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Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
News article25 February 2021

Launch of the Sudan Family Support Program

Vulnerable Sudanese families started to be enrolled in the programme to receive their monthly allowance
© Sari Ahmed Awad / Prime Minister Office

On 24th February the launch of the Sudan Family Support Programme (SFSP) took place in presence of His Excellency Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok. EU Ambassador Robert van den Dool, was present at the ceremony together with other international partners, including EU Member States.

Team Europe (the EU together with 8 EU Member States: Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden) is the main sponsor, having pledged up to EUR 305 million. The EU contributes EUR 160 million, mainly through the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUR 93 million). The Sudan Family Support Programme is managed by the World Bank and implemented by the Sudanese government.

The SFSP is a cash transfer programme. It aims at mitigating the adverse effects of economic reform measures for the most vulnerable families in Sudan. They will receive monthly EUR 4 per family member (up to 5 members per family) over a period of 18 months. The rollout started now in the southern outskirts of Khartoum and will be expanded to South Kordofan, Red Sea State and Kasala over the coming days and weeks. The end goal is to reach 80% of the population - 32 million citizens.

The cash payments are linked to the national ID card number and the launch event was the start for the enrolment of eligible citizens to the programme so that they can receive the monthly payments. These registrations are setup in the civil registration offices in order to facilitate registration of citizens.

His Excellency Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdok considers this programme as “possibly the biggest achievement” of its transitional government so far. The programme is crucial as the humanitarian needs, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, continue to grow across the country: According to UNOCHA, 13.4 million people – more than a quarter of the population – will need humanitarian assistance throughout 2021. This is 4.1 million people more compared to 2020 and overall the highest number of people in need in Sudan over the past decade.

Details

Publication date
25 February 2021
Region and Country
Sudan
Thematic
Strengthening resilience of communities
Partner
World Bank

Programmes in the region