South Sudan — Inter Sectoral Needs Assessment Report- Rural Component (September 2022)

The overall objective of the 2022 humanitarian Inter-Sectoral Needs Assessment (ISNA) is to collect and analyze data on household needs and vulnerabilities, displacement and migration history, shelter and non-food items (SNFI), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, education, protection - including gender-based violence (GBV), child protection - humanitarian assistance and social cohesion.

A total of 8,706 individual household members (hereinafter referred to as 'the survey respondents' or 'respondents') across South Sudan's 10 states and Abyei Administrative Area (here in referred to as 'Abyei') participated in the assessment. Among the total, 53.8 per cent were host community members, 23.9 per cent were returnees, and 22.3 per cent were IDPs. The reported average household size is 8.7 persons per household. The survey targeted heads of the household, but in their absence, an individual household member answered on their behalf.

Gender and age disaggregated data revealed that 57.7 per cent of households were female-headed and 42.3 per cent male-headed. A higher share of female-headed households may indicate that adult men are not present within that household, seeing that women are not usually considered heads of a household even if they are the main economic contributors, unless there are no adult men living in the house.

In seven states and in Abyei Administrative Area, the share of female-headed households was higher than male-headed households (more than 50%), and Central Equatoria (46.2%). Among all respondents, the average age was 40 years, and the majority (85.8%) were married, while 8.6 per cent were widowed, 4 per cent were single and less than 2 per cent were divorced or separated. Overall, 93.4 per cent of respondents reported having at least one child under the age of 18 in their household, 88.5 per cent reported having at least one child aged 5 years or younger.

Across each state, the highest share of widowed household heads was in Eastern Equatoria State, comprising 15.2 per cent of the state's respondents, and the highest share of single household heads was in Western Equatoria State, comprising 13.1 per cent of the state's respondents.