On 1 June, the Country Representatives of FAO, UNICEF and WFP travelled to Kassala state to visit the Joint Resilience-Building Project (JRP) funded by the United Kingdon's Department for International Development (DFID). The aim of the visit was to provide the UN Representatives and State officials with an update on the implementation of the JRP, as well as to demonstrate the added value of the partnership between the state government, local communities, UN agencies and donors, in building resilience, empowering communities, accelerating progress and initiating a road map for sustainability in the region.

The Representatives visited a project site in Tendilay Village in Aroma locality, where they met with staff from a health centre opened through the JRP that provides villagers with access to health and nutrition services, with an emphasis on children under 5 years and their mothers. The delegation also visited a nearby women's centre that was initially built by FAO under the IFSP project in 2012. The women's centre is now being used by UNICEF, FAO and WFP to host more women's groups and trainings on food processing to improve household consumption and income-generation opportunities, as well as literacy classes and mother support groups. The Representatives also met with state officials and implementing partners to discuss implementation issues and bottlenecks, as well as the need for planning to ensure the sustainability of the impacts gained after the project's end in August 2017.

The JRP is a £13.3 million programme jointly implemented between FAO, UNICEF and WFP. The programme presents a coordinated, holistic approach to increase resilience by addressing the effects of flood and drought shocks on the health and nutrition status of women and children in four localities (Aroma, Hammashkoreb, North Delta, and Telkok) in Kassala state of Eastern Sudan. The JRP builds on the comparative advantages of the three agencies in order to implement a synergistic set of activities that will improve and strengthen communal and household-level resilience in targeted marginalized communities in Kassala state, so that they are better able to withstand recurrent and predictable shocks. FAO, WFP and UNICEF have been closely working with the Kassala Government in streamlining and harmonizing the food and nutrition policy framework and process within a comprehensive vision and approach to improving food and nutrition security.

At mid-term there is already evidence of success. FAO has already provided 6,732 smallholder agro-pastoralist households with goats, sheep and poultry to improve household consumption of nutritional foods and boost household income generation so that families are better able to meet their basic needs. FAO has also provided drought-resistant seeds and needed tools to 5,916 smallholder farmers to help them produce more nutritious food for home consumption and income generation. There has also been a marked shift in women’s participation and engagement in decision making within local structures such as the Village Development Committees. The JRP has also strengthened community capacity in responding to drought and flood shocks, through the construction of Gabion retaining walls to protect over 16,000 people particularly in Hameshkoreib and Maman El Masjid with access to water provided for some 2,700 beneficiaries and improved sanitation to over 6,000 people.

FAO and the entire UN in Sudan is committed to working together especially at state and locality level, in building resilience amongst vulnerable populations and strengthening communities, and hopes that the success of this initiative will serve as a prototype in paving the way for sustainable growth and development.