JUBA, South Sudan — While humanitarian actors in South Sudan are stretched ever thinner, some development agencies are focusing on improving access to education, specifically for remote and displaced communities.
About 4 million South Sudanese people have been displaced since the country’s civil war erupted four years ago. Some 2 million have fled to neighboring countries while the other 2 million have become internally displaced, with over 200,000 currently sheltered in United Nations-protected camps across the country.
Providing education for displaced and remote communities is especially challenging, but development organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization advocate that any gains made through pastoralist livelihood support are at risk of failing without accompanying education.
Devex spoke with Ezana Kassa, project manager for FAO and Akuja Mading, team leader for Girls’ Education South Sudan about how to design and implement these specialized programs. Here are some of the guidelines they came up with:
About the author
Sam Mednick
Sam is a freelance journalist based in South Sudan. Over the past 12 years she’s reported on humanitarian, human interest and conflict stories from around the world. Sam’s work has taken her to the Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America and Europe, writing for VICE, the Associated Press, Devex, Barcelona Metropolitan and iPolitics among others. Sam also produces and hosts the Happy Melly Podcast, interviewing authors, speakers and thought leaders about what it takes to live productive and fulfilling lives.
