ReliefWeb

Introduction

The first quarter (Q1) of 2021 (January-March), was seemingly largely defined by persistent climatic shocks, pockets of insecurity, as well the continued inflation of the South Sudanese Pound (SSP) and subsequent rising prices on the market. These developments have likely continued to drive humanitarian needs across Western and Northern Bahr el Ghazal States (WBeG and NBeG) for both host communities and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

To inform humanitarian actors, REACH has conducted assessments of hard-to-reach areas of South Sudan since 2015. Data is collected on a monthly basis through interviews with key informants (KIs) with knowledge of a settlement and triangulated with focus group discussions (FGDs). This Situation Overview uses this data to analyse changes in observed humanitarian needs across WBeG and NBeG in the first quarter of 2021.

Methodology

To provide an indicative overview of the situation in hard-to-reach areas of Western Bahr el Ghazal State and Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, REACH conducts interviews with key informants (KIs) who have recently arrived from, recently visited, or receive regular information from a settlement or “Area of Knowledge” (AoK). These interviews were conducted in the former protection of civilians (PoC) site, collective centres, and through phone calling throughout the reporting period. Findings should be considered indicative only of the situation in assessed settlements.

In-depth interviews on humanitarian needs were conducted on a monthly basis using a structured survey tool. After data collection was completed, all data was aggregated at settlement level, and settlements were assigned the modal or most credible response. When no consensus was found for a settlement, that settlement was not included in reporting.

Only counties with interview coverage of at least 5% of all settlements in a given month were included in the analysis. Due to access and operational constraints, the specific settlements assessed within each county each month may vary. In order to reduce the likelihood that variations in data are attributable to coverage differences, over time analyses were only conducted for counties with at least 70% consistent payam3 coverage over the period. Quantitative findings were triangulated with focus group discussions (FGDs) and secondary sources. FGDs with people displaced from hard-to-reach areas in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and Western Bahr el Ghazal State took place throughout January - March 2021.

More details of the methodology can be found in the AoK ToRs.