A Practice Handbook: For family tracing and reunification in emergencies

Since the onset of the current phase of the South Sudan conflict in December 2013, nearly 3 million people have been displaced. Two million people have fled to neighbouring countries, and another 1.9 million others remain internally displaced. The ongoing conflict in South Sudan, combined with increasing food insecurity, as well as economic crisis, are contributing to heightened protection risks for children.

This sudden and unprecedented instability leads to separation as family members flee to places of safety without a clear destination in mind. In the process of the fleeing, children can often be separated from their parents. This happens particularly when conflict starts and children are out in the field grazing livestock or playing within the community and do not have time to get back home and flee together as a family.

Save the Children is the lead agency for Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) in South Sudan. The programme has achieved notable successes in the reunification rate, in reaching more locations and more children with their services. The documentation of this practical handbook is motivated by the successes that the FTR programme in South Sudan has achieved, and the need to document and disseminate the lessons learnt across Africa.