FAO SSD Improving resilient livelihoods, food and nutrition security 2021-2024

During 2023, the implementation progressed largely as planned with some delays of activities related to peace building. However, it should be noted that these activities were instead implemented early 2024. So far, the project has mainly reported results at output level. Please see below for a few examples of results that have been achieved during 2023. Output 1: Access to diversified agriculture production and post-harvest handling inputs and technologies increased. - 6,815 households (5251 females 1564 male) farmers and members of the Women's Economic Empowerment and Youth Groups have adapted to climate-related issues in their farms through crop diversification. This has boosted households economic status. The groups consumed part of the produce from their gardens at the household level and the rest is sold to pay school fees and to cater to other households' needs. - 1,568 females and 798 males were trained on climate-smart agricultural practices including planting of ridges, basins, mulching, drought, or flood tolerant crop varieties and IPM techniques), post-production and crop diversification practices. -1 950 programme participants received refresher training on improved small-scale post-harvest handling and processing and promotion of seed savings and appropriate seed storage methods. - Two hundred and thirty-two households (90 females and 142 males) received training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), IPM, crop diversification, inter cropping, mulching, crop rotation and weeding. - 2000 youth (1516 males and 484 females) organised into groups of Cash for work (CFW) rehabilitated 110 km of road in Wau and Torit which community leaders reported that through rehabilitation of the access roads within their bomas, women, girls and children can access water points, schools, and farms. Impact: Significant progress has been made toward the achievement of enhanced household-level food consumption, improved nutritional status of women and children. Specifically, the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) of the target households has increased by 20 percent from a baseline of 6 to 7.6, with the households consuming eight food groups compared to the six food groups they consumed at the baseline. Given the widespread food insecurity in both project locations, this is a great achievement. The diversified agriculture production has enhanced food security by increasing the availability and variety of nutritious foods. Women and youth were able to grow diverse range of crops, including fruits, vegetables, ensuring more balanced diet for women and lactating mothers, hence, reducing risk of hunger and malnutrition. Access to post harvest handling inputs and technologies, such as storage facilities, packaging materials and processing equipment has reduced post harvesting losses and add value to farmers agriculture products resulting in the increase of farmers income and opportunities. Output 2: Access to information, skills and inputs for nutrition and climate sensitive agricultural production improved. - 2,100 Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW), women of reproductive age, and women with Children Under Five (CU5) have access to information, skills, and inputs for nutritional sensitive agriculture. - 2,600 nutrition beneficiaries, including lactating and pregnant mothers with CU5 were trained on home sensitive agricultural production. - 4,902 fruit seedlings (2501 guava and 2401 mango) were distributed to beneficiaries. - 1,410 (1242 women and 167 men) received training on dietary diversification and improved nutrition practices. - 1,410 programmes participants received radio message on nutrition education podcast in English and Arabic languages. Impact: Women and students adopted good agriculture practice (GAP, IPM, crop diversification, inter cropping, mulching, crop rotation and weeding) as result of access to information, skills for nutrition and climate sensitive agriculture. Women and students in schools in turn taught their parents and other community members to establish home gardens where they grew a variety of vegetables and crops using the skills gained. Women and students reported that they consumed vegetables hence improving their diets, harvest and sell the surplus either to teachers or other pupils, seldom to the market, to earn income which they used primarily to pay their school fees and to buy seeds from the market to plant in the gardens. It should be noted that two output indicators were reported as under performing in Torit. This included: - The percent of women in targeted smallholder households meeting the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (progress to date reported as 9% compared to the final target of 45.6%) - The percent of children 6-23 months of age who received a Minimum Acceptable Diet the previous day and night (progress to date reported as 3.9% compared to the final target of 11.6%). Sida followed up on this and FAO explained that this was caused by context related challenges concerning food security but that the difference in results for the same indicators compared to Wau has been exacerbated due to FAO using different methodologies for data collection. Please see Sidas Statement on Report for FAOs annual narrative report for 2023 for the differences of FAOs approach in Wau and Torrit. Output 3: Women's economic empowerment is promoted through nutrition-sensitive value chains and income-generating enterprises. - 2300 project participants (2,120 females and 180 females) received refresher training for six days in food value chain development/upgrading (processing), value addition, preservation, branding, and marketing. - 120 female projects participants received social training (team building, decision-making, negotiation, and leadership skills. - 1 958 VSLA group members were trained on basic business development concepts such as understanding enterprise profitability, budget development and simple economic analysis, understanding marketing and markets, developing business plans, and keeping records. Impact: The intervention has improved nutrition-sensitive value chain by enhancing nutrition value chain products which lead to improved dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes particularly for pregnant, lactating mothers and women with children under five. Women who are economically empowered within the FAOs project are likely to invest in nutritious food for their families, leading to better health outcomes. Engaging women-headed households and local