Jun 18, 2025
Since its independence in 2011, South Sudan is still grappling with instability, uncertainty, and political division. The situation is worsened by ongoing intercommunal violence, military confrontations, regional conflicts, economic decline, disease outbreaks and the impacts of climate change, all of which intensify the hardships faced by civilians.
Measuring protection severity has proved effective for understanding the rapidly changing situation in South Sudan. Below are some examples of when protection risk mirrored events on the ground, allowing the Protection Cluster to respond quickly and appropriately.
Over 24,000 people of Maiwut county were affected by the 2024 flash floods, out of which 8,850 were displaced from April to September raising overall protection severity from 3 to 4. Residents were displaced when heavy rains submerged their homes and destroyed crops, leaving them in dire need of humanitarian aid. An assessment was conducted by locally engaged humanitarian actors who found that the immediate needs were shelter, non-food items, health services, and WASH materials.
Give the urgent nature of the response needs and heavy potential for the increase of GBV and other risks targeting the most vulnerable, including children and the elderly, the Protection Cluster members delivered services to over 15,000 people in Maiwut effectively reducing the initial overall protection risk. Risk assessments following the response saw a decrease in overall severity from 4 to 3.
From October-December 2024, Luakpiny/Nasir County, South Sudan, experienced conflict-related incidents, including clashes in Nasir town between armed civilians and SSPDF over the fishing rights, resulting in 17 deaths, injuries, displacement, and property damage. Violence escalated between January-March 2025 with SSPDF and White Army confrontations, causing further casualties and displacement. Over 17,000 people were displaced, straining resources. Risk assessments spiked from 4 to 5.
Humanitarian access remains a challenge, exacerbating protection risks. The Protection Cluster, with other clusters and OCHA, are mobilizing SSHF and CERF funding to mitigate risks through a "funds to follow the people" approach. UNICEF delivered child protection services, including psychosocial support and family tracing, while UNFPA distributed dignity kits and managed GBV referrals. NGOs such as DRC and Nile Hope led community-based protection outreach. Due to limited access, partners used flexible mobile approaches, funded through SSHF and CERF under the “funds follow the people” model. While the county itself remains inaccessible and risks are high, by mitigating effects for the people at their place of displacement, their protection risks were diminished.
The Protection Cluster’s Protection Risk Monitoring System (PRMS) was built upon lessons learned from previous efforts at protection monitoring. Below we explain how the PRMS improves the way protection partners can understand and measure protection risk.
A lot of time spent negotiating a questionnaire with questions agreed by all partners.
All data collected relates to the 15 protection risks causing the most harm.
The agreed questionnaire is for households and/or key informants by all partners.
Information on these 15 risks can be collected in any number of ways (e.g. Interviews, households, assessments, focus groups, observiation expert analysis) or through secondary data.
Data collection is limited to specific partners and to specific times, i.e. monthly, quarterly, etc.
Information is collected as needed on a rolling basis by dedicated partners, as well as through existing mechanisms and data collection.
Key findings limited to the # of people who answered these questions the same.
All information collected through various means can be analyzed together to understand the level of harm people are facing. i.e. severity of risk.
Note: Built on the Protection Analytical Framework, PRMS gathers firsthand data on threats like violence, family separation, and access barriers. South Sudan is also supporting its rollout in other countries.
The Protection Risk Monitoring System (PRMS) was tested with communities beginning in 2022. In September of 2023, the Humanitarian Coordinator officially endorsed the PRMS as the definitive source of protection data in South Sudan. It now informs protection programming and guides responses based on people’s lived experiences. In 2024, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has updated its Policy on the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons, whereby protection risk monitoring and assessment stand at the core of humanitarian programming.
One of the most important outputs of the PRMS is how it allows the Protection Cluster to understand the number, location and profile of:
People affected, People at risk, People in need, People targeted for assistance, and People reached
These categories form the basis of the humanitarian response plan, the most important planning and advocacy document in the humanitarian response.
In the case of South Sudan the numbers break down as follows:
The PRMS also supports advocacy by serving as the evidence base for Protection Analysis Update and Protection Monitoring (PROMO) Spotlights, which offer an in-depth look at specific protection challenges that are thematic, geographical, time-sensitive, or related to crises.
South Sudan. A UNHCR staff member going through protection and monitoring activities, 20 March, 2025, ©UNHCR/Reason Moses Runyanga
The success of the PRMS is guiding the development of similar systems and capacities around the world. The Global Protection Cluster has introduced the specific analysis of protection risks in 19 humanitarian operations and it is supporting the roll out of similar collective and harmonized protection monitoring systems. The map below shows where similar information about the 15 protection risks is now available.
Lessons from the overlapping crises in South Sudan have informed a global shift in how protection is monitored focusing more precisely on the actual effects of crises on people’s lives—based on how individuals perceive and describe threats, related vulnerabilities and capacities. A shared approach now guides data and information collection, managing and use to amplify the voices of those in urgent, often life-threatening situations. Protection Analysis Updates (PAUs), developed by the Protection Clusters and partners and available here, reflect this shift through structured, people-centered narratives rooted in community perspectives. The map below shows where such updates are now available.
Distinguishing people at risk from those in need of assistance helps target humanitarian response more effectively—while aligning with broader development and peace efforts to tackle the drivers of risk and resulting needs.