South Sudan: Raising healthier, happier children at Makpandu Refugee Camp

Refugees at Makpandu Refugee Camp in Yambio, Western Equatoria State, are on the road to raising healthier, happier children. World Vision South Sudan Country Director Mesfin Loha recently visited the camp and met with refugees who have settled in the camp and made it their home.

"Refugees and host communities are engaging in food production and joining World Vision South Sudan in saying #ENOUGH to hunger and malnutrition,” Mesfin proudly shared.

Makpandu Refugee Camp in Yambio County in Western Equatoria State hosts refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Rwanda, and Sudan.

“The camp has become a center of excellence with an integrated, durable response to displaced people. They have high-quality and comprehensive health services and education programs, and community-managed farms,” stated Mesfin, “They have been consistently producing the best performing secondary students in the state."

Farming has been the primary source of livelihood in the camp. As a result of the community participatory consultation in 2022, where refugee and host communities expressed their desire to develop and improve the agricultural land in the camp and requested World Vision and the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in South Sudan, for support, two tractors were provided to the farmers, enabling them to develop the land more efficiently and increase their harvests.

The farmers are now piloting farming with the use of tractors as they prepare to engage in large-scale agriculture, which could have the potential to produce food not just for their community but also for the nearby communities in Yambio County.

World Vision South Sudan is the lead partner of UNHCR in the overall management of Makpandu Refugee Camp.