South Sudan, a recently formed nation ihas dealt with multiple crises: COVID-19 and climate disasters like floods, displacement and food insecurity which have impacted women and other vulnerable groups in remote provinces. Using a mixed methods approach, this feasibility study included perspectives from household surveys (n= 462), key informant interviews (n= 19) and FGDs (n= 6) with key humanitarian and health stakeholders, displaced and host communities in Jonglei state.
Situating the consequences of displacement within wider discourse of climate injustice, we found flood-affected populations adopting maladaptive strategies. The population has faced multiple displacements since 2019 where flooding intensified in the Upper Nile and Jonglei States. Every time they are displaced, most shelters are left destroyed and household necessities are carried away by water. The qualitative data show that floods and COVID-19 both disrupted the agricultural production and availability of food in the markets and impeded accessibility. Survey results show that displaced populations have adopted multiple coping strategies to meet basic food requirements: food aid (25%); reliance on relatives (16%) and distress sale of animal products (14%). Since about 85 per cent of the land is covered by water and given the no harvest period since 2020, people in the community are running out of food. People in the community are surviving by consuming wild leaves (water lilies and grass), fruits like lalop, and fishes (especially from flood water). Localities that are away from rivers are the most inaccessible spots in the communities by most humanitarian agencies.
To conclude, this study presents lessons for humanitarian responders to meet localization agenda integrating core humanitarian standards, inclusion of displaced communities, especially women in setting programme objectives for building resilience of displaced members in remote and inaccessible regions in Ayod and Fangak.
