South Sudan: Fighting food insecurity

(solidarites.org)

Years of conflict, displacement and underdevelopment in South Sudan have limited people’s livelihood opportunities, marginalized men and women’s formal employment opportunities, and weakened families’ ability to cope with sudden shocks, such as recurring floods, pest invasions, and acute food insecurity. More than 63 % * of the population faces severe malnutrition.

In response to these humanitarian needs, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL intervened in the county of Raja, in northwestern South Sudan, by promoting agricultural production, through training sessions on crop and vegetable production and the distribution of tools and vegetable kits to the community. The training sessions discussed land preparation, planting methods, weed management, pest and disease management, harvesting, and storage.

The NGO also provided cooking classes for mothers with malnourished children, discussing good cooking practices and proper nutrition. Children are particularly vulnerable to severe acute malnutrition, due to eating foods that do not contain all the essential nutrients required to help them grow and develop.

Kattuma, mother of six children, benefited from a training session on vegetable production and the nutritional value of different food groups. “I’m happy to have learned to cook for my family. I learned the nutritional value of vegetables and how to cook them.” She feels her family will now be able to eat sufficiently and that she will be able to save money on clothes or farming to tools.

Through theoretical and practical training sessions, our NGO is committed to improving South Sudanese communities’ resilience to nutritional shocks.

The project was made possible thanks to the support of FAO.

*Figures retrieved in November 2021 from www.unicef.org/southsudan/^[1]

References

1. ^{^} www.unicef.org/southsudan/ (www.unicef.org)