This paper provides an update on progress towards the Fund’s FY 2025 Diversity Benchmarks, as of the end of FY 2023. The paper also includes information on action the Fund is taking to promote greater diversity and inclusion through a two-year roadmap of initiatives primarily focused on recruitment, talent development, equity and inclusion and promoting greater leadership accountability and transparency. The paper also covers plans to convene a cross-functional working group to establish the Diversity Benchmarks targets for FY 2030.
South Sudan is a very fragile post-conflict country, and one of the most vulnerable in
the world to climate change effects. The spillovers from the fighting in Sudan have
exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation. Two-thirds of South Sudan’s population
was exposed to acute food insecurity prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan and the
situation has worsened due to a large and growing number of refugees, and a sharp increase
in fuel and food prices in the border areas with Sudan driven by trade disruptions. The Sudan
war has also delayed the needed repair of the pipeline that transports South Sudan’s crude oil
to international markets through Sudan. As a result, oil exports have since mid-February 2024
collapsed to about one-third of their previous level. This has increased significantly the fiscal
financing and balance of payments gaps given that oil exports account for nearly 90 percent of
fiscal revenues and 95 percent of exports. National elections, the first-ever since South Sudan’s
independence in 2011, are scheduled for December 2024. However, due to delays in and
operationalizing key election-related institutions development partners have expressed
skepticism that free and fair elections will be feasible by the envisaged date.