Overview

UNITAMS Strategic Objective Two: Support peace processes and implementation of future peace agreements.

UNITAMS Strategic Objective Three: Assist peacebuilding, civilian protection and rule of law, in particular in Darfur and the Two Areas.

Peace, peace dividends, and stability at the community level, are essential for development in Sudan. Unfortunately, competition for natural resources and other assets, poverty, inequality and unemployment, food insecurity, and a changing climate are all potential ignitors of armed conflict and violence.

The situation is exacerbated by, and also contributes to, the nearly 1.8 million internally displaced people, more than one million refugees, and some 65,000 Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries. Compounding these issues, Sudan also serves as a key transit route for migration.

Despite the October 2020 Juba Peace Agreement and the continuation of more inclusive progress towards peace, the security situation remains fragile in much of the country, including Darfur, East Sudan, and Blue Nile and South Kordofan (the ‘Two Areas’), contributing to instability and insecurity.

Across Sudan, UNDP works at both the community, sub-national and national level supporting peace and stabilization efforts, processes, and policies.

Nationally and at the state-level, in support of the Juba Peace Agreement and more broadly, we support a range of peace-related dialogues, frameworks and policy efforts, while simultaneously supporting the implementation of these mechanisms.

At the community level we support peacebuilding and security through programmes on local conflict prevention, disarmament and reintegration of ex-combatants, protection of civilians, prevention of violent extremism, and relationship building between groups. This is supported by significant activities on expanding livelihoods for vulnerable communities in Sudan, often alongside the private sector, to generate livelihoods, value chains, and scalable solutions that enable economic growth, rural development and stability.

Our work also addresses the drivers of conflict and solutions, with a particular focus on durable solutions for host and refugee/IDP communities, and crisis response where required, predominantly within the framework of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus. Together, these efforts are designed to consolidate and sustain local peace, and are supported by activities on improving local governance, ensuring a strong basis for service provision and leadership at the locality level.

Closely aligned with UNITAMS and other partners, UNDP will continue to contribute towards achieving a peaceful transition in Sudan, providing support aligned with our own Rule of Law and Justice Reform and Democratic Transition and Economic Recovery portfolios.

Our solutions

• Maintaining regional peace dialogues and supporting peace in conflict-affected communities via community-based conflict-resolution mechanisms, mediation, and negotiation.
• Enhancing the peacebuilding architecture in Sudan where all respective actors (e.g. Ministry of Justice, Peace Commission) interact and facilitate the implementation of the Peace Agreement.
• Supporting peace and community security through gender protection, arts and sports for peace initiatives, climate security, and human rights assistance.
• Generating or expanding livelihoods for Sudan’s most vulnerable, by providing training, new market access, improved tools and approaches to commodity, agriculture or livestock production.
• Generating livelihood opportunities in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas, focusing on the most vulnerable, including nomads, IDPs and refugees in border areas, working with UNHCR and IOM to find durable solutions for return (when refugees/internally displaced persons no longer have any specific assistance and protection needs that are linked to their displacement).
• Supporting national and local efforts on reintegration as part of a national strategy on ex-combatant Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, including community-based reintegration and the reduction of violence as part of peace agreements.

Achievements in 2020 include:

• Half a million of Sudan’s most conflict-vulnerable people supported via stabilization projects, with 55,000 seasonal jobs created and over 6,000 hectares of farmland created for refugees, returnees, IDPs, and local communities.
• 225 local conflict and dispute mechanisms maintained, assisting approximately 560,000 people, with 108 established in 2020.
• 268,000 people provided with access to 33 new or upgraded community assets, including water yards, markets, livelihood hubs, warehouses, and irrigation dams.
• 85,650 people empowered through local initiatives via 68 Community Management Committees – established to oversee development activities – with 13 new committees created.
• 442km of migratory routes established for nomadic communities and their livestock.
• 334 community initiatives, primarily savings associations, established across Darfur through the Darfur Community Peace and Stability Fund.
• 10,000 refugees and 7,000 local community members provided with job opportunities in the Kilo 26 Refugee Camp, Kassala; markets and hospitals connected to the camp and nearby communities through the construction of new roads, and a 265,000-litre solar-powered water station built to improve clean-water access.
• 124 football and volleyball teams supported under Sports for Peace initiatives in Darfur.
• 300 youth ambassadors deployed in Darfur to promote peace and social cohesion.
• 600 at-risk young people provided with vocational training via PVE (preventing violent extremism) interventions.

Our valued partners