About Us
The Crisis Coordination Unit (CCU)-Sudan is dedicated to strengthening locally led humanitarian response efforts in Sudan. Our initiative fosters collaboration between diaspora organizations, local responders, international NGOs, and donors, ensuring efficient and impactful crisis intervention. By serving as a central coordination hub, we enhance partnerships, streamline aid efforts, and empower local actors to lead humanitarian initiatives effectively.
Summary
The CCU-Sudan presents a one-stop shop for coordinating support between local mutual aid responders, diaspora groups, NGOs, and donors, tangibly supporting and enhancing the locally led humanitarian response in crisis contexts.
CCU Sudan will operate across the following pillars:
- Information and resource hub
- Partnerships and collaboration
- Technical support and capacity building
- Research, learning and sharing best practice
- Advocacy and communication
The CCU Sudan is not intended to coordinate operations on the ground in Sudan. Through its innovative approach to information management, it will enable an equitable response to humanitarian support across stakeholders that recognise the leadership of local actors.
Background
Since April 2023, Sudan has faced an unprecedented humanitarian crisis driven by the devastating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Over half the population—30.4 million people—now require urgent humanitarian assistance, including 16 million children. This crisis has led to widespread displacement, with 12 million people forced to flee their homes, making Sudan one of the largest displacement crises globally. Among them, 8.9 million are internally displaced, while over 3 million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
Despite being the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis, the country’s global funding appeal remains only 60 percent met, in addition to the current funding cuts from USAID, which accounts for 47% of current funding for Sudan. Furthermore, the assistance provided has been unable to reach its intended recipients. Access challenges, ongoing violence, and the destruction of critical infrastructure have severely constrained the humanitarian response. These challenges have been compounded by limited access to affected populations due to insecurity, politicization/weaponization of aid by the conflicting parties and bureaucratic restrictions, significant funding gaps that leave critical needs unmet, capacity constraints among local and international actors, and coordination issues within the complex humanitarian ecosystem.
These barriers have severely limited the response at the scale and speed required to address the humanitarian need. Furthermore, 2025 has seen significant geopolitical humanitarian financing realignments. The dismantling of USAID poses a considerable threat to the continuation of humanitarian support in Sudan. For example, more than 70-80% of the funding for mutual aid groups has been cut. A new approach is needed to secure long-term support and resourcing to meet the ever-growing needs of the Sudanese population.
Rationale
While various international coordination mechanisms exist, there has been a significant gap in supporting and amplifying the voices of the diaspora and local responders at the forefront of the crisis. There has been a persistent issue with international humanitarian coordination mechanisms engaging diaspora and local responders. In the Sudanese context, this has effectively resulted in no international coordination with those at the sharp end of the crisis. It is as if there are two responses to the crisis: the severely constrained international effort and the hyper-local and diaspora-led response.
The Sudan Crisis Coordination Unit (SCCU), piloted in 2023, was an attempt to bridge this gap. It aimed to enable international humanitarian organisations to engage equitably with diaspora and local responders. It sought to bridge realities and provide a space where information and resources could be exchanged and leveraged to bolster the humanitarian response in Sudan. The Crisis Coordination Unit – Sudan builds on the SCCU approach to develop the institutional framework for more effective coordination in service to local frontline responders.
The pilot phase saw the team engage and collaborate with local actors in Sudan, including the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and those displaced to neighbouring countries. This provided a platform for local humanitarian actors to document and map interventions. Critical to this process were diaspora humanitarian actors and their ongoing collaborations with local community groups and networks. In tandem, the framework of the SCCU enabled open dialogue and trusted engagement with the wider humanitarian sector, supporting the flow of resources to local actors and networks. There have been ongoing engagements with local responders and significant buy-in through the different initiatives.
Over six months, the SCCU mapped and analysed the response efforts of local actors and their diaspora partners, developed a localisation framework, and provided local responders with training and upskilling to support and improve their response. It established dialogue and collaborations between diaspora organisations, local responders, and international organisations, facilitating over $800,000 in financing from international donors to local groups in Sudan.
