Sudan - A Rapid Response Fund (RRF) grant of USD 250,000 has been awarded to Triangle Génération Humanitaire (TGH) to provide core relief items to approximately 1,500 vulnerable Sudanese families.

Due to camp closure and relocation, these families had recently been returned from Chadian refugee camps to the Um Dukhun locality in Central Darfur State. The RRF is an emergency funding mechanism of the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, a unit within the USAID Organization (USAID/OFDA).  The Fund is managed by the UN Migration Agency (IOM) and is designed to respond to the life-saving needs of newly displaced people.

Due to repeated displacement, starting in March 2014 to Um Dukhun town and then continuing across the border into Chad, these displaced families have lost almost all their possessions, such as cooking pots and jerry cans to hold water.

Many now live in makeshift shelters, constructed from deteriorated plastic sheeting and wooden sticks, which do not provide any protection from the rain and the cold. Others who have not been able to find plastic sheeting are sharing overcrowded shelters with relatives, with an average of seven to ten people sharing one small shelter designed to hold a maximum of five people.

The rainy season is expected to start soon in the Um Dukhun locality. IOM recognized the urgency to respond to the critical needs of these displaced families who, to date, received little or no assistance. 

Without support, many will have to sleep outdoors and the risk of ill health from malaria, colds, skin diseases and other ailments will be particularly high for vulnerable people, such as single parents, children under the age of five, the elderly and those who are already suffering from illness or disability. This RRF allocation will provide 1,491 families with emergency relief items, such as jerry cans, cooking sets, blankets, sleeping mats and plastic sheeting.

The population receiving assistance arrived in Central Darfur between December 2016 and February 2017 and is particularly vulnerable due to repeated displacement. A recent assessment carried out by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) teams (December 2016–January 2017) revealed a high percentage of single female-headed households, unaccompanied minors and elderly people.

The RRF has been managed by IOM since 2013. To date, it has distributed over USD 3 million of assistance to more than 1.1 million vulnerable individuals through the provision of emergency water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) amenities, and health, shelter, core relief items distribution and protective interventions.

For further information, please contact Riad Marrow at IOM Sudan, Tel: +249 9224 06616, Email: rmarrow@iom.int