Community-Led Resilience Amid Conflict and Displacement in Sudan and South Sudan

This Lives in Dignity Grant Facility-funded community-led resilience project (August 2022 - November 2024) in Sudan and South Sudan, implemented by Near East Foundation, Centre for Emergency and Development Support, and Global Aid Hand, demonstrated exceptional adaptability during one of the world's most volatile displacement crises. When the war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, forcing humanitarian actors to evacuate and disrupting traditional service delivery, the project's decentralized, community-led approach proved its value by maintaining continuity through empowered local associations. The initiative successfully implemented geographic pivoting—relocating from Khartoum to Al Jazirah and later to White Nile State—while using a flexible hybrid implementation model that combined remote support with local delivery. Key achievements included training 7,056 people in vocational skills, establishing 49 village savings groups, rehabilitating 121 WASH facilities, and providing financial support to 3,693 households through innovative cash transfer mechanisms that functioned even amid banking system collapse, ultimately proving that community-led structures can deliver integrated services and drive resilience in the most challenging displacement environments.