KHARTOUM, Sudan, December 18, 2016 — The World Bank launched the second phase of the Sustainable Livelihoods for Displaced and Vulnerable Communities in Eastern Sudan Project (SLDPII), expanding the pilot to support Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and host communities in the Eastern state of Kassala.
The first phase of SLDP, funded by a $3.08 million World Bank-managed grant from the State and Peacebuilding Fund (SPF), started in October 2013 and finished in March 2016, and provided livelihoods support to hundreds of vulnerable households in six IDP and host communities in Kassala. The first phase also organized and assisted these communities to undertake small works, such as upgrading water supplies and establishing community farming and grazing plots, and offered capacity building opportunities for local authorities and NGOs. Following the first phase, households that had received livelihood assistance increased their monthly income by 59.5% on average.
With a larger grant of $4.435 million, the main objective of SLDPII is to strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders, including state authorities, displaced persons, and vulnerable host communities to plan and implement improved livelihood and natural resource management practices. The project will target an additional 10 officially recognized IDP and host communities in Kassala, incorporating lessons learned during the first phase and supporting community-led management of natural resources.
“This project targets marginalized communities, those with substantive socioeconomic and environmental needs, who often risk falling under the radar. This initiative provides them agency over their development processes and tools to design sustainable and climate-resilient livelihoods opportunities,” saidAbderrahim Fraiji, World Bank Task Team Leader for SLDPII. “We remain grateful to SPF for leveraging funds to commission a second phase of the project.”
Sudan has 2.2 million IDPs of which 147,000 live in the three eastern states of Gedaref, Red Sea and Kassala, according to 2010 figures of UNHCR. Eastern Sudan, one of the poorest and arid parts of the country, is also a transit hub for migrants attempting to reach Europe via smuggling routes leading northwest into Libya.
“Improving the quality of life for IDPs and host communities can reduce stresses arising from forced displacement,” said Xavier Furtado, World Bank’s Representative in Sudan, “It is also aligned with the Bank’s goals of addressing developmental challenges in fragile contexts.”
SLDPII is the latest addition to the World Bank’s Sudan portfolio of approximately $130 million spread across education, health, agriculture, natural resource management, climate change, peacebuilding, and public financial management.
