Sudan
Save the Children in Sudan
Challenges for Children
In Sudan, the challenges children face are enormous. Because of ongoing conflict, many children live under the threat of violence, as well as the possibility of exploitation and abuse. They also often face food and water shortages, inadequate or non-existent healthcare and little hope for an education. As a result, Sudan has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world, and one of the highest infant mortality rates.
Numbers at a Glance
- Overall, Sudan's under-five mortality rate is 90 per 1,000 live births; in the Southern Kordofan area, it is 147 out of 1,000 live births;
- Maternal mortality rate is 590 per 100,000 live births;
- Life expectancy at birth is 56.5 years and;
- Only 61 percent of the adult population is literate.
Our Response in West Darfur
Working at the heart of this humanitarian catastrophe, we reach displaced children and women in camps and surrounding conflict-affected communities every month – providing protection for the most vulnerable, conducting education, health and livelihood programs and assisting in the coordination and management of four camps. Our lifesaving efforts include:
- Food relief: Save the Children distributes tons of food to children and adults.
- Nutrition: We operate an Outpatient Therapeutic Program for severely malnourished children and a Supplementary Feeding Program for moderately malnourished children, pregnant and lactating women.
- Water and Sanitation: We construct and repair water yards, pumps and pipelines, build latrines and promote sanitation and good hygiene to thousands of people every month.
- Protection for Children and Women: Our protection programs at children's centers help girls and boys deal with the challenges of displacement; our women's centers offer classes in literacy, life skills and job skills.
- Livelihood Programs: Our vocational centers provided participants with training in welding, carpentry, food processing, masonry, handicrafts and crop cultivation.
- Primary Healthcare: Save the Children's healthcare facilities in West Darfur offer outpatient treatment, vaccinations and reproductive health services. We also train staff at the facilities.
- Emergency Education: We support 42 new or renovated schools, giving thousands of children access to education with a regular routine and a supportive atmosphere to build their sense of resiliency, responsibility and resourcefulness.
- Camp Coordination: In addition to our work throughout camps in West Darfur, we are responsible for the coordination and management of four camps: Habila, Fur Baranga, Krenik and Krinding 1.
Our Response in the Transitional Areas (South Kordofan State and Abyei Area) and Um Ruwaba
Sources: CIA World Factbook, World Bank, UNDP
Health: Our goal is to improve the health of women, children and their families through a variety of programs. One aim is to increase immunization coverage against childhood diseases among children under a year old, and among expectant mothers against tetanus. Other efforts include training village midwives to increase the proportion of skilled attendants present at delivery, as well as constructing or rehabilitating health clinics.
Water and sanitation: Over the past three years, access to proper sanitary facilities and safe drinking water has been provided to over 100,000 people. Activities include drilling boreholes, repairing hand pumps, installing latrines and promoting safe hygiene.
Food Security: In Abyei, thousands of displaced people returning to the region are supported during their reintegration through distributions of food and non-food items. School children and teachers in 34 schools receive hot meals through a Food for Education program. Elsewhere in South Kordofan, Save the Children has implemented programs that includes distribution of seeds and tools for improved cultivation and offering community managed tractor services to increase agricultural production.
Education: Education services in many areas of Sudan, already weak prior to the war, have deteriorated further due to lack of resources, insecurity and poverty. Save the Children seeks to provide children with schools that have a conducive, inclusive, safe and healthy learning environment. Our activities include the construction and/or rehabilitation of classrooms, provision of school supplies and basic training for teachers. In addition, we will work with other agencies and institutions to increase enrollment, particularly that of girls.
Protection: The protection of Sudanese children remains a critical issue for Save the Children. There are a number of protection issues that we address, including: reintegration of separated children; the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers; and support for communities affected by violence. In addition, we have implemented special programs to identify and support vulnerable women in communities and reduce gender-based violence.
Economic Opportunities and Livelihoods: The goal of our Economic Opportunities and Livelihoods program is to increase the standard of living by improving household incomes. Livelihoods initiatives include poultry production, beekeeping, tree nurseries, the provision of flour mills and vegetable seeds and training for income-generating projects.
Plans for the Future
Save the Children will continue to provide care and safe spaces for vulnerable children in West Darfur, the Transitional Areas and Um Ruwaba. In addition to our primary focus of providing quality emergency education in the Darfur region, we will expand our School Health and Nutrition program and Reading for Children program. Save the Children will maintain primary and reproductive healthcare services to internally displaced persons in West Darfur and transition our primary health care services in South Kordofan towards more specialized services for children. In Darfur, we will maintain leadership in food distribution and continue to provide food rations. In Abyei Area and South Kordofan State, where large numbers of people are returning, there will be a greater focus on Food for Education (FFE) programs and a greater emphasis will be placed on developing capacity to implement livelihoods, economic opportunities and agriculture support.
A Success Story: Working with Extremely Vulnerable Children in Dorti
Save the Children has established three Child Centers in the Dorti camp near Geneina in West Darfur, where 8,000 people have settled, having fled the violence that drove them from their villages. In Dorti, and in camps throughout Darfur, children who have already lived through terrible experiences are raised in unpredictable and unstable environments. The Child Centers provide a safe and protective environment for children's normative development.
Hussein and his family came to Dorti three years ago. Once they had arrived, the family began to see changes in Hussein. He became withdrawn, refused to leave the house by himself, wouldn't speak to adults and was reluctant to play with other children.
Several months later, Save the Children opened the first of three Child Centers. Hussein was recognized as extremely vulnerable, needing normalcy and a protective environment. Through our encouragement, Hussein's family agreed to let him participate in activities at the center.
In the beginning, Hussein would sit by himself, would not speak and rarely took part in any activities. He had difficulty making friends and kept himself apart from the group. But after three years at the center, Hussein is now one of the most active and eager participants. Bahar, the Community Liaison Officer in Dorti camp, saw the remarkable change in Hussein: "In the beginning, the other children would arrive at the center and Hussein would still be outside. If anyone spoke to him or asked him to join the activities he would turn and run away. But now he is the first child to arrive and he participates in everything."
Without the Child Center, Hussein would not have had the opportunity to develop socially, intellectually, physically or emotionally. The center has provided him with a safe, protective space, and is an integral part of his daily activities that has helped him regain a sense of normalcy.
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