South Sudan Resilience Strategy 2019–2021

Book excerpt: The resilience of communities in South Sudan has declined and continued to be eroded since the eruption of conflict in late 2013. Compounded by repeated outbreaks of violent conflict, the deterioration of the food security situation and subsequent economic shocks have negatively affected households’ coping capacities and livelihoods. Communities dependent on agriculture have seen their productive assets depleted, looted and destroyed, limiting their ability to recover and increasing their reliance on external aid. At the time of writing this Strategy, two thirds of the population cannot access the food needed to cover their daily needs. The FAO Resilience Strategy 2019–2021 lays the foundation for a multi-track approach to strengthening resilience, depending on needs, vulnerability and access. Drawing from the experience gained from implementing the previous FAO Resilience Strategy (2016–2018), FAO has incorporated lessons learned, as well as the latest knowledge in the field of resilience, while responding to the changing context and priorities in South Sudan. This Strategy seeks to strengthen the foundation of FAO’s resilience activities in South Sudan, and will guide the design of FAO programmes to enhance their relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and impact.