The British Embassy and the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have emphasized the urgent need for collaborative efforts to tackle South Sudan’s escalating food insecurity.
Peggitty Pollard-Davey, representing the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) expressed the sentiments during the release of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report in Juba on Monday.
“Humanitarian assistance alone can’t meet or solve all of the needs,” she remarked.
She acknowledged the key role of international aid, but stressed that systemic change was essential to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition.
The IPC report reveals that 6.3 million people in South Sudan were facing crisis-level acute food insecurity or worse.
Pollard-Davey highlighted the UK’s commitment to supporting the IPC process, calling it the “gold standard” for food security and nutrition analysis globally.
“We saw first-hand the openness and collegiality with which all participants engaged in the work,” she noted.
Pollard-Davey urged the South Sudanese government to increase investments in agriculture, health, nutrition, education, and other key sectors, emphasizing that such steps were vital to improving food security.
“We ask the Government to improve the enabling environment… ensuring the safety of aid workers, sustainable access to land, services, and markets based on peace and security,” she said.
She also pointed to the economic challenges as barriers to progress, suggesting, “potentially looking at the exchange rate so that it better reflects the market”, to maximize the impact of limited resources.
“This latest IPC analysis, alongside other sources of data and evidence, will be invaluable in supporting decision-making and efforts to help aid get to where it is most needed. But we must all take steps towards increasing people’s responsibility to support themselves and to move away from reliance on international assistance,” she said.