The SCCU as an operational entity could not be sustained beyond the pilot period, resulting in the loss of momentum and an opportunity to solidify an approach to humanitarian response that responds to systemic needs. Since the end of the pilot, stakeholders have continued to support efforts as best they can, leading and participating in advocacy efforts, training and building the capacity of local groups and continuing to build the evidence base on the situation faced by local humanitarian responders and diaspora organisations in their response. The lack of sustained financial support has severely hampered these efforts.
Alongside the SCCU, other initiatives exist to facilitate operational coordination on the ground. These remain critical in supporting the response. The Localization Coordination Council (LCC) manages financial governance for the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) with its nine national organisation members and state representatives. UNOCHA oversees broader humanitarian coordination within the traditional humanitarian architecture. These stakeholders worked closely with the SCCU and were appreciative of the role it was able to fulfil. They acknowledge the way the SCCU was able to neutrally position itself, shielding local actors from external pressures and supporting them to navigate the humanitarian architecture in a way that enabled them to focus on the needs of communities within Sudan. Conversely, the SCCU provided international stakeholders and institutional entities with a clear understanding of the situation on the ground and a cost-effective approach to setting out strategies and operationalising support.
The continued engagement of these stakeholders means that the CCU-Sudan is well positioned to strengthen the work of existing platforms and ensure that local actors are integrated into the wider ecosystem and international actors are aligned with the local humanitarian realities. What sets CCU-Sudan apart, and what was highlighted through the SCCU phase, was the need for coordination across the ecosystem. There is a continued and growing need for a centralised information platform for all the varied actors engaged in the response. The CCU-Sudan exists as a mechanism for bolstering and complementing existing structures by improving information flows and coordination and enabling greater efficiency with limited resources.
As a standalone entity with a dedicated team, CCU-Sudan is able to continuously adapt based on direct feedback from local and diaspora humanitarian actors, ensuring their needs and voices define the response. This position was highlighted as a significant attribute of the SCCU, allowing it to effectively bridge the gap between international humanitarian systems and ground-level responders. The CCU-Sudan seeks to embed and institutionalise this approach. By consolidating the learnings from the SCCU pilot phase and the work undertaken during the intervening period, CCU-Sudan will strengthen partnerships between diaspora organisations, local actors, and international partners.
Objectives
The CCU-Sudan represents a one-stop shop for the coordination of activities between local mutual aid responders, diaspora groups, international and national NGOs, and donors, enhancing and tangibly supporting locally led humanitarian response in crisis countries. Its mission extends beyond immediate coordination – it aims to transform humanitarian response in Sudan by documenting best practice, sharing knowledge across the humanitarian sector, and creating sustainable support systems for local humanitarian actors in the years ahead.
Objective 1: Information and Resource Hub
A central information resource and site of connection for diaspora and local humanitarian responders and the wider international humanitarian system.
The information and resource hub serves as the foundation for the entire framework. It is a centralised platform that gathers, organises, and disseminates critical data and resources to diaspora organisations, local responders, and international partners. This hub ensures that all stakeholders have access to accurate and timely information, which is essential for effective decision-making and coordination. By providing a shared knowledge repository, the hub supports the development of partnerships, enables capacity-building initiatives, and informs research efforts. Additionally, it acts as a source of evidence and stories that can be used to amplify local voices through advocacy and communication efforts. The hub is not just a static repository but a dynamic resource that evolves with the needs of stakeholders, ensuring relevance and accessibility.
Objective 2: Partnerships and Collaboration
Facilitate and sustain dialogue and collaboration between diaspora organisations, local actors, and international partners around localisation issues and opportunities in Sudan.
Partnerships and collaboration are at the heart of fostering trust and dialogue among diaspora organisations, local actors, and international partners. The CCU-Sudan focuses on creating meaningful connections that enable stakeholders to work together toward shared goals. By facilitating open communication and mutual understanding, partnerships help bridge gaps between different groups and ensure local voices are included in decision-making processes. Collaboration strengthens the collective capacity of stakeholders, allowing them to pool resources, share expertise, and address challenges more effectively. These partnerships also create opportunities for shared learning and innovation, critical for improving humanitarian responses. Furthermore, unified partnerships amplify advocacy efforts, making them more impactful and ensuring that the needs and priorities of local actors are heard on a global stage.
Objective 3: Technical Support
Provide and facilitate technical support to Sudan crisis response stakeholders, in collaboration with technical partners.
