The brief draws on a joint convening held in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2025, which brought together more than 45 Sudanese and South Sudanese participants representing more than 30 grassroots organizations and international NGOs. Its primary objective is to amplify the perspectives of national civil society actors and ground policy recommendations in lived humanitarian realities. Both countries face intersecting human rights and humanitarian crises of unprecedented scale, marked by acute food insecurity, mass displacement and the erosion of basic services.
A central driver of this crisis has been the sharp contraction of international aid. In early 2025, a global ‘stop work’ order issued by the US government effectively ended decades of USAID-supported programming, with immediate and severe consequences in both Sudan and South Sudan. Frontline actors report rising starvation, preventable deaths, job losses and worsening mental health outcomes. Multilateral agencies, including UNHCR, WHO and UNICEF, have also been heavily affected. Only a small fraction of the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plans for both countries has been funded, at a moment when Sudan’s conflict remains unresolved and South Sudan faces renewed risks of large-scale violence.
Despite these conditions, the brief highlights a significant but under-recognised source of resilience: the demonstrated capacity of grassroots and community-based humanitarian responses. Across both countries, local actors have mobilized socio-cultural support systems, diaspora networks and digital platforms to deliver food, shelter and medical assistance in contexts where international organizations could not operate. These initiatives reflect long-standing traditions of mutual aid, adapted to contemporary crises, and show clear potential to form the backbone of future humanitarian models if adequately supported rather than marginalized by international frameworks.
The current trajectory, however, carries profound risks. Continued aid contraction threatens to deepen famine conditions, accelerate the collapse of fragile health systems, increase displacement and outward migration, and exacerbate regional and global instability. Reduced humanitarian presence also heightens the risk of political fragmentation, armed group recruitment, protection gaps and widespread civilian abuses. As these pressures intensify, the human, political and financial cost of delayed or reactive responses will rise significantly.
The brief concludes that while reductions in international assistance may be unavoidable, abandonment is not. There is an urgent need to manage this transition responsibly, transparently and in partnership with national actors. Decades of humanitarian investment carry moral and practical obligations, including the duty to plan withdrawals collaboratively, communicate clearly and phase changes in ways that preserve dignity and hard-won gains. Frontline actors call for sustained dialogue among regional and international policymakers, grassroots organizations and national authorities to navigate this transition in line with shared values of localisation, sustainability and accountability. Failure to act proactively, the brief warns, will only defer and intensify the humanitarian crises that lie ahead.
