A contribution of US$288.5 million from the United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will help to support more than two million of the most food-insecure people in South Sudan with life-saving food and nutrition assistance through the 2023 lean season, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced.

South Sudan is facing one of its hungriest years since independence with 7.76 million people expected to be in crisis or worse levels of hunger (IPC3+). The lean season – the period between household food stocks running out and the next harvest – falls between April and August in South Sudan.

“A fourth year of record flooding, rising costs of food and energy, and ongoing conflict are disrupting lives and livelihoods and threatening to push millions of families further into hunger,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP’s Country Director in South Sudan. 

“This generous contribution comes at a critical time as we race to dispatch food assistance to the most remote areas ahead of the lean season. Receiving funding in advance means we can act earlier to prevent families from falling into more severe levels of acute hunger when shocks strike,” she says.

The announcement of the funding for WFP’s 2023 humanitarian response was made during a visit to USAID and WFP-supported projects in Aweil, where delegates met with women and children at the Gabat Nutrition Site. The event was attended by Michael J. Adler, the US Ambassador to South Sudan, Kate Crawford, the USAID Mission Director in South Sudan, H.E. Mrs. Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior, Vice President of South Sudan and Head of Gender, Youth and Humanitarian Cluster, H.E. Tong Akeen Ngor, Governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, and Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP’s Country Director in South Sudan.

The contribution from the United States will support the delivery of food to more than 2.2 million severely food-insecure women, children, and men across South Sudan through 2023. As the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance grows, sustainable funding from donors is more critical than ever to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).