Humanitarian Situation Monitoring, Jonglei State, South Sudan: April - August 2021

OVERVIEW

Humanitarian needs remained high across Jonglei State in the period between April and August 2021. Persistent and unseasonal flooding, a lack of livelihood opportunities and a lack of access to food continued to cause widespread displacement across Jonglei State. In addition to flooding, macroeconomic shocks and insecurity have reportedly led to the early exhaustion of food stocks creating a particularly long lean season for many people across Jonglei State. Humanitarian needs were particularly high in Ayod, Bor South, Canal-Pigi and Fangak Counties, which were severly affected by flooding that resulted in widespread displacement and food insecurity. Moving forward, considering limited availability of land and the disruption of cultivation, the 2021 harvest is unlikely to result in long-term improvement in the food security situation.

To inform humanitarian actors working outside formal settlements, REACH has conducted assessments of hard-to-reach areas in South Sudan since December 2015. Data is collected on a monthly basis through interviews with key informants (KIs) with knowledge of a settlement and triangulated with focus group discussions (FGDs). This Situation Overview analyses changes in observed humanitarian needs in Jonglei State between April and August 2021.

METHODOLOGY

To provide an indicative overview of the situation in hard-to-reach areas of Jonglei State, REACH conducts interviews with key informants (KIs) who have recently arrived from, recently visited, or receive regular information from a settlement or “Area of Knowledge” (AoK). These interviews were conducted with KIs in Bor internally displaced person (IDP) camp, Bor Town, and Akobo Town throughout the reporting period. Findings should be considered indicative only of the situation in assessed settlements.

In-depth interviews on humanitarian needs were conducted on a monthly basis using a structured survey tool. After data collection was completed, all data was aggregated at settlement level, and settlements were assigned the modal or most credible response. When no consensus was found for a settlement, that settlement was not included in reporting.

Only counties with interview coverage of at least 5% of all settlements in a given month were included in the analysis. Due to access and operational constraints, the specific settlements assessed within each county each month may vary. In order to reduce the likelihood that variations in data are attributable to coverage differences, over time analyses were only conducted for counties with at least 70% consistent payam coverage throughout the analysis period. Quantitative findings were triangulated with focus group discussions (FGDs) and secondary sources. FGDs with people displaced from hard-to-reach areas in Jonglei State took place throughout April - August 2021.

More details of the methodology can be found in the AoK ToRs.^[1]

References

1. ^{^} AoK ToRs. (www.impact-repository.org)