South Sudan has been going through an emergency level food crisis, with some parts in the
Greater Upper Nile region hit by famine. The Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification (IPC) classified the Food Security situation in the former states of Warrap
and Northern Bahr el Ghazal as the worst, with populations facing possible catastrophe,
emergency and crisis level food insecurity in NBEG since August 2016. In former
Northern Bahr el Ghazal state alone, severe food and nutrition insecurity may affect well over 60
percent of the population by July this year. Despite several food security and nutrition assessments conducted in these areas, specific casual determinants of acute malnutrition and food insecurity are not yet understood. Furthermore, conflict between nutrition and food security indicators has consistently been observed, with areas having poor nutrition indicators not necessarily having matching food insecurity indicators. The current study investigates using an in-depth qualitative enquiry the casual factors associated with food insecurity and livelihood vulnerabilities in the former states of Warrap and Northern Bahr el Ghazal—a retrospective analysis of events that have shaped livelihood change and the political economy in recent history. As food insecurity becomes widespread, exemplified by a fear of famine referenced earlier, the livelihoods story is required, outlining significant
changes and their resultant impact, to help plan appropriate response options over and above
those of preventing death and total collapse of the livelihoods or saving lives through livelihoods
provisioning and protecting livelihoods and reducing food consumption gaps.
