IOM today launched the latest edition of its South Sudan Village Assessment Survey (VAS), which identifies gaps in access to basic services and infrastructure for three quarters of the country's estimated 2.5 million returnees and the communities that host them.
The VAS, first launched by IOM in 2007, comprises baseline data collected across key humanitarian and development sectors in South Sudan, including access to healthcare, education, protection, livelihoods, roads, transport and water and sanitation.
The 2012/2013 VAS represents IOM's largest survey in South Sudan to date, covering 30 counties with the highest rates of return. It was produced in close cooperation with the South Sudan Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission and is designed to facilitate integration by targeting areas of greatest need.
Many returnees face major difficulties integrating into communities from which they have often been separated from for several generations. Barriers to sustainable reintegration include obstacles in accessing land, scarce water and food resources, as well as very limited basic services such as education and healthcare.
Decades of civil war and the absence of structural investment have resulted in major gaps in infrastructure and service delivery across South Sudan and this situation has been exacerbated by recurring humanitarian crises. The country is one of the world's poorest and least developed.
The findings of the VAS were presented today at a launch event in Juba attended by the South Sudan Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and the IOM Regional Representative for East and Horn of Africa.
"This survey will be critical in informing reintegration and recovery strategies in South Sudan in the years to come, as we seek to transition support to returnees from humanitarian to development-like assistance," said IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission Vincent Houver.
The new VAS was funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
