April 2023
We support community-led programs to build resilience and peace.
Message from USAID South Sudan Mission Director on the Crisis in Sudan
 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs map of clashes in Sudan as of April 23, 2023.
Message to our readers from USAID South Sudan Mission Director Kate Crawford: "We are closely tracking effects of the violence that exploded in Sudan on April 15, including on people who were already displaced by conflict and other disasters. This crisis is negatively affecting prices for goods in South Sudan, making food and other essentials even more difficult to afford. USAID Administrator Samantha Power on April 23 announced that USAID has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in Kenya to coordinate the humanitarian response and working with the international community and our partners to identify priority needs and to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance. Our commitment to the Sudanese and South Sudanese people is unwavering."
USAID Launches Four-Year Youth Empowerment Activity
 A youth union representative (left) receives radios donated by USAID at the launch of the USAID Youth Empowerment Activity in Wau, South Sudan. At right: USAID Mission Director for South Sudan Kate Crawford. Photo: Education Development Center
On March 30 in Wau, USAID Mission Director for South Sudan Kate Crawford launched the USAID Youth Empowerment Activity, a four-year, $43.5 million initiative that will help youth in South Sudan—including girls and young women—gain knowledge and skills that will enable them to lead healthy, engaged, and productive lives. It will empower a diverse group of 25,000 youth through a Youth Corps Service Model that will train and mentor 500 Youth Corp leaders who will mentor more vulnerable youth with access to learning, livelihoods, civic engagement activities, skill building, and information to make positive health choices. “Despite many challenges, South Sudan’s youth are key to the future peace and development of this country. Young South Sudanese can and should lead the way in building peace among communities, recognizing the value of South Sudan’s diversity, and developing this nation,” said Mission Director Crawford.
USAID-FAO Activity Improved Nutrition, Livelihoods in Target Communities
 USAID Mission Director Kate Crawford (left), USAID Economic Growth Office Director Taisha Jones (center), and Eston Njuki, business development manager for Hive, an organization that supports South Sudanese beekeepers with equipment and skills, with products that indicate accomplishments of the USAID-funded Sustainable Agriculture for Economic Resiliency Activity. Photo: Victor Lugala/USAID
USAID and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on April 3 celebrated the many achievements of a five-and-a-half-year joint activity that improved the livelihoods, food security, and nutrition of 65,000 South Sudanese since the project began in 2017. The Sustainable Agriculture for Economic Resiliency Activity was implemented in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Lakes, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and Western Equatoria States. It worked with farmer groups and other grassroots cooperatives to improve the nutrition and dietary diversity from 15 percent to 65 percent of households that consumed more than six food groups per day. It also established 20 beekeeping cooperative groups with 600 members and 13 shea-nut cooperative groups with 400 members, and helped those producer groups reach a level of production quality that could soon result in export of these products. Women benefited significantly from the initiative, as they represented 52 percent of participants in its varied activities. Learn more here.
Agriculture Exhibit in Wau Showcases USAID Support to Farmers
 An exhibition in Wau of products from farmers assisted by USAID Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan Activity. Photo: Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan
USAID Mission Director Kate Crawford visited a USAID Resilience through Agriculture in
South Sudan Activity exhibition in Wau on March 30 that showcased items produced by USAID-supported farmer groups in Wau and Jur River counties, including groundnuts, millet, okra, tomatoes, eggplants, and fruit tree seedlings. During the event, farmers supported by USAID received watering cans, hand hoes, rainboots, seeds, and other items to boost their agricultural production. Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan has trained hundreds of farmers in areas including Akobo, Kapoeta North, and Pibor. Farmers were trained on good agriculture practices, using locally available tools such as strings and sticks to prepare vegetable nursery beds and providing information on soil fertility management practices such as applying animal manure, transplanting techniques, and identifying and controlling common pests and plant diseases.
