Sudan
Fighting has cost at least 2 million lives, and forced 4 million people from their homes. Around 90% of the population in Sudan live below the poverty line. In Southern Sudan, one in four children dies before their fifth birthday.
- We're helping 23,000 children get a better education
- We've reunited 248 children who were with armed groups with their families
- We're protecting 5,000 children who've been separated from their families
- We're getting more girls into schools and we're training female teachers
Save the Children in Sudan and Southern Sudan
Following the recent peace agreement, we split our operations into two programmes: one for Southern Sudan and one for northern (including western and eastern) Sudan.
Southern Sudan gained the right to govern itself in 2005. We began working in the northern parts of Southern Sudan in 1991. We've provided emergency aid and food and helped to improve access to clean water. We've also worked with children and their teachers in the primary schools.
In 2005 we were forced to pull out of Darfur after four of our staff were killed. For now, we're working in the capital, Khartoum, and Red Sea State, helping displaced children and others affected by the fighting.
We're helping more children get an education
Working with the Ministry of Education, we've set up an Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) to help children in Khartoum and the Red Sea State. We've trained 42 teachers to work in four ALP centres. More than 600 children and young people (355 girls and 252 boys) benefit from this programme. One major achievement is that girls' enrolment in the ALP centres has increased from 14% in 2002 to 45% in 2006.
In Southern Sudan in the past year, we've provided educational materials and teacher training to 46 schools, benefiting more than 23,000 children.
We're reuniting children with their families
We challenged the government of Southern Sudan over its own record on child recruitment. As a result, 111 children were released from the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
We're saving children's lives
We are working to improve sanitation and people's level of knowledge to prevent them from becoming ill. We've trained three community health workers to provide basic health care in Aweil county in Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
We've helped villagers drill a total of ten boreholes. Each provides about 300 households with clean water.
We're reducing numbers of malnourished children
Up to 20% of children are malnourished in Southern Sudan, even when there isn''t a shortage of food. As well as improving access to clean water, we''re enabling poor households to earn more money. We're offering training in tailoring, farming, fishing, trade, and managing small businesses.
We're enabling communities to protect children
Long years of war have broken up families and destroyed many communities' ability to protect their children.
Over the next year, we plan to help 5,000 separated children in Khartoum and Port Sudan, 50,000 displaced and returnee children, and 7,000 children who are living and working on the streets. Working with the National and State Council of Child Welfare, the Ministry of Education, local NGOs and community groups in Khartoum and Port Sudan, we'll train 800 social and community workers, teachers and others who have a key role in protecting children.
Find out more
- Download the Sudan country brief (PDF 95KB)
- Download the Southern Sudan country brief (PDF 97KB)
- Read about the experiences of refugees in Sudan
- Find out about Travis frontman Fran Healy's trip to Southern Sudan
- Read Sarah's account of missing out on an education in Sudan
- Find out how we're helping children who have been fighting someone else's war
Sudan related articles
- Wednesday 9 January 2008 Conditions for children reach crisis point in Southern Sudan
- Three years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between north and south Sudan, thousands of children are still facing death.
- Wednesday 19 September 2007 Africa under water: Children in 19 countries affected by floods
- Half a million children have been affected by widespread flooding across 19 countries in Africa. Torrential rains and floods have swept over east and west Africa in recent weeks, destroying homes and schools and washing away crops and livestock.
- Friday 29 June 2007 George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt help Save the Children
- Not on Our Watch, a new organisation headed by George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Jerry Weintraub and David Pressman, has announced a one million dollar donation to Save the Children
- Monday 25 June 2007 Crisis in Darfur and Chad
- Over 70 children under the age of five die every day in Darfur.
