Impacts of early action support on lives and livelihoods in South Sudan: The Life in Bentiu Study – Final impact report

Background

South Sudan continues to face severe levels of violent conflict and climatic disasters, and households rely heavily on humanitarian assistance. In Bentiu, IOM and six other UN organizations have provided early action support under the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to prepare households against the risks of future floods and to mitigate their negative impacts. In addition to the provision of shelter materials, nonfood item support, WASH, and health kits, the agencies provided vulnerable households living in the informal camps in Bentiu with cash transfers equivalent to 65 USD in anticipation of unusually severe floods.

Impact evaluation design and data

The Life in Bentiu study assesses the impact of a onetime cash distribution provided by IOM to households in anticipation of the severe flood. We estimate the immediate and short-term effects of this cash support on households’ coping capacity against floods, food security, health, mental well-being, and life satisfaction. The study compares beneficiary and non-beneficiary households in three informal campsites in Bentiu (Bimruor, Kuermandoke, and Bieh) before and after the distribution of cash, and before and after the peak flooding period. In total, we collected panel data across four waves from 1,200 beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. The first three waves of data collection took place between August and October 2022, during the rainy season, which usually lasts from April to November, while the fourth wave of data was collected in March 2023, in the dry season and after the peak flood period in Bentiu.