Grinding Mills Help Women in Southern Unity State Generate Income
 A grain grinding mill managed by Panyijiar Women Association. Photo: USAID Shejeh Salam Activity
In conflict-affected southern Unity State, lack of income-generating activities, formal training, and capital for business start-ups has limited opportunities for women to mostly low-paying casual labor. Through the USAID Shejeh Salam Activity, the Panyijiar Women Association installed grinding mills in Ganyiel and Nyal, enabling women to generate SSP 21,000 ($23) per week to grind sorghum for the staple food. The grinding mill has reduced time the women spend grinding sorghum, giving them more time to engage in meaningful discussions in the community and actively participate in peacebuilding and conflict-related discussions. The women have joined traders’ groups and are now seen as productive members of their community. “Now we are respected because they see that we bring income, and they see our value,” said Wicjuai Yar Pout, a Panyijiar Women Association member.
Health Risks Reduced in Kapoeta North with Community-Built Latrines
 Lowilo Lokeita (left) holds a tool he used to build a pit latrine at his home in Kudule village, Kapoeta North County. Photo: USAID Afia Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Activity
Following a USAID awareness campaign about the health threats of open defecation and the importance of sanitation, community members in Kudule village, Kapoeta North County, began digging pit latrines near their homes. While home construction has traditionally been a role for women in South Sudan, men are helping build pit latrines, including fetching logs for covering the latrines. One community member, Lowilo Lokeita, said cases of diarrhea have subsequently decreased in his community. “I was happy that there was a way I could reduce the instances of contamination, so I followed the steps taught to us and built my own latrine, which took me about two weeks,” said Lokeita. “I no longer spend much money on health costs ever since we began to use the latrine and wash our hands with the ash and water from the tippy tap that was demonstrated to us during the triggering sessions by the American project,” Lokeita added.
Women in Mayendit Build Pit Latrines to Improve Community Health
 Diana in front of her pit latrine in Mayendit County. Photo: Yam John Chol/Samaritan's Purse
Early this year, USAID supported Community Health Clubs in Mayendit County to address issues regarding sanitation and health. Diana, aged 36, joined a club in her community and participated in four months of health education. The group used visual aid cards on the topics of open defecation, protected and unprotected water sources, personal hygiene, and diarrhea prevention. With this knowledge, Diana and her peers decided to prioritize health and hygiene in their community. Diana was the first to build a pit latrine in her community using local materials. “If it was not for my fellow friends in the club, I would not have achieved putting up this latrine structure,” she said. "Women together are a real force for change."
USAID Informs Mothers Living with HIV How to Prevent Infection in Babies
 A community volunteer teaches mothers the importance of breastfeeding and how to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to babies. Photo: USAID Advancing HIV and AIDS Epidemic Control Activity
USAID’s Advancing HIV and AIDS Epidemic Control Activity is raising awareness through health education among women seeking medical services at USAID-supported health facilities in Juba. One of the facilitators who is living with HIV herself is a community outreach volunteer assigned to support clients on antiretroviral treatment at the USAID supported Gurei Primary Health Care Center. She and other volunteers teach pregnant women attending antenatal care and breastfeeding mothers bringing their children for immunization about the importance of hospital deliveries, and how exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months boosts babies' immunity and lowers their chance of contracting HIV. Suppressed viral load minimizes infection among babies born to mothers living with HIV. “I share my HIV positive-living journey with other mothers, assuring them of the possibility of delivering HIV-free children like me,” said the community outreach volunteer. As of March 2023, there were 132 breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women receiving antiretroviral therapy at the Gurei Primary Health Care Center.
U.S. Embassy Staff Participate in Event Promoting Exercise for Healthy Living
 U.S. Embassy staff at the "Walk the Talk" event in Juba that marked World Health Day.
On April 8, U.S. Embassy staff participated in a walk-and-run event called "Walk the Talk" to mark World Health Day, which is marked annually on April 7 worldwide. They walked and jogged for 10 kilometers in the streets of Juba to highlight the importance of physical exercise for healthy living.
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