Humanitarian Action for Children 2021
humanitarian water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs and building the resilience of communities. In
conflict-affected areas, UNICEF is fostering peace building through learning spaces as zones of peace.
UNICEF's long-term country-wide presence in South Sudan has cultivated intensive national and sub-national
collaboration with a range of partners from Government and civil society, including clusters and local authorities.
Increased engagement with Government in fulfilling child rights treaty obligations included submission of the
Initial State Party Report on the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and a report on the list of issues on the CRC initial
State Party report, as preparation for Government dialogue with the Committee on the Rights of the Child in
Geneva in 2022.
UNICEF South Sudan continues to leverage its leadership on child rights to influence rights-based action for
children and women in the country. UNICEF helps ensure women and children are prioritized through its
leadership and membership of multiple national clusters, technical working groups (TWGs) and task forces.
These include the inter-agency COVID-19 taskforce; regular participation in the Needs Assessment Working
Group and Inter-Cluster Coordination Group to promote evidence-based decision-making; and as co-lead of the
United Nations (UN) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) Working Group. UNICEF continued providing leadership
to three clusters (education, nutrition, WASH). In child protection, UNICEF leads the Child Protection Area of
Responsibility (AOR), and is co-chairing the Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) Working Group
and the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR) to collect information on six grave violations
committed against children by all parties to the conflict alongside the United Nations Mission in South Sudan
(UNMISS).
Nutrition
UNICEF supported the government of South Sudan to deliver quality promotional and preventative nutrition
services to women, girls and boys. UNICEF's leadership of the Nutrition Cluster has increased donor
confidence in the nutrition sector and helped to initiate a paradigm shift linking preventive nutrition interventions
to treatment of wasting.
A total of 4,742,571 children aged 6 to 59 months were supplemented with vitamin A (91.6% of target including
2,494,721 girls), and 4,026,061 children aged 1 to 5 years were treated against worm infestation (86.4% of
target including 2,087,989 girls). The campaign reached 77 out of 79 targeted counties in semester 1 and all 80
counties in semester 2. In addition, 2,144,873 caregivers and mothers of children under the age of two years
received counselling on appropriate infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, almost doubling the target
(1,138,303). The capacity of 3,761 health and nutrition workers (25% women) were enhanced on counselling
and promotion of good caring and feeding practices.
Through collaborative partnerships with over 38 implementing partners and the Ministry of Health, the number
of outpatient therapeutic programme (OTP) nutrition sites providing quality care for children with SAM increased
from 1,171 in 2020 to 1,213 in 2021. UNICEF contributed to the treatment of 241,108 children (131,249 girls)
aged 6-59 months with SAM, increasing the number of children treated by 20 per cent (201,055 children in
2020). The increase is attributed to improved coverage as a result of the expansion of nutrition services in the
10 at-risk food insecurity counties, greater uptake of treatment for children with SAM, and availability of core
nutrition supplies throughout the country due to dry season prepositioning.
In 2021, the quality of SAM treatment improved year-on-year with nutrition performance indicators well within
acceptable Sphere standards, of a 96 per cent cure rate (95% in 2020), 2.0 per cent defaulter rate (3% in 2020)
and 0.2 per cent death rate (0.3% in 2020).
To improve the quality of community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) services, UNICEF trained
3,967 health and nutrition workers (871 females) providing nutrition services to improve adherence to the
national CMAM protocol and thereby the quality of treatment of children with SAM. Close monitoring, on-the-
job mentorship and supportive supervision as part of continuous quality improvement significantly contributed
to the improved quality of SAM treatment and to successful adaptations to nutrition programming in the COVID-
19 context.
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