The armed conflict in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, rapidly escalated into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, leaving over 30 million people in need and creating the world's highest number of internally displaced persons. The near-total collapse of essential health and protection services has left women and girls acutely vulnerable to gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health risks.
This evaluation was undertaken by the UNFPA Independent Evaluation Office to reinforce accountability to affected populations and donors, and to provide the evidence to inform the ongoing response, future programming, and global humanitarian action.
The evaluation concludes that while UNFPA’s initial response was timely at the early onset of the crisis, momentum was later hindered by resource shortages, supply chain constraints, slow human resource deployment, and a limited risk appetite. While UNFPA’s response was effectively delivered through strong national partnerships and commitment to localization, there was insufficient investment in long-term capacity strengthening and resilience building. The evaluation also found that UNFPA established strong technical leadership in sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence coordination. However, its strategic influence and inter-agency advocacy remained partially under-leveraged.
As a way forward, the evaluation recommends actions to strengthen risk management and human resource agility, streamline supply chain management and monitoring protocols, and ensure the response remains adaptable and locally led while prioritizing the active participation and accountability of women and girls.
The Management Response and the Evaluation Quality Assessment will be available shortly.
