Telling the ECSA Story

Amach Elizabeth is a 28-year-old mother of two children; (4 months and 8 years old daughter) and a resident of Any Idi village in Bor.  Growing up with her siblings, Elizabeth says life was tranquil, since her parents were supportive, they endeavored to give them the opportunity to study in schools of their choice. However, during South Sudan conflict with the North, Elizabeth and her family were forced to flee their home in Bor in 2001 and they resettled in Yei IDP where she completed her senior four at St. Joseph’s Secondary School in 2014. All was well until Mary lost her parents and the support for her education ended since her relatives had limited resources to further her education. This led to Mary’s eventual dropping-out of school. “My real challenges started when I lost both of my parents and elder brother. My father died in 2011, elder brother in 2013 and mother in 2015.” explains teary Amach. Despite her challenges, Elizabeth progressed against odds. With support fr...

  Nyanyang with her daughter Nyanyang Marial is a 25 year old mother of two children. She used to reside in a PoC in Bentiu. In 2018, she returned to Koch when the country got some peace and she settled in Bhang village. Like many vulnerable community members, Nyanyang struggles to take care of her children and depends on her mother and brother for support. “I used to depend on my brother and mother. Both could provide me with financial support but the support couldn’t even sustain the children. It was not easy whenever my children fell sick. I could find it difficult to seek medical care beyond what the government is able to offer. We could only afford one meal in a day. I couldn’t even think of the luxury of clothes or nutritious meal,” she said. Nyanyang is physically challenged but that is not a barrier for her to work. Out of the little money she got as support, Nyayang joined a group of women to jointly start a business of buying and retailing of dry fish in Bhang durin...

T o many it’s just a box but for Nyamal and many other women in Koch and South Sudan, it holds the key to their economic success and empowerment. “ I feel really overjoyed to have benefited from the first cycle. This is unbelievable to have received 40,000 SSP worth 100 USD of my savings just in the first circle.” says a mesmerized 38-year-old Nyamal. This is a key milestone for Nyamal. With her proceeds, she was able to buy for herself and children a cow. Her success attracted two more women to join the savings group which filled the gap that was earlier created by the former group members of the first cycle. With the VSLA saving methodology introduced by CARE International, Nyamal is a testament to the change in lifestyle of participants. “If it hadn’t been for this savings group, I would have extravagantly squandered my dividends daily without putting it into proper use. When I bought the cow, this motivated my neighbors. They recently asked me to convince the other VSLA gro...

Awiel Jok in her shop Awiel Jok Mag ot, 27, is a mother of three children; aged 5, 3, and 2 years old sons. She runs a small-scale business in Hai Machuwar Market, in Bor County. Awiel dropped out of school in primary seven, and she decided to get married in 2015 due to peer influence. Unfortunately, her marriage life was short lived as she lost her husband last year. The lack of support from her in-law’s side forced Awiel to leave her matrimonial home and return to her parent’s house. Together with her children Awiel lives in her parent’s house with six other siblings. “I moved to my father’s house after my husband died due to long illness in 2020.” she says. With nowhere to run to, her father was the only hope. While at the parent’s house, Awiel got all the support she needed. First, she was introduced to a small business of selling chewing gum to generate some income, she started with just two packets of chewing gum. With the proceeds from the chewing gum, she bought powdered man...

Rhoda is a 32-year-old mother of four children. She stays in Rier village located in Koch County with her four children (2 boys and 2 girls) and her elderly husband in his 70’s and other relatives. Due to his advancing age, Rhoda’s husband is unable to cater for his family. As a result, Rhoda bears the burden of supporting the family solely. “I started my tea business with distress after failing to find answers to my family needs.” she said. “My children need clothes, school fees, food and other needs and my husband is now 70 and he hasn’t been able to feed the family for the last 10 years, it has always been me struggling.” Amidst difficulty of raising capital to start her tea business, Rhoda convinced the husband to let her sell off their only cow which he agreed to. In 2016 during the South Sudan crisis, Rhoda started her business with a capital of 25,000 SSP which she made from the cow sale. She used the money to buy utensils such as a kettle, cups, tables, sugar, and food for th...

Simanjiro district is one of the very dry areas in Manyara region with unreliable source of water and long-term dry seasons because of climate change effects. As the changes continue, it is critical for stakeholders to improve their management of climate variability, change and uncertainties to be able to develop approaches for resilient livelihoods adaptation. Stakeholders need to access climate information and gain the knowledge for informed decisions while in planning processes.  CARE International in Tanzania is implementing Our Land Program II, which aims at addressing climate change issues with a focus on building local community’s capacity and systems to support resilience and adaptation in Olchoronyori, Korongo and Magadini villages. This is done through Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), a mechanism for collective sharing and interpretation of seasonal modern climate forecasts provided by Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA). PSP brings together meteorologists, Gov...

On the anniversary of World Food Day which is observed every year on October 16 th , the world should celebrate resilient communities in South Sudan that continue to fight to survive amidst the impact of climate change, violence and displacement that disrupts livelihoods and the key driver for food insecurity.  Food is a basic human right which means everybody is entitled to enjoy the right to food however many can’t.   Across the globe, and South Sudan in particular hunger is one of the most significant causes of Malnutrition related death exacerbated every year due to the shortage of food as many vulnerable people can’t afford even a single square meal per day and women and children continue to bear the brunt. According to integrated phase classification (IPC)analysis released in October 2020 estimated 6.35 million people (52.6% of the population) to face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse acute food insecurity, of whi ch 2.102 million people faced Emergency (IPC Phase 4) acu...