South Sudan

Independent from Sudan since 2011, South Sudan has been embroiled in civil war for much of its history. Nearly 400,000 South Sudanese died as a result of the conflict that began in December 2013. Atrocities and widespread attacks on civilians, including rampant sexual violence, have defined the conflict. An initial peace agreement signed in 2015 failed. After many delays, a revitalized agreement signed in 2018 led to the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity in February 2020.  

At the height of the conflict, 4.5 million of South Sudan’s approximately 12 million people were displaced; 3.9 million remain displaced (2.3. million as refugees in neighboring countries and 1.6 million displaced internally).  An estimated 8.3 million South Sudanese need some type of humanitarian assistance, including 7.2 million who need food aid (about 60 percent of the population). South Sudan is facing the highest levels of food insecurity and malnutrition since independence in 2011.

USAID integrates humanitarian and development assistance to promote household and community resilience. Our strategy focuses on delivering multifaceted assistance to 13 of South Sudan’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach counties in five of South Sudan’s ten states (Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Unity, and Upper Nile). Our approach is to put communities at the center of the development process to address their own challenges and develop resilience to future shocks.

USAID has worked in South Sudan for decades, providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance, conflict mitigation assistance, essential services such as health care and education, and support for key milestones of Sudan's 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which culminated in South Sudan’s independence. 

The U.S. Government has provided $197 million for the COVID-19 response in South Sudan as of September 2021.