Technical support and capacity building empower stakeholders with the skills, tools, and resources needed to respond effectively to the crisis. This objective focuses on strengthening the capabilities of local actors and diaspora organisations, enabling them to take a leading role in humanitarian efforts. By providing practical training, technical expertise, and access to resources, this objective enhances the ability of stakeholders to implement their solutions effectively. Moreover, such efforts generate valuable insights and case studies that contribute to the broader pool of knowledge. These efforts also empower local actors to advocate for their needs and priorities, ensuring they have a stronger voice in shaping policies and decisions. The CCU-Sudan will provide this support directly when possible or facilitate access to partners best suited to deliver specialised assistance.
Objective 4: Learning and Sharing Best Practices
Generate and share learning and best practices on localisation and mutual aid responses in Sudan.
Learning and sharing best practice focus on sharing insights that improve future strategies and responses. It emphasises the importance of evidence-based approaches, drawing on both systematic research and real-world experiences. By analysing data, conducting studies, and documenting lessons learned, stakeholders can identify what works and what doesn’t, leading to continuous improvement. The knowledge generated through this process is shared widely, ensuring that all stakeholders benefit from the insights and innovations. Research and learning is fed back into the information and resource hub, enriching it with new data and findings. Furthermore, evidence-based learning strengthens partnerships by providing a solid foundation for collaboration. It also informs advocacy efforts by offering compelling narratives and data highlighting the successes and challenges of localisation and mutual aid responses.
Objective 5: Advocacy and Communication
Develop and implement effective advocacy and communication strategies that amplify the voices of local actors and diaspora organisations.
Advocacy and communication amplify the voices of local actors and diaspora organisations, ensuring that their needs and priorities are heard and addressed. This objective focuses on developing and implementing strategies that influence policies, attract resources, and raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities in the Sudan crisis response. Advocacy efforts are grounded in evidence and stories from the information and resource hub, partnerships, and learning initiatives. By uniting stakeholders around common goals, advocacy campaigns have a more substantial impact and can drive systemic change. Communication strategies ensure that messages are clear, targeted, and effective, reaching the right audiences at the right time. This objective reinforces capacity-building efforts by securing funding and resources. Additionally, it amplifies the successes and lessons learned through research, inspiring further innovation and collaboration.
Outcomes
Increased dialogue and collaboration between diaspora organisations, local actors, and international partners around the issues and opportunities of localisation in Sudan.
Diaspora organisations and local actors’ increased capacity and confidence in applying humanitarian principles, standards, frameworks, and coordination mechanisms in their work.
Increased learning and implementation of best localisation practices from Sudan shared with diaspora communities and the wider humanitarian sector.
Increased sustainability of the CCU-Sudan, which, as a unit, can support the humanitarian response in Sudan for the coming months and years.
Conclusion
The Crisis Coordination Unit (CCU)- Sudan is here to serve Sudan today and to evolve for Sudan tomorrow.
It is a strategic, agile, and demand-driven initiative designed to address the most pressing needs of Sudan’s humanitarian ecosystem. Rooted in evidence and research, the CCU’s five objectives provide a clear roadmap for fostering collaboration, building capacity, amplifying local voices and ensuring that humanitarian responses are inclusive, effective, and localised.
This is not about individuals—it is about investing in solutions. The CCU-Sudan prioritises the objectives and roles that drive meaningful change, guided by clear procedures and high standards to ensure accountability and alignment. Every action is designed to complement and strengthen the broader humanitarian response, creating a responsive, impactful, and sustainable system.
However, the CCU cannot achieve this vision alone. We need your support to continue serving Sudan today and evolving for Sudan tomorrow. Your funding will enable the CCU to build on its foundation of evidence-based objectives, empower local actors, and create a more inclusive and effective humanitarian system. Together, we can ensure that Sudan’s crisis response is not only impactful but also adaptable to future needs.
Join us in investing in solutions. Support the CCU and help us build a better tomorrow for Sudan.
To keep up to date with the Crisis Coordination Unit Sudan, register here.
Activities
Develop advisory group
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Communication
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Mapping
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry
Advocacy
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry
Training
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Comments ( 0 )