depend heavily on neighbouring countries for food.
The United Nations is prioritizing completion of essential road construction to guarantee access to remote locations. Construction of market infrastructure includes WASH facilities, as a critical preventive measure against COVID 19.
UNHAS is providing WASH stations in the terminal, and hand sanitizers in the shuttle bus and on board the aircraft, and is requesting passengers to wear PPE.
The total financing needs add up to US$67.7 million, which can be broken down as follows: transhipment points, US$49.5 million; new roads and logistics infrastructure rehabilitation till the end of 2020, US$6.4 million; UNHAS, US$5.6 million; upgrade border crossing points, US$5.2 million, CTS capacity, US$1.5 million, seven new humanitarian hubs, US$2.1 million; and core pipeline, US$3 million.15 The scenarios are described next.
Furthermore, UNHAS has contracted a cleaning company to disinfect aircraft after flights and is providing PPE for crews on medical evacuation flights for patients from the fi eld.
African Development Bank Country Manager for South Sudan, Benedict Kanu, said more than 100 people died through the disaster in the country, with about 25,000 internally displaced.
DTM found that 32,660  ( 6,608 households )  were displaced between 4 August and 4 September 2020 to payams in Awerial County, Lakes State.
In the more than 1,200 patients supported with Mental health and psychosocial support services seen by the ICRC in South Sudan this year, symptoms linked to depression and anxiety were the most common issues reported, an indication of what many in South Sudan may suffer from in silence despite them being common reactions to conflict and violence.
Juba  ( ICRC )  – As October 10th marks World Mental Health Day, an untold number of people in South Sudan are struggling with depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems caused by conflict and violence and not receiving the support they need, especially in rural areas, either because services are not available or because of the taboo that often surrounds mental health needs prevent people to access care.
Following the Executive Board discussion, Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, issued the following statement: “The COVID 19 pandemic has severely affected South Sudan and reversed early gains from political stability. The health and economic impact of the pandemic, coupled with the decline in oil prices, led to a collapse of revenues and have created urgent balance of payments and fiscal financing needs. The authorities' efforts to address the human and economic effects of the pandemic are appropriate and have helped limit its spread. Additional financing from the international community remains critical to close the external financing gap and ease the adjustment burden.
Learning opportunities are also limited, including vocational training, as this is not available to all the youth in South Sudan. Supply of vocational training is exceeded by demand; almost 7,000 youth  ( 53 per cent female )  registered interest in enrolling for vocational, technical and entrepreneurship training during the job fairs but they are yet to be fully accommodated.
The investment climate has much room for improvement even by sub Saharan Africa standards; the top three obstacles to doing business identified by firms were political instability, access to finance and access to electricity  ( World Bank, 2020b ) .
Local government is even more ill equipped and challenged to set and establish functioning decentralized systems of local government that can plan, budget and deliver services. As an example of this, the absence of state governors inhibits the government response to existing communal and ethnic tension. Recent months have seen a surge in violence, battles between rebel and government forces and intercommunal violence, as evidenced by the conflict in Jonglei that cost over 200 deaths in early June.
At a time of lockdown and physical distancing, the country's public sector lacks the skills, systems and structures to deliver core government functions online  ( e governance ) .
Although preventing public gatherings and enforcing social distancing are crucial, these measures unfortunately limit the ability of local peace actors and their communities from coming together to try to build bridges, especially as face to face meetings can be essential to building trust. Limiting interstate movements, another preventive measure executed by the national authorities, impedes humanitarian actors from carrying out a necessary and efficient response to security related humanitarian crisis.
Population movements causing people to return or relocate outside of displacement settlements could precipitate both violence and tension between internally displaced, host, and returning populations, especially when people are coming from COVID 19 affected areas.
While the spread of COVID 19 offers a chance for people to come together in the face of a universal threat, it could also exacerbate divides. At the local level, the virus could lead to increased stigmatization, hate speech and inter  group hostilities, reducing social cohesion in an already highly fractionalized environment.
Like many other peace agreements, the peace process in South Sudan requires third party support and engagement. However, since neighbouring countries are also grappling with the pandemic, regional attention to R ARCSS implementation could decline.
