South Sudan

Background

South Sudan is the newest country in Africa. It was founded in 2011 and has 11 million inhabitants. There have been a lot of armed conflicts going on in the North of the country and later, with inner-state fights for land and political power. Due to these fragile circumstances the people of South Sudan have been suffering for year. Insecurity is both political and economic, and food security is at threat. Livestock farming is the main pillar of livelihood and it plays an important socio-economic role. Nonetheless, both agriculture and livestock are affected by armed conflicts; the farmers and sheepherders cannot survive on agropastoralism – a mixture of agriculture and livestock farming – anymore.

Half of the 12 million inhabitants of South Sudan are children, of which a third suffers from acute malnutrition. Approximately 0.6 million children are orphans as the armed conflicts as well as lack of nutrition have taken their toll and cost countless fatalities.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, supports programmes in this country.