Briefs

Hungry for Peace: Exploring the Links Between Hunger and Conflict in South Sudan

South Sudan’s independent history is short, but most of it has been spent at war. In December 2017, the country marked four years of devastating conflict and today, only a few months later, it has reached another critical point: more South Sudanese are hungry than ever before.

While the February 2018 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – the country’s official source for food insecurity data – does not declare famine, this is not the only situation where food insecurity threatens lives. Any classification of IPC 3 upwards means people need aid to survive. This means that 6.3 million people are struggling to get enough to eat, and are dependent on humanitarian aid that is increasingly difficult to access.

The IPC shows that South Sudan is locked in a year on year worsening trend with a clear cause: conflict. But it doesn’t show which factors other than the ability to get food can be the difference between crisis, emergency and catastrophic levels of hunger. It doesn’t show that, even within families, some people are more at risk than others. And it doesn’t show that the peo-ple behind the numbers don’t care what you call it. Because no matter where they sit on the scale, they need food, they need assistance, and more than anything, they need peace.

The links between conflict and hunger are well-known. Yet humanitarian funding and political commitment have not kept pace with the increasingly urgent needs of communities. When warring parties and the international community gather to discuss peace in South Sudan, they are not only nego-tiating a ceasefire, power-sharing between parties or accountability mecha-nisms – they are negotiating an end to the hunger and suffering of millions of South Sudanese civilians.

The future of Central African Republic is still at risk

More than half of Central African Republic’s population is in need of urgent humanitarian aid – amidst chronic underfunding, persisting violence across the country and unsuccessful peace agreements.

This briefing calls for a huge and concerted effort by the government, donors and all stakeholders to consolidate progress, to support peace and reconciliation and to ensure that CAR does not revert back into a deeper crisis. It presents a fair share analysis and urges donors to step up their commitments and meet their funding responsibility to stabilize the fragile situation in the country

The State of DRM

"DRM" has become an amorphous acronym that is part of nearly every development discussion. In the broadest context, DRM means "Domestic Resource Mobilization" and generally refers to the public and private resources in a country that can be used to finance development. Due to the increasing attention on DRM in the development community, this background note explores what DRM is, what's driving interest in it, and key questions around how DRM programs are implemented in the developing world.

‘I Still Don’t Feel Safe to Go Home’: Voices of Rohingya refugees

Since 25 August, more than 626,000 Rohingya have reached Bangladesh from Myanmar. Rohingya women and men have told Oxfam devastating stories of killings, rape and sexual violence.

This report is an opportunity for some of them to share their stories, hopes, and their experiences of living in overcrowded refugee camps with overflowing latrines and contaminated water.

Heavy rains and the cyclone season in 2018 threaten to bring new disaster and increase the risk of cholera. And irrespective of the recent bilateral agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh, most Rohingya are terrified of returning to Myanmar while the discrimination that drove them away is unchanged.

Yemen’s crisis: 1,000 days of disaster

Western governments will be complicit in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis if they do not act now, as 1,000 days of war continue to push the country towards an apocalyptic situation.

Uprooted by Climate Change: Responding to the growing risk of displacement

Climate change is already forcing people from their land and homes, and putting many more at risk of displacement in the future.