Effective inter agency coordination, joint action and knowledge management have been supported through initiatives such as UN Women presenting gendered implications of COVID 19 in South Sudan at the Inter Cluster Coordination Group; a joint position paper on gender, COVID 19 and SGBV being prepared by the SGBV Sub cluster; gender equality and social inclusion inputs for the Nutrition Cluster's guidance on nutrition services in the context of COVID 19; an analysis of gender and the socio economic impact of COVID 19 in Juba municipality by UNDP, which is being expanded across the country; and UN Women shared experiences of women living with disability amid COVID 19.
The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Youth and Sports are being supported to fulfil their leadership role on women's rights and youth empowerment through inter ministerial groups such as the Protection Reference Group and the Inter Ministerial Committee/Gender Technical Working Group in the COVID 19 response.
Reduced resilience and economic distress may force families to resort to child marriage, transactional sex or prostitution. There is emerging evidence that girls are being forced to marry due to COVID 19 in South Sudan because their prolonged stay at home and families' dwindling livelihoods heighten the need for resources that can be obtained through a dowry  ( UN Women et al., 2020.
Emerging evidence suggests that care roles continue to be assumed disproportionately by women and girls during this pandemic, including taking care of sick family members. This also disrupts the few economic activities that women could be engaged in.
Women make up the majority of informal sector workers  ( three in four informal economy workers in sub Saharan Africa are women, excluding agricultural jobs )   ( Dube & Katende, 2020 ) , who were severely affected by shutdowns. For example, in South Sudan, street vendors, including owners of tea stalls  ( mostly poor women ) , were banned  ( Mayai et al.,  ( 2020 ) .
Youth vulnerability is greatly compounded by factors such as having disability or being internally displaced. At the extreme, children and teenagers are recruited by armed forces and armed groups and have been used to fuel violence and armed conflict.
During intercommunal fights and cattle raids, women are abducted and raped, just as during the armed conflict; and 65 per cent of women and girls experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes, yet SGBV reporting remains very low, one of the reasons being social stigma.
South Sudan is a highly patriarchal society7 and women and girls are largely excluded from decision making and formal processes. Despite the inclusion of a 35 per cent quota for women's participation in the R ARCSS, none of the institutions formed in the pre transitional periods have met this demand.
Finally, collaboration to minimize conflict will be critical. This may include re positioning of assistance in locations of high conflict risk, to leverage humanitarian assistance as a conflict mitigation measure. Those conducting youth activities should also ensure that the loss of livelihoods does not lead youths to be  ( re ) recruited into armed forces and armed groups. Related to this is the need also to ensure that child protection needs, particularly the allocation of resources for interim care and support to children orphaned or separated due to COVID 19 realities, is prioritized. This may include the prioritization of agricultural inputs, seeds and in kind assistance, among other matters, for children's caregivers.
Food insecurity is driven by conflict related livelihood disruptions, climatic shocks, displacement and the economic crisis.
Prevention of acute malnutrition activities are continuing to the greatest degree possible, including distribution of fortified blended food to high risk households, with double distribution in hotspot locations.
Agriculture in South Sudan is, however, mired with challenges. Less than 5 per cent of arable land is currently cultivated in South Sudan  ( Ministry of Finance and Planning, 2019 ) . The low production is exacerbated by poor farming practices, lack of access to inputs and services such as credit, high post harvest losses due to poor storage, poor road networks and lack of a vibrant private sector, especially relating to the input and output markets.
The financial pressures on families from loss of income  ( Section 2.5.2. )  presents an immediate threat to the safety and well being of household members, especially children, with a need for economic support.
Closure of schools exacerbates poor child nutrition and health, as many children depend on school meals.
In the education sector, a COVID 19 Plan has been developed with guidelines on distance learning, re opening schools safely, back to learning and reviewing teaching and learning materials.
The United Nations has adapted many of its ongoing programmes, re focusing activities, scaling up some, or reducing others to optimize impact and limit exposure of the population to the virus.
In the WASH sector, AFPs such as the International Organization for Migration  ( IOM )  and UNICEF are working to increase access to clean water and sanitation, including through procurement of equipment, training or construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure. UNHCR and partners are working to provide potable water and improve WASH in refugee camps and host communities, including by using innovative mechanisms such as solar power for water boreholes. Community governance structures are also being strengthened.
South Sudan also has some of the lowest WASH indicators in the world: 81 per cent of people do not have access to an improved sanitation facility and around 60 per cent have limited or no access at all to improved water services  ( WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, n.d. ) .
