South Sudan WASH Cluster - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Brief (July/August and November/December 2018)

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Introduction

The dynamic and multi-faceted nature of the South Sudanese displacement crisis has created significant challenges for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Accessibility and security issues within South Sudan have impeded a systematic understanding of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) needs in many areas of the country, and have created difficulties in establishing a clear and unambiguous system for prioritizing the delivery of aid, thereby limiting the effectiveness of humanitarian planning and limiting the potential impact of donor funding. As this crisis continues to expand, evolve and spill into neighbouring countries, it has become increasingly important to fill information gaps to inform a more effective humanitarian response and plan for immediate life-saving WASH activities and contingency planning for durable solutions.

In 2018, REACH, in close coordination with the WASH Cluster, identified five core WASH indicators related to displacement, access to water, access to sanitation, access to key WASH NFIs (soap, mosquito nets, water containers), and water or vector borne disease.

These five indicators were used to establish the first countrywide WASH baseline in the wet season (July and August) of 2018 during Round 22 of the Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring System (FSNMS). FSNMS partners agreed to once again incorporate WASH cluster indicators for FSNMS Round 23 during the dry season (November and December of 2018). FSNMS is a seasonal countrywide assessment conducted, funded and run by the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, and supported by REACH in Round 22. FSNMS, established in 2010, is a representative survey that employs . two-stage cluster sampling, using a state based sample size and cluster determination. In each county, access permitting, 9 clusters were selected and 12 households (HH) interviewed per cluster.

FSNMS is a critical source of information that allows for the identification of affected areas, monitoring trends, and the prioritization of resources. The data collected during FSNMS is used for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), as well as additional decision making platforms.