CRS Work in Sudan

Catholic Relief Services is among the largest nongovernmental humanitarian agencies working in Sudan. In spite of significant security and logistical challenges, CRS continues to implement emergency relief and development projects that benefit more than 420,000 people across the country.

Darfur

Despite the difficult security environment, CRS has been providing humanitarian aid in the state of West Darfur since May 2004, assisting more than 160,000 people affected by the conflict. About 130 CRS employees work out of a field office in the state capital of El Geneina and in suboffices in Abu Suruj, Kulbus, Seleia and Sirba.

Key activities include:

• food distribution to more than 150,000 people each month
• shelter assistance for displaced families
• distribution of essential household items
• educational projects including classroom construction and teacher training
• agricultural support through seed and tool fairs
• livestock health initiatives
• health and nutrition education
• extensive water and sanitation projects, including construction of water systems, latrines and hand-washing facilities

CRS provides this relief assistance in El Geneina and up the 85-mile corridor running north to Kulbus. Across the border in eastern Chad, CRS also works with a local Church partner, Secours Catholique et Developpement (Catholic Relief and Development), to manage three camps in Farchana, Kounoungou and Milé that are home to more than 50,000 refugees from Sudan.

CRS Sudan serves all people in need without discrimination, including those living in camps, nomadic communities affected by the conflict and communities hosting displaced people. While insecurity at times restricts service delivery, CRS reaches thousands of people in need each month.

In 2007, CRS launched a peacebuilding and vocational program in El Obeid in partnership with the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center. The project trains youth of different ethnicities coming from Nyala and other parts of Darfur, providing an opportunity for these youth to live together in shared dormitories, building common understanding through vocational, educational and recreational activities.

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Southern Sudan

After 45 years of intermittent civil war, CRS is helping 250,000 people rebuild their lives in southern Sudan. Program implementation is difficult due to a lack of paved roads, reliable communications, and adequate water and electricity. The few clinics, schools and homes that previously did exist were destroyed in the fighting.

CRS' recovery and development activities in the south include:

• construction of schools and markets
• extensive agriculture support
• food distributions for schools, health centers and vulnerable people returning to the region
• food-for-work and cash-for-work construction projects
• support for three local health partners and their 40-plus facilities
• creation of savings and internal lending groups
• water and sanitation activities, including borehole and latrine construction
• civic education initiatives

CRS helps to strengthen local governments through close collaboration and skills training. In addition, CRS implements peacebuilding projects across the region, including conflict resolution training. In April 2008, 40 community leaders, local members of parliament and state directors of the South Sudan Peace Commission completed an extended training course in conflict mediation and resolution skills. Nine of the ten states in the south, as well as Abyei, now have local experts available to help peacefully resolve issues of cattle raiding, and disputes over ownership and access to land and water resources.

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Khartoum

CRS continues to assist people in need in the Khartoum area. The majority of activities are in the Jebel Awlia and Um Dorman Al Salam camps, populated primarily by people displaced by the decades of civil war and more recently by people displaced by the conflict in Darfur. Initiatives include shelter assistance, construction and rehabilitation of schools, creation of savings and lending groups, support for a health clinic, and water and sanitation initiatives, including repair and construction of water pumps and latrines.

In partnership with St. Joseph's Vocational Training Center, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the University of Khartoum and other local organizations, CRS has implemented a vocational training project. Since 2005, the program  has trained hundreds of impoverished people each year in carpentry and electrical, mechanical and plumbing skills, giving them the opportunity to rebuild their lives and their country. CRS and our partners are currently expanding these vocational training activities to provide business and vocational skills to women who also benefit from CRS-supported Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) programs.

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