Procurement of equipment and supplies is compromised due to factors such as rising prices and reduced supplier capacity, with the last mile delivery of essential goods and services hampered by travel restrictions.
Key national policies, strategies, plans and guidelines produced include the health sector strategic plan, health financing strategy, boma health initiative strategy, basic package for health and nutrition services, and standard treatment guidelines for common conditions, HIV/AIDS and mental health.
South Sudan has some of the worst health indicators in the world, resulting in a life expectancy for men and women of just 58 and 60 years, respectively  ( Deep Knowledge Group, 2020 ) . Most indicators are far below recommended minimum thresholds, e.g. the overall capacity of the health system to provide services is only 37 per cent of the minimum threshold. Health care facilities have been mostly destroyed, despite an estimated 3.9 million people needing health care in 2019.
In Torit, security forces warned United Nations personnel not to leave their compounds and threatened to arrest anyone found outside and impound their vehicles. UNMISS patrols to several locations were restricted on the grounds of COVID 19 prevention. The security forces claimed they were acting on instructions from the high level task force.
WASH: Funded:38%, Unmet: 62%
This year's violence has resulted in hundreds of people killed, another 157,000 displaced, and the abduction of large numbers of women and children.
The authorities imposed a range of restrictions early in the pandemic, including on humanitarian agencies. They are being addressed through ongoing negotiations, and domestic travel restrictions for humanitarian workers have recently been lifted.
Food Security and Livelihoods: 6.7M People in need and 5M people reached.
Furthermore 260 vulnerable and at risks children  ( 167 girls, 93 boys )  were identified and supported through comprehensive case management and 31 UASC  ( 13 boys and 18 girls )  were identified and, provided with family tracing and reunification services.
Travel restrictions associated with the outbreak may keep women from reaching or leaving their jobs, while unequal power dynamics between workers and employers may expose female migrant workers to additional risks.
Coupled with potential loss of income due to the mortality of other household income earners, the economic impact of COVID 19 outbreaks on women and girls could be long term and widespread.
Other shipments in the pipeline include PPE to D.P.R of Korea, Eritrea, Indonesia, Palestine and Venezuela and oxygen concentrators to South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo  ( DRC ) , Eritrea, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Intracommunal and intercommunal violence and cross  state clashes continued to prevail in the greater Bahr el Ghazal region.
The low price of oil has further depreciated the South Sudanese pound. The rising gap between the official rate and the parallel market rate continued to cause hardship and tension. Inflationary pressure has aggravated food insecurity for households, including those hosting a total of 1.24 million internally displaced persons living outside displacement sites.
UNHCR, through essential movements and continued coordination with partners and community based networks, is ensuring the continuation of lifesaving and protection assistance to its persons of concern with necessary COVID 19 precautionary measures in place.
In Jamjang, FM radio shows are being used to scale up the spread of messages on SGBV and child protection.
UNHCR and partners enhanced SGBV and child protection activities in view of increasing protection concerns. SGBV and child protection activities have been reviewed and adapted allowing for continued assistance while observing COVID 19 precautionary measures at centres, including psychosocial support.
198 people fleeing recent violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, many of whom are vulnerable women and children, have been sensitized on the new coronavirus and preventive measures and received essential food and non food items.
In Jamajng, to support the host community in COVID 19 preparedness and prevention, UNHCR and partners are support the drilling and rehabilitation of a boreholes, construction of latrines at health facilities, a distribution of soap, and the provision of health and nutrition services.
Repair and rehabilitation of treatment and isolation wards continue in Maban's refugee camps.
Violence at the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo lead to almost 200 Congolese to see asylum in South Sudan.
On 7 May, the 4th Meeting of the Presidency relaxed previous COVID 19 directives included moving curfew to 10pm from 7pm; opening of restaurants, bars and non essential shops while observing physical distancing; resumption of motorbike taxis, domestic and regional travel by air and land.
Partners with static presence in affected areas are being replied upon to assess and respond to the situation.
2021 Key HRP Figure: Total Fund Required= $18 Million.
Humanitarian needs were dire in 2020 and are projected to remain high in 2021. According to the 2021 humanitarian needs overview, some 8.3 million people are estimated to be in need of assistance, an increase of 800,000 people from the previous year.
