CSF Better Aid Update No. 3

Good afternoon,

Welcome to our third Better Aid newsletter. Inside, we share a round up of our activities, over the last six months, showing how we have supported aid actors in Sudan to better understand the contexts they work in and improve the impacts of the aid they deliver.

If you have been forwarded this email, please sign up here if you would like to receive these CSF Better Aid Updates going forward, and to learn about upcoming events, roundtables and trainings that are open to aid actors in Sudan.

Blogs

Conflict sensitivity is even more important in times of crisis: two-part blog

CSF Team, December 2021

This two-part blog series by the CSF explains why conflict sensitivity is especially crucial in times of crisis and how aid practitioners might understand and respond to conflict effectively even in the most volatile situations. This is something the aid sector has had to do many times and over many years in the Sudans, and there are lessons from the past that we can – and should – learn. Read the blog here.

Photo credit: UNAMID/Albert Gonzalez Farran

Windows of opportunity: aid and land

CSF Team, September 2021

The interaction between aid and land is one of four key ‘windows of opportunity’, that shape long-term peace and conflict in Sudan. This blog shows how land use and land rights have changed over time, impacted by national legislation, conflict-driven displacement and aid. It highlights the implications for aid agencies, which have struggled historically to understand and navigate the overlapping and contested ways land is used, claimed and protected in the country.

Photo credit: Eric Kevorkian (Heiban County, South Kordofan, 2017).

Capacity support

New online training courses

In February, the CSF will launch its first online, self-guided training courses for aid practitioners, beginning with an introduction to the principles and practice of conflict sensitivity. The second course focuses on land use in Sudan and how it interacts with conflict and humanitarian aid. We hope these online courses will allow even the most overstretched practitioners to complete the courses at their own pace. Access the courses here.

Email us at info@csf-sudan.org for more information.

Launching the national NNGO mentorship programme

At the start of the year, we launched our national NGO mentorship programme alongside five Sudanese NGOs. The programme provides a space for Sudanese organisations to come together to think through their approaches to conflict sensitivity and the unique risks and opportunities in the areas they work. It aims to help these organisations develop the institutional and practical tools they need to assess the changes in conflict dynamics and adapt their programmes in response.

Email us at info@csf-sudan.org for more information.

Photo: CSF conflict sensitivity training in 2021.

Analysis

Understanding localisation and aid partnerships in Sudan

The CSF is initiating analysis on localisation and partnership models in Sudan. This is a crucial and timely piece of work covering key themes which are relevant right now in Sudan, where there is scant literature on localisation.

This analysis will inform a series of conversations and debates around localisation, which has a complex and difficult history in Sudan, as well as the power relations/dynamics that have shaped its development.

Photo credit: Aid worker inspecting rehabilitated building in Kurmuk, Blue Nile State. Audrey Bottjen (December 2010).

Events

The CSF assists and supports aid actors in Sudan in various ways to offer guidance on thematic and geographic areas. With the INGO Forum, the CSF has embarked on a series of consultations focusing on Darfur to facilitate focus and discussion on humanitarian dilemmas aid actors are facing.

Meanwhile, we’re currently developing a roundtable on localisation that will accompany our in-house analysis (see above). Later in 2022, we hope to host a roundtable on gender, conflict and aid in Sudan, in which Sudanese women from conflict-affected areas will share their perspectives, exploring the role of women in building social cohesion and addressing community tensions.

In December 2021, the CSF and its sister facility the CSRF in South Sudan, took part in an exchange workshop learning lessons from the UK FCDO-Funded Conflict Sensitivity Support Mechanisms (CSSM). Hosted by the UK FCDO, Saferworld, and International Alert, the workshop provided a space to share learnings, challenges, and successful approaches in establishing effective CSSMs.

The Conflict Sensitivity Facility (CSF) does not attempt to verify or substantiate any claims made within these publications. The opinions found therein are the responsibility of the authors themselves, and do not necessarily reflect those of the CSF.

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