Humanitarian Minister Albino Akol. (-)

South Sudan’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Albino Akol Atak, has outlined significant obstacles hindering the country’s response to climate-induced disasters at an ongoing ministerial round table held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Speaking at the event themed “Everyday Counts: Act for Resilience Today,” focused on accelerating finance for disaster resilience, Minister Akol described the gathering as both timely and urgent.

He explained that institutional capacity gaps and the limited functionality of South Sudan’s National Emergency Operations Centre as major barriers to effective disaster management.

The minister raised concerns about the devastating impact of recurrent climate disasters, especially large-scale flooding, which displaces over one million people annually, damages infrastructure, disrupts services, and erodes development gains.

South Sudan is also grappling with prolonged dry spells and worsening food insecurity, which strain the population’s ability to cope.

Minister Akol emphasized the government’s commitment to addressing these challenges by shifting from reactive crisis management to proactive, risk-informed development approaches.

“South Sudan continues to benefit from collaboration with partners such as the African Union, IGAD, UN Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Bank, the International Federation of Red Cross, and the African Risk Capacity,” he said.

“These partnerships help us align with global frameworks like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. However, challenges remain, including institutional capacity gaps, a non-operational National Emergency Operations Centre, limited financing for disaster risk reduction, and reliance on traditional forecasting due to weak technical systems.

Akol told the roundtable that the government and partners are working to overcome these constraints and promote proactive resilience-building.”

The Ministerial Roundtable in Geneva aimed at accelerating financial support to enhance disaster resilience globally.