Sudan

Nils Carstensen and Lodia Sebit, 2023

“Every village & town we passed thru people would come out with their kerkade (hibiscus) juice and cold water for the ‘Khartoum travellers’. Humbling experience cause they don’t have much but were offering plenty. Why would I leave this?” – Tweet, 24 April 2023, @dalliasd

The chaos and destruction of the recent conflict in Sudan has been met by a wave of efforts by ‘ordinary’ Sudanese people to help themselves and those around them. At the same time, traditional humanitarian aid has struggled to mount a response to the crisis.

This recent piece, published by the Humanitarian Practice Network, explores the glimpses of mutual aid we can see through media reporting and social media emerging from Sudan.

The full study presents the findings from a field-study in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan State, Sudan. Its intention was to learn from the experiences, perceptions and insights of local communities who lived through the 1986-2005 war and subsequent Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 to 2011.
In June 2011, while the lead researcher was in Nuba cross-checking core study findings and possible further practical applications, the current ongoing conflict started and quickly spread across much of the original research area.  This rapid and brutal return to war provided a tragic opportunity to extend the study, one that clearly required a more hands-on, action-oriented approach to learning by doing.
Based on extensive local research, the study elaborates on a number of issues such as:

• The holistic nature and local understanding of protection
• The role of self protection – opportunities and limitations
• vulnerability of women v. their roles in providing protection
• Perceptions of armed forces and groups
• International protection – weaknesses and potential to improve
• Protecting the peace
• Protection during “real time” conflict – august 2011