The World Bank in South Sudan

The Republic of South Sudan became the world’s youngest nation and Africa’s 54^th country on July 9, 2011. However, outbreaks of civil war in 2013 and 2016, persistent subnational violence, and political contestation have undermined post-independence development gains and intensified existing humanitarian needs. More than a decade after independence, South Sudan remains impacted by fragility, economic stagnation, and instability. Poverty is ubiquitous, exacerbated by conflict, displacement, and external shocks.

The signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in September 2018 and the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity in February 2020 have contributed to recovery and peacebuilding. A series of encouraging reforms have been undertaken to support longer-term stability and development outcomes, and a two-year extension of the R-ARCSS to February 2025 will further allow the government to meet key milestones in the peace agreement. However, a modest economic recovery, recorded following the resumption of oil production, has been upended by historic floods and the COVID-19 pandemic. South Sudan’s economic outlook is now clouded by crippling shocks to its heavily oil-dependent economy, highlighting the need for diversification. As South Sudan depends on neighboring Sudan as the only route to export oil to international markets, the conflict in Sudan poses acute downside risks to South Sudan’s macroeconomic stability amid limited fiscal resources and pressing humanitarian needs.

South Sudan’s vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters compounds the country’s humanitarian crisis, jeopardizing recovery, and undermining development efforts. Since its independence in 2011, the country has suffered from severe droughts (2011, 2015) and floods (2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022), resulting in high numbers of fatalities, displacements and loss of livestock which have severely impacted people’s livelihoods.

South Sudan remains in a serious humanitarian crisis. An estimated 9 million people, including refugees in South Sudan, will experience critical needs in 2024, including an estimated 7.1 million who will require food assistance during the lean season from April to July 2024. Women and children continue to be the most affected. The humanitarian crisis has been further exacerbated by the recent conflict in neighboring Sudan, which has led to an inflow of refugees and returnees into South Sudan. As of April 2024, 640,688 returnees, refugees, and asylum seekers have arrived in South Sudan, approximately 78% of whom are South Sudanese refugee returnees.

Looking forward, ensuring the implementation of the peace agreement, as well as strengthening service delivery institutions, governance, and economic and public financial management systems, and addressing the root causes of fragility will prove critical as the country seeks to build resilience against future shocks and lay down the building blocks for a diversified, inclusive, and sustainable growth path.

Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024

The World Bank Group (WBG) has been engaged in South Sudan since the creation of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan in 2005. The WBG’s strategy is guided by its Country Engagement Note (CEN) FY21-23. This has three focus areas: (a) laying the groundwork for institution building, (b) continuing support for basic public service delivery, and (c) promoting resilience and livelihood opportunities. The CEN also seeks to promote social inclusion, particularly of youth and women, as a cross-cutting principle. Its objective is to shift back to the government-led implementation of Bank-financed operations and to an expansion of the World Bank Country Program in the country. This programmatic expansion has resulted in a growing staffing footprint in the World Bank Country Office in Juba. As of April 2024, the WBG portfolio in South Sudan stands at $1.4 billion, covering eleven national and three regional operations across the sectors of governance, health, social protection, financial sector, agriculture, women’s empowerment, energy, water, education, digital development, and community resilience.

Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024

Below is a selection of recent World Bank accomplishments in South Sudan:

Accelerating the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns and Providing Essential Health Services. The World Bank has been the main contributor to COVID-19 vaccination in South Sudan and supported the Government of South Sudan to accelerate the vaccination efforts in the country. There has been significant progress on full vaccination rates, from less than 1% in 2021 to nearly 81.79 % (of whom 50% are women) of the target population in 2023 (one of the highest coverage rates in the region). More than 11,709,515 people, of whom 53% (1,005,035) are women, have received essential health, nutrition, and population services. Further, 1,464,472 under-fives were screened for malnutrition, 100,042 pregnant women received anti-natal care services, and 57,612 deliveries were conducted by skilled health personnel. On the nutrition front, 56,810 cartons of therapeutic nutrient formulas were distributed, targeting 70,900 severely malnourished children. 3,310 community nutrition volunteers were trained to conduct nutrition education sessions that resulted in 231,278 mothers of children 0-23 months individually counselled, and 536,120 parents attending group counselling session, 4/5 of which were mothers.

Providing Income Opportunities. Through the South Sudan Safety Net Project (SSSNP), the World Bank has provided 65,045 poor and vulnerable households (nearly 423,051 individuals) with access to temporary income opportunities through direct income support as well as a labor-intensive public work program aimed at building and rehabilitating community assets across 10 counties in the country. Respectively, 77% and 80% of the households included in the labor-intensive public work program and the direct income support scheme were female-headed. The labor-intensive public work program contributed to addressing community priorities such as road maintenance/rehabilitation, agriculture, general cleaning, and drainage works. Over 43,338 beneficiaries also received cash, as well as training in financial literacy, water, hygiene and sanitation, and early childhood development. The follow-on project, the South Sudan Productive Safety Net for Socioeconomic Opportunities Project (SNSOP), will support 96,000 poor and vulnerable households in 15 counties.

Enhancing Community Resilience and Improving Access to Basic Services. The World Bank has helped improve access to basic services for over 736,000 people (of which 51% are women) in 292 villages (bomas) across 20 counties through the construction and rehabilitation of 345 identified community facilities. This generated over 500,000 person-days of wage labor, thus providing $4.6 million to the communities with 27% wages paid to women. Close to 3,500 community members have been trained on topics such as participatory planning, village resource mapping, and community-based disaster risk management, among others. More than 81,000 people have benefitted from the rehabilitation of community dikes and received training sessions on disaster risk management designed to reduce vulnerability to flooding.

Improving Agricultural Production. The World Bank has reached close to 65,514 households with various assets and services designed to support stronger agricultural production.

Supporting the Government’s Public Financial Management Reform Efforts. The World Bank has supported South Sudan through a combination of an IDA investment project and technical assistance, funded by the Multi-donor Transitional Trust Fund (MDTTF) and the State and Peacebuilding Fund (SPF). This support has been directed towards capacity-building and technical assistance activities in public finance management, with the aim of enhancing the quality and credibility across the national budget cycle. As a result of these efforts, the budget preparation timeframe has improved compared to FY21/22; and for the first time, the National Assembly convened a citizens' participation forum to discuss the FY23/24 budget estimates and priorities. Furthermore, the World Bank has facilitated the establishment of the Public Procurement Authority and has supported the preparation of a Functional Review for the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP). The MoFP has started to implement measures, including the establishment of a Public Investment Department and a Monitoring and Evaluation Department within the Directorate of Sectoral Planning.

Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024

The World Bank maintains strong partnerships and engages regularly with development and humanitarian partners, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and civil society organizations (CSOs) in South Sudan.

Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024