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Multisector - Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) South Sudan : Guidance Note - July 2021

Países
Sudán del Sur
Fuentes
Mercy Corps
+ 1
Fecha de publicación

CONTEXT

The humanitarian situation in South Sudan remains dire. More than two-thirds of the South Sudanese population and some 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2021, as the country continues to experience the cumulative effects of years of conflict, a surge in sub-national violence, unprecedented flooding and hyperinflation, further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lack of durable peace and limited investment in basic services impedes many people’s ability to move towards sustainable development.

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) continues to be an expanding modality for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in South Sudan. Its role as an efficient, effective and flexible mode of addressing the humanitarian needs during all stages of disaster life cycle was outlined for the first time in the South Sudan 2020 HRP. In 2021, humanitarian partners will continue to use CVA along other modalities to support the lives of people affected by disasters, while strengthening livelihoods, markets and local economy or long-terms sustainable results in a dignified way.
Contributing also to the recovery, resilience and peace building agendas.

The Multi Sector Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) was developed by CWG South Sudan with the support of clusters and CWG partners in August 2018, and sets the minimum cost needed by a household to meet their acute needs and sustain lives through JMMI.

The SMEB calculation includes food and non-food items, and other considerations like medicines, transportation, grinding cost, mobile airtime and kitchen sets. Some items in the basket are provided as a one-off assistance, while others are on considered on monthly basis. As a result, the value of the cash assistance will be higher the first month as those one-off items are included. Since August 2019, the cost of SMEB is updated regularly through Joint Market Monitoring Initiative, initiated by CWG South Sudan with the support of REACH Initiative. The SMEB and JMMI combination has been a unique and innovative model to provide the SMEB cost at county level on monthly basis, providing real time evidence to inform the calculations for the cash grant transfer value (TV). Considering the high inflation and markets volatility the CWG recommends a flexible approach to the transfer value so that can be adjusted when needed, to ensure the relevance of the assistance.