Holding on Through Conflict
An analysis of key aspects of sponsored children’s lives before and during the current conflict in Sudan.
Sudan’s conflict has changed sponsored children’s lives in different and unexpected ways. Based on long-term data from over 80 sponsorship communities in the states of Guli, Kassala, and North Kordofan, this analysis shows a complex situation: resilience in the face of war in some places, decline in others, and clear regional differences.
Formal education attendance has mostly remained stable, and in some areas even improved, despite the ongoing conflict.
While there is no evidence of causality linked to Plan’s ongoing sponsorship work in the areas, it would be fair to argue that the long term presence of Plan, ongoing engagement with sponsored children and education projects among other things has contributed to this.
Progress is fragile
However, beneath this seeming stability, unsurprisingly warning signs remain that progress remains fragile and susceptible to decline. In Kassala, child health outcomes have worsened, and access to safe water sources has decreased sharply since the start of the conflict compared to a similar period before the onset of war.
Importantly, marriage as a reason for school dropout has notably risen among adolescent girls – a staggering 1.6 times increase than before the war. In contrast, North Kordofan shows improvements in health and water access. However, these results should be interpreted cautiously as the sample of participants interviewed during the war was smaller.
At the same time, the total number of children with disabilities has increased across all regions, indicating either greater vulnerability or better identification of disabilities during the crisis. Together, these findings present a story not of uniform decline, but of divergence: areas affected by the same national conflict are experiencing very different development outcomes for sponsored children.
The patterns highlighted raise important questions about protection, household coping strategies, gender impacts, and the long-term effects of ongoing instability.
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Holding On through conflict – report (english)
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