SOUTH SUDAN

In April 2006, INTERSOS began operations in South Sudan, to respond to the emerging needs of returning South Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons. As a result of a 21-year civil war, resulting in 4 million internally displaced and over a half a million refugees, infrastructure and basic services for returnees are either completely non-existent or extremely limited. With a total of 550,000 people expected to return to South Sudan in coming months, INTERSOS underwent an assessment and made the decision to expand operations to from Darfur to South Sudan.

INTERSOS’ activities are aligned with the efforts of the international community to facilitate sustainable return processes by rehabilitating essential facilities. Based on our successful community based approach in the region, the South Sudan mission actively strives for strong community participation in all the phases of the rehabilitation program, which facilitate the sustainability of the interventions, while minimizing tensions between returnees and the receiving community. Further, INTERSOS is building on its strong experience in the area by developing a profiling component to collect information, including data related to returnee protection, to plan for future proper rehabilitation interventions.

Key sectors include :
• Distribution of non food items (for vulnerable persons in both the returnee and receiving community)
• Community based reintegration activities, including community services, education, borehole and water point construction, sanitation and hygiene promotion, construction of basic infrastructure, self reliance projects, agricultural activities, and activities focused on land recovery issues.
• Demining Activities
• Profiling of return villages and community profiling of the villages targeted by the INTERSOS projects.