Rising from the Waters of Crisis in Unity

A widow and mother of seven, Nyaniet stood in shock as she realized the water had already risen to her chest. The family had no choice but to wade through the water and leave the village that had once been their refuge after escaping conflict. 

This was four years ago, when flooding in South Sudan was as its most devastating since the 1960s, rendering villages uninhabitable and farmland submerged, notably across Unity State where Rubkona County is located. Since then, flooding, driven by heavy rain and rising Nile River levels, has continued to batter the country each year. In 2025, over 1 million people were impacted by the disaster – 87 per cent of them in Jonglei and Unity states alone.  

Today, Nyaniet and her grown children, the youngest at 17 years old, live in one of five displacement sites in Bentiu, set up for flood victims and managed by the NGO Coalition for Humanity with support from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). At least 32,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) reside in these five sites (IDP Sites A to E), but numbers are constantly changing due to the literal fluidity of the situation.

“More families are still coming here due to flooding in other towns. People are now drinking swamp water because the water points are overcrowded,” explained Nyaniet, describing the living conditions in IDP Site A. 

Preventing towns and camps from drowning

To protect households in these sites and surrounding areas, dykes were constructed in 2021 in collaboration with the Government of South Sudan and development partners, and have since been regularly reinforced to manage rising water levels and reduce flooding risks.  

The work is shared among UN agencies. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) oversees the largest stretch of the dyke, covering the perimeter around Bentiu and Rubkona towns, the camps, markets and remaining inhabited areas. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) maintains the dyke and road around the airstrip, military barracks and other key zones, while the World Food Programme (WFP) protects essential supply routes, including roads linking Bentiu with Juba and Sudan.

When possible, communities take flood resistance into their own hands. In IDP Site D, a five-minute drive from Nyaniet’s home, a dyke committee was established three years ago, now comprised of 37 volunteer members - mostly women.

In case there is breakage in the dyke, members, geared in mud-caked rainboots, use shovels and other available tools to reinforce the structure with sandbags. If the damage is beyond their repair, they raise the issue with their NGO partner focal points.

“All members experienced their homes being flooded. They came here in water carrying their belongings on plastic sheets and risking snakebites,” said Martha, a member of the dyke committee and mother of five. 

“Once there was breakage in the dyke at 2 am, and we called each other right away to take action. There was no time to waste because the risk of water seeping through is high.” 

Solutions where climate and conflict collide

While severe flooding has led to new displacements, it also deepened the suffering of people already trapped in protracted displacement. Unity State hosts the largest number of IDPs across South Sudan, as well as the country’s largest displacement camp - Bentiu IDP Camp - where 109,000 people reside. Most were displaced by conflict over a decade ago. 

This year’s aid reductions have taken a heavy toll on camp residents, with cut-backs in food rations as well as health and sanitation services, resulting in mounts of trash and dirty, unusable latrines. 

According to an intention survey, 54 per cent of those surveyed in March 2025 expressed an intention to stay in the camp, stating security, access to food and shelter, as well as flooding in their areas of origin, as key factors influencing their decision to stay. At the same time, an increased number of people have voiced a desire to return (38 per cent of those surveyed) or relocate (nearly four per cent of those surveyed) provided there is assurance of security, essential services and livelihood opportunities. 

To support safe and voluntary returns and relocations, the Government, supported by the UN and NGOs and coordinated by the Area-Based Coordinator, are finalizing a three-year Durable Solutions Roadmap for Unity State in line with the national strategy. These efforts are deliberated and implemented inclusive of community voices. For example, a representative of the Women Forum, a group comprised of 100 women from the Bentiu IDP camp, regularly participates in meetings of the State Solutions Task Force for Unity State. 

At the national level, the Government of South Sudan is leading the efforts, with the UN and partners providing targeted technical support to advance the vision for durable solutions. By the summer of 2026, the objective is to support the sustainable return, local integration or relocation of 60,000 displaced people across South Sudan.

In Unity, the priorities for 2025-2026 include the expansion of livelihoods interventions, such as start-up grants, savings groups and climate-adaptive farming pilots, as well as rendering previously submerged areas accessible to farming and animal husbandry activities, and providing security in areas of return and relocation.

From flooded land to fertile fields

In Unity State, where much of the land is still underwater, land reclamation has been a key priority. One example is a farm in Bentiu where Nyaniet heads to work every day at 6 a.m.

For five years, this land in Bentiu South was completely submerged. But by January 2025, through IOM’s ECRP II project, funded by the World Bank, the land was finally reclaimed with efforts led by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and the Unity State Government.

Since access to grazeable land was restored, farmers - including IDPs, returnees and host community members - have begun growing crops with support of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP, through their joint implementation partner, Welthungerhilfe (WHH). They also participate in climate-smart agriculture training which takes into account South Sudan’s seasonality particulars to optimize what, when and where to plant, and develop a cropping calendar to coordinate harvesting across Bentiu.

The organizations supplied a wide range of crops with the aim of diversifying the nutritious diets of communities. In the case of Nyaniet, she is growing eggplants, tomatoes, onions, cassavas, bananas and maize.

“I am using the money earned to buy cooking oil and fish, and pay my son’s school fees. Last year, my family survived only on WFP food aid,” she shared. 

Crops like bananas, sugar canes and yams, which require moist soil, are relatively new to Unity. They were introduced to this farm pilot as a way to adapt to the new soil conditions altered by excessive rain and flooding over the past four years. 

In less than one year, the 100 supported-farmers made 17 million South Sudanese Pounds selling crops from the first harvest to the town’s market. This does not include the produce they retained for their families’ consumption. Farmers also preserve the best quality seeds for the next season so they can gradually break reliance on organizations for seeds. 

“Without this farm, I would be eating water lilies,” said Nyaniet, acknowledging this year’s aid reductions including food, plastic sheets and sanitation services in the IDP site. 

Following the farm pilots, the UN and its partners are stepping up durable solutions efforts as resources allow, including ongoing and planned disaster risk management interventions, land reclamation, and livelihood and agricultural activities.

But rising water levels across Unity State, and shrinking funding, continue to pose major challenges. In November, partners recorded a 40 cm increase of water levels compared to the same time last year. 

Nyaniet reflected on the future: “As an older person, I cannot keep up with the news and can only rely on my eyesight to tell if water levels have risen. It is difficult to plan for next year but we hope for the best. Until I can go back or settle elsewhere, I want to continue farming.”

Footnotes: Text and photos, taken in November 2025, by Madevi Sun-Suon from the UN Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO). Thank you to the on-the-ground support of Melaku Gebremichael Abebe (ABC/IOM), Nyaruot Pech Mayian Riek (ABC/IOM), Johnboth Toang (FAO), Nyatap Paul Kuel (UNHCR) and Simon Mogga (WFP).