Although the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan  ( R ARCSS )  has been slow, the peace deal creates some room for cautious optimism about an end to the conflict and violence, and over 500,000 people have returned to their homes since its signing.
In August 2019, over half of the population were considered to be facing ‘Crisis' levels or worse acute food insecurity  ( IPC Acute Food Security Snapshot, 11 September 2019 ) .
Over 2.2 million South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries, and an additional 1.4 million people are internally displaced, close to 200,000 of whom are sheltering in Protection of Civilian sites.
Although there has been a lull in large scale hostilities since the signing of the Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in September 2018, localized violence has persisted in many pockets of the country
Many schools are deserted in abandoned towns and villages around the country.
The 2016 assessment revealed that insecurity and/or the consequent fleeing of teachers and students were the overwhelming main reasons for school closure whereby 76% of schools at the county closed in 2016 closed due to insecurity.
The findings of this assessment revealed that a majority of schools  ( 55.9% )  had not received school grants
A majority of toilets are separated by gender, though a sizeable 44.55 percent are not separated by gender.
A majority of teachers reported receiving their salaries/ incentives. A significant amount  ( 35.7% )  however, did not. This indicates that a lot of teachers lack motivation to teach effectively because they lack a financial incentive to do so.
A slight majority of schools  ( 51.6% )  did not receive learning supplies  ( textbooks for both pupils and teachers, chalks/ marker pens, notebooks and pens etc. ) . A considerable amount did  ( 48.4% ) . This is a serious gap in South Sudan's education system that needs to be filled.
According to the 2017 assessment, conflict and insecurity  ( 26 per cent )  were reported as the main causes of closure of schools.
The nation has been affected by a biting food crisis and as a result most school age children join labour market and if they are lucky, they are tempted to choose between feeding themselves or going to school.
A third of South Sudan's population has been forced to flee their homes due to violence and the resulting food insecurity in a growing number of regions of the country.
Since the conflict broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, the nation has been plagued by a myriad of security and economic challenges that have adversely affected education.
Now, thousands of children who fled as refugees are starting to return to the country, increasing the burden on already over  stretched education services.
According to the South Sudan Education Sector Analysis  ( 2016 )  school coverage rates in South Sudan remain well below the regional average with Gross Enrolment Rates  ( GER )  of 10 per cent at the pre  primary level and 57 per cent at the primary level.
Many schools have been destroyed/ stopped functioning due to conflicts/ unfavourable conditions and or stand empty because children and teachers are too scared to attend, while some parents are no longer able to pay for uniforms and books as they deal with unemployment and the effects of a chronically devalued currency.
In this volatile environment, the already fragile education system has deteriorated at both the system and service delivery levels, and is characterized by poor educational outcomes and high numbers of out of school children including adolescents/youth, particularly those affected by conflict and other emergencies.
Conflict related crises are often characterized by the breakdown of law and order, highly militarized and masculinized societies and arms proliferation. In South Sudan, between 52 and 61 per cent of men report perpetrating sexual and/or physical violence against women  ( Murphy et al., 2017 ) .
Intervention areas include dialogue and reconciliation, strengthening the rule of law, addressing conflict arising from displacement, and empowering women and youth. The link between national and local support for peacebuilding is critical and must incorporate COVID 19 response at state and community level.
COVID 19 discourages return, threatening progress made towards durable solutions for IDPs and refugees sheltering in camps and settlements.
The United Nations response to the pandemic is guided by the levels of vulnerability of mobile people in need. The role of the United Nations is to support the government to fulfil its responsibilities to protect individuals and secure human rights, as a primary duty bearer. Among the initiatives taken by the United Nations to protect mobile people of concern from COVID 19 are the strengthening of cooperation with national authorities and community leaders within UNMISS PoC sites, and with IDPs living outside of displacement sites.
As humanitarian capacity is stretched and positive steps towards peace may be reversed, stalled or impeded, the ability of IDPs to voluntarily return, relocate, or resettle is likely to diminish significantly. In a scenario where spillover effects of the pandemic include the resurgence of conflict, the virus could usher in a new period of displacement and the emergence of new displacement sites.
Protection from COVID 19 for female and young inmates and suspects in prisons has been supported by UNDP through fumigation of cells in Aweil, Bor and Yambio.
Close to 500 jobs were created in face mask production alone, providing employment, income and food security to the vulnerable population engaged – 80 per cent of whom are women. Material for the face masks was sourced locally from trader, thereby contributing to the reinvigoration of the local economy.
