Humanitarian Action for Children 2021
A total of 99,524 individuals (27,338 girls; 22,501 boys; 28,982 women; 20,703 men) were reached through
UNICEF's gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response programme.
In 2021, UNICEF reached 92,790 children (43,700 girls) with dedicated mental health and psychosocial support
(MHPSS) through child-friendly spaces in communities and schools using a community-based approach,
exceeding the target by 16 per cent. Around 5,878 caregivers (3,171 women) participated in psychosocial
support and positive parenting sessions - over twice the number of caregivers reached in 2020.
In 2021, UNICEF reached almost double the number of children with birth notification compared to the previous
year, at 71,229 children (35,699 girls).
UNICEF provided essential education in emergencies (EIE) services and supplies to 948,428 children (435,121
girls) in humanitarian situations, allowing them to access and utilize pre-primary, primary, and secondary
education services. UNICEF successfully advocated for the reopening of schools after 14 months of closure
due to COVID-19 measures, and supported schools to resume functioning. An additional 350,000 children
enrolled, compared to when schools first closed in March 2020, bringing the total number of children re-enrolling
into schooling to 2.7 million.
UNICEF scaled up its risk communication, social mobilization, and community engagement activities in 2021 to
address COVID-19 prevention response, the COVAX Facility's vaccines roll out, Polio outbreak response,
prevention of malnutrition, flood response and safe reopening of schools. In total, 7,579,988 people were
reached with integrated lifesaving messages.
In 2022, UNICEF will continue to put the rights of the child at the centre of all interventions through integrated
and multisectoral services; strengthening social service delivery systems in high-risk areas; and risk-informed
and conflict sensitive programming, to strengthen the capacities of individuals, communities, and local partners
from the onset of humanitarian action.
Humanitarian context
South Sudan remains mired in multiple humanitarian crises including ongoing sub-national conflict, despite the
Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) signed in
September 2018, and the formation of the Revitalized Transnational Government of National Unity (R-TGONU)
in 2020. Slow implementation of R-ARCSS has created power vacuums and ambiguity of authority in many
areas, contributing to sub-national violence and attacks on humanitarian workers with the number of UNICEF
Serious Security Incident Reports increasing from 64 in 2020 to 88 in 2021.
Recurring floods, droughts and other extreme weather events fueled by climate change, a deepening economic
crisis, and sub-national and politically motivated conflicts in at least 12 counties, have led to extremely high food
insecurity, and one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
At the beginning of 2021, more than 7.5 million people, including 4.1 million children, needed multisectoral
humanitarian assistance 6. By mid-year the number of people needing support to meet their basic needs had
risen to 8.3 million people, including 4.5 million children. Almost 4 million people remain displaced: 1.7
million internally and more than 2.2 million as refugees.
Violence against civilians saw a 42 per cent reduction in 2021 compared with the previous year, with 3,414
victims of killing, injury, abduction, and conflict-related sexual violence in 2021 compared to 5,850 in 2020. Most
of the victims were men (75 per cent), followed by women (14 per cent) and children (11 per cent). However,
6 UNICEF, Humanitarian Action for Children 2021, December 2020
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/2021-HAC-South-Sudan.pdf
UNICEF, Humanitarian Action for Children 2021, 2021 Revision 1 (June 2021)
8 UNHCR, Joint Statement by IGAD, UNHCR and the governments of South Sudan and Sudan on the Solutions Initiative
for 7 million forcibly displaced people, 5 October 2021 https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2021/10/615c418c4/joint-
statement-igad-unhcr-governments-south-sudan-sudan-solutions-initiative.htmlView entire presentation