KOICA learning event in Jamjang, South Sudan discusses progress, priorities for refugee protection and support in the country

Juba - The KOICA-funded project From Vulnerability to Empowerment: Building Safe and Secure Communities held its first local learning event in Jamjang, South Sudan, bringing together representatives from UNHCR, government officials as well as NGO partners, to review achievements and discuss priorities for refugee and host community support in the region.

The event focused on the progress of KOICA-funded activities in Ajuong Thok and Pamir refugee camps in Jamjang, addressing critical sectors such as shelter, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), protection, peacebuilding and community engagement. Partners highlighted the positive feedback from the communities, emphasizing how improved shelter and sanitation facilities have enhanced safety and reduced health risks. Protection initiatives, including peaceful coexistence workshops and community-led awareness campaigns, were praised for fostering dialogue between refugees and host communities.

Under the project, UNHCR and KOICA partners will seek to improve living conditions and resilience for displaced populations in South Sudan, targeting Renk, Maban, Jamjang, Wedweil, and Bor, focusing on emergency and durable shelter solutions for refugees and returnees, water and sanitation systems maintenance and expansion, community-based protection frameworks to empower refugees and host communities as well as peaceful coexistence initiatives and feedback mechanisms

The project aims to assist over 30,000 refugee and returnee households and strengthen community engagement to address protection challenges, aligning with South Sudan’s National Durable Solutions Strategy and the Area-Based Roadmap for Upper Nile State.

This project is part of the KOICA’s global initiative Conflict-affected and Fragile countries supporting Programme (CFP), a multi-year initiative designed to strengthen Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus in fragile contexts, implemented in the Eastern and Southern Africa region (Burundi and South Sudan) and MENA region (Lebanon and Jordan) through UNHCR.

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For more inforation, please contact:

(In Juba) Funmi Osibona, [email protected]

(In Nairobi) Jong Hee PAIK, [email protected]