Youth often not only lack the skills necessary to obtain a job, but their access to jobs is also limited due to limited or lack of access to financial services, land, markets and market information, and lack of social networks through which to acquire jobs or business opportunities  ( IMF, 2017 ) . The predominantly youthful population also lack the entrepreneurial culture, technical and artisanal skills and capacity to form and develop their own small businesses.
In 2016, 4 in 5  ( 82.3 per cent )  South Sudanese were poor according to the national poverty line  ( World Bank, 2020a ) . Poverty rates are higher among households headed by women than those headed by men  ( 83 and 73 per cent, respectively ) . Female headed households are more prevalent in rural than in urban areas, as male members of the household often leave in search of economic opportunities or to join armed groups.
Limited opportunities exist for employment with 59 per cent of the people being unemployed for more than a year  ( UNESCO et al., 2018 ) . The huge demand for employment was confirmed during the three job fairs conducted by UNDP in Bor, Torit and Yambio, where over 8,500 youth  ( 48 per cent female )  attended the job fairs to vie for the 500 job vacancies available.
Community radio stations, peace communities and theatre activity groups that have long formed an important medium for community sensitization and mediation are being used. All the existing reconciliation platforms can be retrofitted to concentrate specifically on COVID 19 and counter rumours and disinformation associated with the virus, including real time SMS feedback for early warning mechanisms. For instance, UN Women, through its local partners in Yambio, trained rural women groups on peacebuilding and empowerment. These groups initiated the ‘Women's Voice' radio programme to reach a broader group of women and to further intensity COVID 19 awareness in Taboo and Nzara.
Over crowded conditions in camps for IDPs put these communities at high risk and an outbreak in an IDP and/or refugee camp, particularly a PoC site, could lead to inter ethnic violence, rioting, a backlash against humanitarian workers and a reduction of services.
In ‘youth friendly corners' 7,747 young people were reached by UNFPA with youth friendly SRHR information, while 1,667 of them were able to receive SRHR services, including condoms.
To ensure the uninterrupted supply of reproductive maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health  ( RMNCAH )  materials to the government and civil society, UNFPA provided 18,000 dignity kits to the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, and 200 health clinics across the country received RMNCAH kits and materials.
Available SGBV services are likely to dwindle as resources are diverted to the COVID 19 response. In addition, stigma and discrimination related to COVID 19 may make children more vulnerable to violence and psychosocial distress.
Movement restrictions and curfews leave women and children trapped with SGBV and sexual exploitation perpetrators. However, these same restrictions further limit their capacity to report SGBV and access SGBV services.
Furthermore, the country has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, a high prevalence of child marriage  ( 52 per cent of girls were married or in union before they were 18 years of age )   ( Human Rights Watch, 2013; UNICEF, 2016 ) , and SGBV is pervasive.
UNICEF and WFP have distributed over 5,600 tapes to measure mid upper arm circumference to families with children under 5 years to promote checking children's nutrition status at home.
WFP is also providing take home rations for school children, and UNICEF is combining cash and RCCE messaging in ongoing safety nets programmes.
The closure of schools also represents a loss of schools as protective spaces and may force children into unsafe environments at home, with a lack of monitoring due to restrictions on social workers.
Additionally, UNFPA is supporting the training of health workers, including nurses, midwives and health sciences tutors, at health training institutes in the country. This support includes the provision of educational equipment, books and entitlement packages to ensure marginalized populations, including women, access higher education.
In the education sector, agencies such as UNICEF, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization  ( UNESCO )  and the World Food Programme  ( WFP )  collaborate on multisectoral programmes to increase access to quality education through policy support, training of teachers, and provision of teaching and learning materials; provide school meals, prevention of school  related SGBV and cash transfers to attract children, especially girls, to schools and maintain them there; and provide education on peace, HIV/AIDs and other life skills, among many other initiatives.
More than 70 per cent of children who should be attending school are not receiving an education, as schools continue to be destroyed or remain unusable, and teachers have fled violence and economic stress  ( UNICEF, 2019a ) .
COVID 19 is also threatening to reversing progress made with other diseases  ( Makoni, 2020 ) . For example, 787,000 children missed out on measles vaccine in South Sudan as the second phase of the nationwide vaccination campaign was postponed due to COVID 19  ( UNICEF, 2020b ) .
