Evaluation of WFP’s Corporate Emergency Response to the Sudan Regional Crisis

What worked, what didn’t and why

The evaluation found that WFP rapidly prioritized assistance for newly displaced populations, but access constraints initially limited support to those in hard-to-reach areas. WFP delivered vital large-scale assistance despite severe constraints, but with mixed food security and nutrition outcomes. Early efficiency was hampered by preparedness gaps and risk aversion but improved gradually over time.

The evaluation noted that highly politicized aid environment in Sudan, and insufficient WFP corporate leadership, hampered adherence to humanitarian principles in Sudan. WFP played a key role in enabling the inter-agency response to the regional crisis, but the scale-up of the emergency response lacked coherence as a unified regional response and did not consistently receive the corporate attention it deserved. 

An overall scale-back of operations in Sudan is not yet appropriate but there is scope for a transition from emergency assistance to resilience activities in some areas.

What should WFP do?

The evaluation presents five recommendations, which address WFP’s response to the Sudan regional crisis and include corporate-level actions to improve other future responses. WFP should: 

1. Enhance its understanding of the effects of the Sudan crisis and its ability to prepare for and further respond to the ongoing emergency as well as other large-scale emergencies; 
2. Strengthen the way in which it manages the inherent dilemmas involved in implementing a principled humanitarian response in circumstances like those in the Sudan; 
3. Ensure that protection, conflict sensitivity, population groups experiencing greater access barriers and accountability to affected people are central to the design, implementation, monitoring and oversight of activities; 
4. Reform approaches and systems to enable more meaningful localization of its assistance in the Sudan and neighbouring countries; and 
5. Adapt programming and planning for scale-down and a shift towards durable solutions and resilience initiatives.