$19M from the AfDB to Help Sudanese Refugees in South Sudan

Juba – Sudanhorizon – Agencies

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has made a significant stride in humanitarian aid, approving a substantial $19.8 million grant from the African Development Fund for a project responding to the Sudanese refugee crisis in South Sudan.

In a press release published on Saturday by the (OCHA) website, the bank stated that the total cost of the project amounts to $22.23 million and will be implemented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which will contribute an additional $2.43 million.

The project, which was approved on September 25, 2024, at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, will be implemented between November 2024 and October 2026. It targets host communities, Sudanese refugees, and South Sudanese residents in Sudan who have fled the conflict in their original areas.

The project’s overall goal is to build peace, integration, and resilience in the communities of South Sudan. More specifically, the project aims to support the comprehensive and peaceful integration of refugees and returnees into communities, promote social cohesion between refugees and host communities, and improve these communities’ social and economic well-being.

The project’s components are comprehensive, including enhancing employment opportunities and livelihoods for refugees and host communities, restoring and improving basic social services and the environment, and building capacities, ensuring a holistic approach to the crisis.

Themba Bhebhe, Director of the African Development Bank’s office in South Sudan, emphasized that the project’s primary goal is to prevent the worsening levels of poverty among refugees, returnees, and host communities through strategic humanitarian and developmental intervention.

The project directly targets 26,180 households, and it is expected to indirectly benefit 160,375 individuals through various interventions.
The focus will be on employment, livelihoods, capacity building for refugees, generating additional income sources, and protecting them from poverty.