/ Sudan

Sudan today

The long lasting civil war in Sudan has left 5.6 million people displaced; villagers and peasants have moved from the fields into the northern urban areas escaping the war. The population of Sudan is very young, with around 60 percent under the age of 15.

Approximately 37 percent of the population lives in urban areas, like Khartoum. The war along with HIV/AIDS separated and displaced families and has left many children as head of households, orphans, or living on the streets. Harsh living conditions, violence, drug abuse and war-related trauma considerably undermines any possibility of reintegrating these young victims back into society.

Once a child lives on the street, the probability of breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and illness through his or her own efforts is extremely small. Most of these children cannot access any form of educational programs. World Bank sponsored studies such as the Northern Sudan Education Assessment, clearly reveal the need for programs specifically targeting the reintegration of displaced children and the resulting need to offer them opportunities through non-formal educational programs.

Most official educational programs have not managed to reach marginal groups and have proven unable to attract and maintain displaced children in the classrooms, thereby clearly illustrating the inadequacy that such an approach has had on the overall reintegration of children into society.