A Social Assessment (SA) and Social Development Plan (SDP) is a disbursement requirement under the SANAD Environmental and Social Commitment Plan. The SA and SDP seek to assess the risks and impacts of the project on indigenous and vulnerable communities, including SubSaharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities, and to provide mitigation measures for those risks. The risks were identified through a desk-based research process, drawing on previous social assessment research for other World Bank, AfDB and USAID funded projects as well as a literature review and a small number of key informant interviews.
The legal review highlighted no affirmative action for minorities, and some stigmatization of religious minorities. Customary mechanisms managing land and governance structures prioritize ‘native’ tribes and create significant obstacles to ‘settler’ tribes, with the result that ‘settler’ tribes may be disproportionately more marginalized and impoverished vis-à-vis ‘native’ counterparts. The 8 states targeted by the project – Northern, River Nile, Kassala, Gederef, Red Sea, Blue Nile, White Nile and West Darfur – have a wide mix of ‘native’ and ‘settler’ tribes, and in some of these states there is significant conflict between some tribal groups. In some states the tribes are settled in specific geographical zones. There is a risk that the selection of localities may be misinterpreted as favouring certain tribes over others.
Women face major violations of their rights and freedoms which vary by tribe, with controls on women affecting their ability to leave the house / village, engage in consultation, access f inancial institutions, and benefit from this project. There are similarly variations in women’s ability to control / influence household expenditure. There is a risk that men may try to control the decision making over expenditure linked to transfers from this project. Or conversely that efforts to economically empower women through this project could result in tensions within the household.
There are over 11m IDPs in Sudan, of which approx. 1/3 were displaced prior to the outbreak of war in April 2023. Many have been displaced more than once. During 2024 Gederef, Blue Nile and River Nile received very large numbers of IDPs – Gederef and River Nile states have over 1m IDPs each.
