Getting it Right from the Start - Oxfam New Zealand

10 Ensure integrated programmingA woman receives local seeds of her choice in Warrap State, South Sudan. World Vision distributesseed coupons to help the community's poorest people buy seeds of their choice locally.© Abraham Nhial/World VisionThroughout the CPA interim period, humanitarian and developmentassistance in South Sudan has in large part consisted of single sectorinterventions, in many cases focused on the symptoms of a problemrather than addressing what is almost always a multiplicity of underlyingcauses. This is perhaps attributable to the multitude of challenges andcomplexities that have been described throughout this paper: an everchangingcontext that fails to sit neatly in a humanitarian, recovery ordevelopment box; an enormously challenging operating environment;and the difficulty of understanding the drivers and dynamics of theconflict.‘We’ve been doing the samething year after year afteryear in nutrition but thenutrition situation hasn’tchanged.’Nutrition cluster co-lead, Juba,June 2011.The limitations of this single sector approach are illustrated by theinternational effort to address malnutrition. Interventions in the „nutritionsector‟ have primarily focused on treatment – stabilisation centres,community therapeutic care, etc. 81 But malnutrition has a multiplicity ofcauses: poor water, sanitation and hygiene, poor infant and childfeeding practices, lack of dietary diversity, and inadequate access toprimary health care. If a program targets only one or two of theseunderlying causes, then the results of the positive initiatives that aretaking place will likely be undermined by a lack of intervention in other,related sectors. While the humanitarian situation in South Sudan hasgenerally improved throughout the CPA interim period, the prevalencerates of acute malnutrition have remained persistently high. 82Ensuring integrated programming is the responsibility of both donorsand implementing agencies. As acknowledged by one staff member inJuba, „it‟s not just the donors – we leap every time donor funding31