communities in decision-making processes and programme design fosters ownership and sustainability. FAOs project has been a community-driven initiatives tailored to specific needs and priorities of women-headed households contributing to substantial success. Output 4: Capacity to manage natural resource-related conflicts at community-level strengthened. - 153 members of the natural resources management committee (NRMC) (62 females and 88 males) supported their communities in the resolution of disputes arising out of Cash for Work in Torit. - 300 households (150 women and 150 men) organised into ten NRMCs in 2022 supported to resolve issues and ensure conflict management and implementation of the ten action plans. - The positive result of the dialogue with women is that the State Government assisted and supported land allocation to women in Wau County. In Wau town, Besselia Payam, 30 women headed households from the Wau Protection of Civilians camp (PoC) moved out of the camp and got land allocated to them by the local authority at the Boma level which they used for farming and building their homes. Impact: Community leaders, women, youth, and local authorities in Torit and Wau have increased capacity in conflict management. They can now resolve local conflict over land, water resources though dialogues and negotiation which contribute to grater peace and stability within the regions. The conflict sensitive natural resource management support the livelihoods and economic prosperity of the communities in Wau and Torit by ensuring equitable access to resources and minimizing disruptions caused by conflicts. Capacity to manage natural resource-related conflicts at community-level created a conducive environment for sustainable agriculture. It should be noted that the peace conferences planned for 2023 were postponed until January 2024 and implemented accordingly. Please see the narrative annual report for 2023 for more information on results and activities. Key challenges faced during 2023: - Prolonged conflict and political instability in South Sudan have disrupted livelihoods, increased food insecurity, and exacerbated poverty, particularly affecting vulnerable populations like women-headed households. The instability at national and sub-national levels resulted in widespread displacement of communities. The displacement disrupts communities and local economy, making it challenging to sustain livelihoods. The continuous conflict has damage infrastructure critical for livelihood project, such as roads, markets, and communication network. This hampers the ability to transport goods ad access market. - Women-headed households often face barriers in accessing resources such as land, credit, education and agricultural inputs. This limits their meaningful participation and benefits from the livelihoods projects in some areas in Wau and Torit. However, significant achievement has been made within the FAO project by enabling an environment for women to hold dialogue with authorities to access lands and other resources resulting in improved livelihoods of pregnant mothers, lactating women, and women with children under 5 in South Sudan. - Gender disparities in South Sudan can affect women's ability to access education, healthcare, and economic opportunities which in turn influence food security and nutrition outcomes. Sidas contribution has enhanced women's economic empowerment in Wau and Torit resulting in significant achievement of objectives of the contribution. - On climate change, South Sudans economy heavily relies on agriculture, which is highly venerable to climate change and environmental degradation. Erratic weather patterns, recorded in Torit and Wau such as long dry spell during farming season which can disrupt agricultural productivity, income and food availability. Implementing a climate resilient agriculture practice in Wau and Torit and natural resources management strategies has improved resilience and enhanced food security for women-headed households in South Sudan. - It is important to note that the peace dialogues were postponed in Torit and Wau and pushed to be implemented in 2024 due to contextual and seasonal challenges. In addition, it is important that FAO continue to build the capacity of NRMCs and local peace structures and communities on conflict prevention and help respond to local conflict arising from the use of natural resources.

The overall objective of the intervention is to contribute to building the resilience of the most vulnerable households, especially those headed by women in the most food insecure regions of South Sudan. This will be done through activities aimed at increasing agricultural productive capacity and incomes of vulnerable households, resulting in increased food availability, improved food consumption and nutritional outcomes, and ultimately contributing to improved resilience (adaptive and absorptive capacities) and food security. The following are the expected outputs and a short summary of the indicators: Output 1: Access to diversified agriculture production and post-harvest handling inputs and technologies increased (number of households supported with production and post-harvest handling inputs and technologies, percent of houeholds reporting improved access to inputs and technologies, extent of sufficiency of productive/post-harvest handling inputs in meeting households needs), Output 2: Access to information, skills and inputs for nutrition and climate sensitive agricultural production improved (Number of children and households supported to engage in nutrition sensitive school gardening, types of skills adopted and transferred to household production and food preparation), Output 3: Womens economic empowerment promoted through nutrition-sensitive value chains and income-generating enterprises (Number of women supported to engage in value chains and income generating activities, types of value chains and income generating activities engaged in by women, average income earned by year from the value chains and income generating activities engaged in by women), Output 4: Capacity to manage natural resource-related conflicts at community-level strengthened (Methodology for comprehensive natural resource-based conflict management capacity needs assessment developed, contextualized for different administrative levels, tested and validated, number of households mobilized to participate in community-based natural resource management, percent of community stakeholders reporting they believe the enhanced natural resource-based conflict management mechanisms will be useful in addressing the issue).