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Paper short abstract

In South Sudan, Nile-driven floods are an education crisis: schools destroyed or turned into shelters, learning disrupted by displacement, and service delivery stretched system-wide to breaking point. Using interviews and flood case studies, we identify preparedness gaps and pro-equity responses.

Paper long abstract

The Nile River, flowing from Uganda in the south to Sudan in the north, bisects South Sudan and has indelibly shaped the country’s history and culture. When considering the advancing climate crisis, however, South Sudan’s most important natural resource is increasingly associated with ever worsening floods that disrupt lives and learning. While data is scarce, 2024 may have been the most devastating year of flooding yet, disrupting access to education by damaging or repurposing school infrastructure, displacing learners and teachers, and interrupting service delivery in already resource-constrained environments.

In South Sudan, these environmental shocks interact with structural drivers of fragility - weak governance, limited institutional capacity, and ongoing insecurity - producing a deepening polycrisis. The Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) recently published the country’s first Education Emergency Preparedness Plan. However, despite efforts to construct flood-resilient infrastructure and establish temporary learning spaces, system-level responses remain fragmented and largely reactive, leaving education systems under environmental stress.

This study explores preparedness and reactiveness in South Sudan’s education sector through a series of mini case studies: seasonal floods in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, persistent flooding and displacement in Unity state, and flash flooding in Greater Pibor Administrative Area. We draw on semi-structured interviews conducted during August-September 2025 with local authorities, (I)NGOs, CSOs, community leaders, and adults and youth from affected communities. In doing so, we gather diverse perspectives on the impact of floods on education systems, and analyze what solutions can be applied that do not exacerbate existing inequalities and sensitivities.