Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with other donor countries about the case for innovative funding arrangements to meet long-term humanitarian needs in South Sudan.

The UK has led conversations with other donors on improving linkages between humanitarian and development programmes, and ways to increase self-sufficiency and resilience among populations who are in need of humanitarian assistance. With our partners we are looking to fast track and implement innovative ways to stimulate markets to address food insecurity and build livelihoods, link development programmes in health and education with humanitarian provision of these services, and improve co-ordination in-country between humanitarian and development planning and provision.

Within the £150m in humanitarian support already pledged by the UK in response to the crisis in South Sudan this year, and supplemented by our development support to basic services and livelihoods, the UK is introducing new elements that facilitate a move away from reactive emergency responses to those that strengthen communities’ and households’ own efforts to reduce hunger and the need for humanitarian assistance. This portfolio includes investments in food and livestock production, stimulating weak food markets in urban centres, and enhancing roads that link communities with markets and basic services.