Executive Summary

After almost two years since the civil war began in April 2023 between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the conflict still represents a major security threat in Sudan with at least 18,916 direct fatalities, an estimated total death toll of 62,000 and over 33.000 injured people were reported. It also resulted in an acute humanitarian situation, particularly in protracted conflict areas. One of the most vulnerable population groups to this are children, with over 4.6 million fleeing their areas of residency with or without their families. By October 2024, the IOM indicated that over 53% of the total IDPs in Sudan are children, making the Sudan conflict the underlying cause of the world's largest internal displacement crisis. Due to limited humanitarian assistance, UNICEF estimates 14 million children are in need of essential services, including education and mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) but cannot receive it with the continuous conflict and difficult circumstances for MHPSS implementation.

This brief examines different implications on children due to the amplifying political tension and armed conflict that has started in Khartoum state and gradually extended to the other states. The focus is on psycho-social impacts of war on school-age children who were deeply affected due to the war since April 2023, especially in protracted conflict areas. The objective of the brief is to bring to light these findings and to provide relevant key recommendations for the humanitarian sector to support children’s education, protection and MHPSS response plans during the war.

The brief effectively employs evidence from both academic and grey literature to inform humanitarian actors and leaders about the Sudanese children’s psycho-social situation and key recommendations for addressing it, while also harnessing social sciences and on-field experience from key informants and representatives of the Sudanese civil society, including but not limited to humanitarian actors, education sector professionals, civilians, etc.

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