South Sudan RSRTF 

ObjectivesFund scope

The brutal civil war that erupted in December 2013 along with the drawn-out peace process have dominated the political and security contexts of South Sudan. Although implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) resulted in a marked reduction of large-scale political violence between the main conflicting parties, its implementation remains incomplete because of continued armed conflict in parts of the country. The faltering progress on the political level has done little to reverse the escalating humanitarian crisis and caused mass displacement and sustained economic decline, which are further exacerbated by natural hazards and the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance climbs each year and now equals more than two-thirds of the population.

The continued provision of essential, life-saving humanitarian assistance, therefore, must go hand in hand with programming that enables people to emerge from cycles of crisis and build their resilience to cope with and recover from future shocks. Consequently, humanitarian and development actors look to bridge the divide between meeting emergency needs and achieving development goals. Against this backdrop, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) launched the United Nations Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Reconciliation, Stabilization, and Resilience in South Sudan (RSRTF) in December 2018. Fund stakeholders provide strategic financing for integrated programmes that augment the destructive drivers of conflict and create more stable conditions for development and resilience objectives to be realized.

Drawing on the comparative advantages across UNMISS, RSRTF partners promote integrated violence reduction programming across the ‘Triple Nexus’ of humanitarian, development, and peace areas. By fostering stable political and security environments, the RSRTF reduces vulnerabilities that fuel escalating humanitarian needs in South Sudan and stimulating conditions for development and recovery. Through adaptive, complementary reconciliation, stabilization, and resilience efforts the intent is to pave the way for communities to realize the long-term economic and livelihood gains of sustained peace. The Fund approach reinforces sustainable and inclusive community driven programmes that strengthen existing capacities at national and local levels.

Strategic and results framework

The programmatic framework reflects mutual priorities of UNMISS and the UNCT in South Sudan. It draws upon the overarching strategic documents of the 2019-2021 UN Cooperation Framework (UNCF) and UNMISS Strategic Vision 2021-2024. The RSRTF approach embodies the vision of the United Nations reform process to realize cohesive approaches of organization across the ‘Triple Nexus’ and working together to capitalize on respective comparative advantages to achieve collective outcomes.

The RSRTF promotes integrated programming built around three essential elements:

• Reconciliation: Rebuild trust and confidence, strengthen social cohesion, and promote peaceful coexistence through gender and age-sensitive communal conflict prevention, management and resolution.
• Stabilization: Broaden participation in and enhance space for peaceful political processes, strengthen the social contract between citizens and the state, and support restoration of security, the rule of law and access to justice.
• Resilience: Invest in capacities, assets and opportunities that foster interdependency between communities, deter the mobilisation of at-risk youth and promote social integration, equality, agency and self-reliance to realize peace dividends that shift incentives and raise the cost of resorting to violence. 

The RSRTF intends to reduce violence and conflict in hotspots and marginalized areas of the country. Through area based programmes, RSRTF partners work to reduce the social acceptance of violence while simultaneously nurturing a conducive environment where peace can be sustained. Building on existing efforts to bridge community divisions, the approach ensures hard-won political gains and reconciliation initiatives are reinforced through tangible actions that deliver on the communities’ reconciliation, stabilization, and resilience priorities. Area based programmes foster a more conducive peacebuilding environment in South Sudan with smaller thematic grants funding offered through the Fund. This thematic funding allows for a nimbler application of financing within a shorter implementation timeframe to react to windows of opportunity and deliver quick impact, as well as strengthen existing programmes through the allocation of funds addressing thematic gaps and priorities.

GovernanceGovernance arrangements

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Steering Committee

Provides strategic guidance and oversight of the Trust Fund. Committee members identify priority areas and review proposals submitted by potential partners. Chaired by the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General (DSRSG), Humanitarian Coordinator, and the United Nations Resident Coordinator, the Steering Committee is also comprised of representatives from the UNCT, UNIMISS, donor countries, the Secretariat, and NGOs. The Committee makes decisions by consensus.

Trust Fund Secretariat

Hosted by the Office of the DSRSG, the Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Trust Fund. It provides technical and administrative support to the Steering Committee and follows up on all aspects of Fund resource allocation and project cycles.

Area Reference Groups

Area Reference Groups are comprised of representatives from the United Nations, local authorities and communities, and partnering organizations. They undertake community and stakeholder consultations, assess context specific needs, risks, and capacities, recommend funding priorities, and review and assess fund requests submitted by partners.

Administrative Agent

Funds are routed by way of a pass-through mechanism. Participating Organizations receive funds through the Administrative Agent, the Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) Office. The Administrative Agent is responsible for the receipt, administration and management of contributions from donors, disbursement of funds to Participating Organizations, and consolidation and dissemination of progress reports to donors. 

Managing Agent

UNDP, in its capacity as Managing Agent, ensures that NGOs are able to access the South Sudan RSRTF by providing oversight functions and ensuring that project implementation is in line with Fund rules, regulations, directives and procedures.

Implementing Partners

The Fund acts as a pass-through mechanism, transferring resources directly to Participating United Nations organizations that have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Administrative Agent. Each Participating Organization assumes full programmatic and financial accountability for funds disbursed by the MPTF Office. 

Projects

South Sudan RSRTF

South Sudan RSRTF is currently supporting count_projects ongoing projectscount_globalInterregional and count_countries country-specific. This table shows the most recently approved ongoing projects.

All project financial information can be found in the Financials section, including delivery analysis by organization, theme and project; project financial status by country and by theme.

South Sudan RSRTF

Results

Using a whole-of-system methodology, the South Sudan RSRTF pioneers approaches that address peacebuilding and stabilization concerns while supporting communities in realizing economic and livelihood gains. Reconciliation, stabilization and resilience efforts help communities build and sustain peace and stability in South Sudan.

In this section you will find the latest editions of reports that detail Fund performance and results. In most cases, results are presented according to SDG contributions, signature indicators, and Fund outcomes.

ContactsPoints of contact

Policy and Programme 

Fund Secretariat
Charlotte Ashley, Email: ashley@un.org

Fund Administrative Agent

Bavo Christiaens, Fund Portfolio Manager, Email: bavo.christiaens@undp.org
Varqa Abayneh, Programme Associate, Email: varqa.abayneh@undp.org
Jacqueline Carbajal, Finance Associate, Email: jacqueline.carbajal@undp.org