€16.5 million EU/UNOPS deal ‘to enhance food security and resilience in Sudan’

UNOPS* and the European Union have signed a €16.5 million agreement for implementation of the Enhancing Food Security and Resilience of Rural Communities in Sudan project. The announcement of this new project comes amid increased focus on food security in Sudan, crucially as all US-funded aid and programmes have been suspended in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025.

According to a UNOPS statement today, during the next four years, this project funded by the EU will contribute to sustainable livelihoods and food security in rural communities most affected by food insecurity, climate change and conflicts in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states in Eastern Sudan.

“The activities will focus on building capacities of smallholder farmers on agricultural and livestock value chains, climate-adapted practices and financial opportunities, to improve their productivity and resilience. Farmers, herders and pastoralists will benefit from better support in agro-ecological and climate-adapted information, mechanised equipment and market,” the UNOPS statement says.

Through provision of knowledge and skills, the project will create business opportunities and decent employment along priority agriculture and livestock value chains for youth, women and men including persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons, refugees, returnees and host communities.

The project will also focus on the rehabilitation or construction of the climate-resilient infrastructure to facilitate agricultural production and livestock management, linked to markets and basic services. This will contribute to the increased job opportunities for skilled and unskilled workers involving them through the cash for work modality, while the emergency cash-based support for food security will be provided to acutely food insecure target groups, UNOPS says.

“The conflict in Sudan has had a devastating impact on millions of people, pushing acute food insecurity to unprecedented levels and causing the world’s largest internal displacement crisis” said Ambassador Aidan O’Hara, Head of the EU delegation to Sudan.  “The European Union remains unwavering in its support to the Sudanese people during this conflict. This four-year  programme with UNOPs comes at a critical moment as people grapple to sustain their livelihoods amidst immense uncertainty.  By providing job opportunities, supporting farmers and people in rural communities to increase their productivity, access to water resources as well as access to markets, we hope this programme will support people to build sustainable livelihoods and more resilient future”

“UNOPS has been committed to supporting Sudan and its people for almost 20 years, so our partnership with the European Union shall bring tangible benefits to the small farmers and communities,” said Worknesh Mekonnen, Director of the UNOPS Multi-Country Office for Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan and Representative to the African Union. “Climate resilience will be the cross-cutting aspect of this project that would contribute to the communities to adapt their approach to agriculture.”

21 million people face famine in Sudan

The announcement of this new project comes amid increased focus on food security in Sudan, crucially as all US-funded aid and programmes have been suspended in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), “Sudan risks becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis in recent history as conflict continues to rage across the country, destroying livelihoods, infrastructure, trade routes and supply chains”.

“A protracted famine is taking hold – the only place in the world at this level of hunger – and without humanitarian assistance, hundreds of thousands could die.

Famine was first confirmed in August in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp and has since spread to four more areas. It is projected in five additional areas in North Darfur, between December and May 2025.

“A total of 24.6 million people (around half the population) are acutely food insecure, while 638,000 (the highest anywhere in the world) face catastrophic levels of hunger,” WFP stated at the end of last year.

In January, the United Nations launched the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), seeking $4.2 billion to address the urgent needs of nearly 21 million vulnerable people in Sudan. Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan (OCHA), emphasised that the humanitarian crisis has reached unprecedented levels.

*UNOPS, provides infrastructure, procurement and project management services to help build the future, and help increase the effectiveness of peace and security, humanitarian and development projects around the world.