PLAN INTERNATIONAL SUDAN (PIS) COMPLETES FIELD SURVEY ON SCHOOL DROP-OUT FOR REFUGEE AND HOST COMMUNITY CHILDREN IN AL KHOWEY LOCALITY, WEST KORDOFAN – PIS and national partner ALAAN Charity Organization conducted home visits with 130 refugee and host community families in the locality to identify drivers of school dropout. The main reasons for dropout cited by families include: children needing to work to support household income; inability to cover costs of school fees and supplies; household responsibilities (i.e., the need to support sick parents and provide sibling care); and discrimination. These issues underscore the links between livelihoods gaps and education access for both refugee and host community children in West Kordofan. Protection and education partners are collaborating on ways to address these issues. Scale-up of diversified livelihoods interventions and education assistance to support school retention is needed.

UNHCR, the Office of the Prime Minster (OPM) and partner agencies today officially launched a communication system for refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda. The two-way communication system is being rolled out to all refugee settlements in Uganda and is anticipated to cover the entire refugee operation by February 2019.

Burundian refugee women and girls are suffering high levels of sexual and gender-based violence and exploitation. Makeshift and dilapidated shelters provide little protection.

Access to education beyond primary school is far from what it should be. Just 20% of secondary school-aged Burundian refugee children are enrolled in education.

2018 MARKS LOWEST RATE OF NEW ARRIVALS TO SUDAN SINCE START OF SOUTH SUDAN CONFLICT IN DECEMBER 2013 – Nearly 1,700 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Sudan in December, bringing the year-end total of new arrivals in 2018 to 33,117. This is below the revised annual arrivals estimate for 2018 of 50,000. Inter-agency partners estimate a maximum of 50,000 new arrivals in 2019.

UNICEF AND UNHCR COMPLETE 2nd ROUND OF NUTRITION CAMPAIGN IN WEST KORDOFAN STATE – The campaign is part of the accelerated nutrition action plan initiated in October following the outcomes of the 2018 Standardized Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS). Nearly 3,700 South Sudanese refugee children were screened, with referrals of malnourished and at-risk children made to local nutrition programmes for treatment. The action plan also integrates infant and young child feeding (IYCF) support, with over 2,700 pregnant and lactating women referred for IYCF counselling and supports. These campaigns have also been completed for refugee camps in White Nile State and targeted localities in South Kordofan State, as part of inter-agency efforts to scaleup the nutrition response to address critically high global acute malnutrition (GAM).

At the heart of Ethiopia's innovative new refugee framework is a more comprehensive response to displacement in which refugees are included in national services like health and education, rather than setting up parallel systems. It also focuses on ensuring refugees have the opportunity to be self-reliant and can contribute to local economies in a way that also benefits their hosts.

UNHCR welcomes Ethiopia’s historic new refugee law which will now allow refugees to obtain work permits, access primary education, obtain drivers’ licenses, legally register life events such as births and marriages and open up access to national financial services, such as banking.

The Government of Uganda, Partners in Development and UN agencies today launched the Health Response Plan that will ensure equitable access to quality health services for hundreds of thousands of refugees and host communities in Uganda.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) recently allocated DKK 10.5 million from Denmark’s Emergency Reserve Fund to support the South Sudan refugee situation.