2019 EO: UNICEF Response to the South Sudan Humanitarian Situation

UNICEF’s Evaluation Office commissioned a study on its response to short- and medium-term threats to children’s well-being and development in South Sudan between January 2016 and May 2018.  The evaluation serves two main purposes: it accounts internally and externally for one of UNICEF’s largest and most life-critical country programmes and captures lessons learned from this programme which would inform future intervention measures. The evaluation found the nutrition programme was effective but recommends expanding the programme to adolescents and school-aged children, especially girls, and collaborating with WFP and FAO to develop strategies to address chronic malnutrition. On the other hand, routine immunization coverage (under the health programme) was found to be low and expansion of the programme to the community and adolescent girls in particular must be a clear priority. The third programme - WASH – was not very effective and the evaluation report recommends targeting the programme. Ultimately, the report suggests monitoring and oversight systems for the programme be improved.