Sudan

Darfur - overview

© UNICEF/2006/Shehzad Noorani

New arrivals in the Ottash IDP camp, due to the conflict in Darfur.

DARFUR, June 2006 – An estimated 3.6 million people have been affected by the ongoing crisis in Darfur. Communities continue to be in need of basic social services due to insecurity and a lack of funding. Despite hopes for the return of around 1.9 million internally displaced persons last year, they are becoming more entrenched in the camps that house them.

Some 1.8 million children have been affected by the conflict, some of them displaced multiple times through repeated attacks. The impact of violence, disease, malnutrition and dependency is leaving a mark on this generation of children, weakening their capacity and trapping them in the cycle of poverty.

UNICEF and other organizations are working to shield the affected communities from the devastating effects of this continuing conflict, but the already limited funds are running out quickly. Compared to 2005, fewer resources are currently available for all agencies. Bereft of this support, the displaced population will be exposed to the full brunt of a sharply deteriorating security environment.

© UNICEF Sudan/Noorani

IDPs in the Kalma Camp, South Darfur.

Key programme interventions

UNICEF and its partners are providing humanitarian aid in the following key areas:

Water and environmental sanitation
Over 2.3 million people, or 70 per cent of the conflict-affected population, assisted in gaining access to safe water.

• Rehabilitation and installation of hand pumps
  
• Drilling and equipping of wells
  
• Tankering water and installing of storage bladders
  
• Constructing communal latrines
  
• Formation and maintenance of health and hygiene committees.

Health and nutrition
Eighty per cent of the UNICEF-supported health centres are providing expanded immunization services.

• Vaccination support, such as special campaigns on polio, measles and vitamin A supplementation
  
• Training health workers in the treatment of malnutrition, and emergency and disease preparedness
  
• Distributing therapeutic milk, UNIMIX and BP-5 nutritional supplements
  
• Supplying health kits for mobile facilities, midwifery kits and emergency obstetric kits
  
• Providing bicycles and motorcycles for health workers.

Education
More than 380,000 (46 per cent girls) children enrolled in school.

• Constructing teachers’ offices and temporary classrooms
  
• Rehabilitating and providing furniture for existing permanent schools
  
• Providing student and classroom kits, as well as sports and recreation equipment
  
• Training teachers
  
• Providing school uniforms for children, particularly girls.

Child protection
Child-friendly spaces and psycho-social activities reaching over 170,000 internally displaced persons and conflict-affected children.

• Providing psycho-social support to children through schools and child-friendly spaces
  
• Prevention and response to gender-based violence
  
• Reporting rape and gender-based violence with local authorities
  
• Training of humanitarian agency and government staff in child protection measures, and reducing children’s and women’s risk of sexual violence
  
• Conducting rapid assessments and situation analysis for the advocacy for children.

Relief and shelter
Procuring priority non-food items such as plastic sheeting, rope, soap, cups, buckets, jerry cans, sanitary clothing, baby blankets, cooking pots and bowls, insecticide-treated bed nets to reduce malaria.

Funding dilemma

In 2005, UNICEF received over $53 million in contributions for Darfur, meeting approximately 43 percent of total requirements. As of April 2006, UNICEF has received about $1.85 million in contributions from government donors, while UNICEF’s National Committees have raised approximately $966,000.

This means UNICEF has a total of just over $2.81 million in donor resources against its Darfur target of $89 million in 2006 – so its programmes in the region are just 3.1 per cent funded moving into the second quarter of the year. 

Without significant and timely investment, any progress that has been made in controlling this devastating effects of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur will certainly be reversed. Click here (PDF) for a detailed list of sector-specific funding concerns.