Reduced severe acute malnutrition outpatient treatment of children under the age of 5 and de prioritization of inpatient treatment in hospitals leave these children at risk.
In the past five years, reports from education cluster members reveal that around 2,808,299 children aged 3 18 years, 51% boys, and 49 % girls; have lost access to education.
According to an April 24, 2017 UNICEF press release, at 72%, South Sudan has the highest rate of primary school age children out of school in conflict zones across 22 countries.
Recently, an additional 10,000 square metres was developed to increase storage capacity for humanitarian partners in Malakal county.
IDPs are extremely vulnerable: close to half  ( 42 per cent )  who were displaced in 2019 were residing in five counties forecasted to be in IPC Phase 4  ( emergency )  between May and July 2020.
The UNCT will seek broad  based dialogue on socio economic challenges and priorities with different parts of society, including women and youth, as well as people at the local level, representing all parts of the country
Three quarters of IDPs reside among host communities, and the remaining quarter is situated in various congested displacement sites: 188,649 people  ( IOM DTM 2020d )  are hosted in UNMISS PoC sites in Bentiu, Bor, Juba, Malakal and Wau, as well as in a temporary protection area in Leer.
1.19 million people assisted by WFP in January 2021  ( WFP South Sudan )
Central Equatoria remained the key hotspot for conflict  related sexual violence, accounting for 53 per cent of the 11 incidents reported.
The Government of South Sudan began lifting restrictions on air and land travel in May  ( DTM COVID 19 Mobility Update Week 8 ) , although restrictions in place in neighbouring countries continued affecting cross border mobility, particularly along the border with Uganda.
South Sudan introduced mandatory screening at key points of entry on 13 March, followed by the imposition of a mandatory 14 day quarantine on 21 March.
On the basis of these projections, humanitarian organizations scaled up life  saving operations in areas of most severe acute food insecurity, including Pibor and Akobo  ( Jonglei )  and Aweil South, Tonj East, Tonj North and Tonj South  ( Warrap ) . By 31 December, humanitarian organizations had reached over 23,000 people in Pibor and 5,600 in Duk, both in Jonglei, with food assistance.
Civilians continued to face threats of physical violence, such as killings and injuries, abductions, forced recruitment and sexual violence, including owing to continuing tensions in Jonglei and the flare up of violence in Central Equatoria, Warrap and Upper Nile.
Around 2.8 million school aged children are not receiving an education.
The Revitalized Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, signed in Septem  ber 2018, and the formation of the Revitalized Transnational Government of National Unity in February 2020 signalled hope for a brighter future for the children of South Sudan.
The country's leaders promised an end to much of the civil war, improved services  ( including education and health )  and improved food secu  rity. However, for some children the peace has not materialized as armed hostilities continue in several parts of the country and subnational conflict between formal and informal militias and youth groups is increasing in intensity and scale, including in Unity and Jonglei.
In early April, anecdotal field information indicated a slight increase of inter state movement prior to the implementation of COVID 19 related movement restrictions, as people anticipated lockdown enforcement and return to homesteads for cultivation, cattle grazing and other livelihood activities.
A government directive in March closed all international air, land and water routes, with only a few official border crossing points where COVID 19 screening measures are present. This directive was lifted in May and people continue to move across official border points, including those without COVID 19 screening measures.
The government's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission and UNHCR reported that 5,077 South Sudanese refugee returnees were verified across various return locations in April, mainly from Ethiopia and Sudan. The returnees indicated that the main reasons for their return were family reunification; fear of a COVID 19 outbreak in their refugee site; crowded locations in Khartoum, Sudan, and the relatively low number of confirmed cases in South Sudan.
Anecdotal field updates and ports and road monitoring indicate that COVID 19 motivated returns from abroad have not been large scale, although some population mobility driven by fear of COVID 19 appears to be taking place.
However, field reports indicated that internal movements of people depended on local conditions, including Government imposed movement restrictions, perceptions of safety and security, and comparative perceptions of risk and availability of basic services in return locations, including habitual residence and other intended areas of return.
Due to power dynamics in the society, women and girls have poor access to information, which is vital to ensure that they can receive details on how they can prevent contraction and spread of the disease. Literacy rates are remarkably lower for girls, 40 per cent compared to 60 per cent for boys in 2018.