SOUTH SUDAN

South Sudan is a country located in north-east Africa it is has a population estimated 11.1 million people.

The prolonged conflict in South Sudan has severely affected the life of South Sudanese, and children are among the most vulnerable group. As a result, there are thousands of vulnerable children living and sleeping in streets including orphans, unaccompanied and separated children. Most children living in the streets do not have access to basic needs. They are at high risk of abuse and exploitation. Quite often, families facing hardship and extreme poverty are resorting to extreme measures to provide for their families. Such measures include examples of some families sending their children to work to pay school fees (although primary education is compulsory and free in South Sudan) or dropping out of school due to numerous reasons. Some orphans are often treated badly and are often beg in streets. In addition, many such vulnerable children may lack appropriate parental care. Some studies have been conducted in various states within South Sudan on the situation of children living on the streets, but no actual data have been gathered on the numbers, ages, ethnicity and root causes for the children being in the streets/market. There is no recent information on what could be done to prevent children from leaving their families and protect the children from exploitation and abuse. There is a need to investigate challenges experienced by the vulnerable children and to find out what would be appropriate, holistic, or alternative forms of care that could benefit these children.

South Sudan has at least 2.2 million out of school children with thousands more at risk of dropping out. The number of out ofschool childrenin South Sudan has increased in recent years and this trend is projected to continue, reaching over 2.4 million in the next two years if no efforts are made, The researchers  further identified that the vulnerable children living and sleeping in the streets were identified as among the most disadvantaged children in the country.