An overwhelming majority of the 2 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have returned to Southern Sudan and Southern Kordofan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005 continue to confront many challenges once they have returned to their villages of origin, says IOM's latest village assessments and returnee monitoring report published today. The report, which was compiled in partnership with the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) of the Government of South Sudan and with the support of the Government of National Unity, the Humanitarian Aid Commission, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the Sudan Red Crescent and partner NGOs, underlines that most returnees cannot access basic services and facilities, such as clean water, healthcare and education. "PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; FLOAT: right; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; WIDTH: 50%; PADDING-TOP: 0px"> "BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; WIDTH: 100%; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(51,102,204); TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none">Download "BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; WIDTH: 100%; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(153,204,255); TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none"> "/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/media/docs/reports/village_assesment_report_apr2009.pdf" target="_blank" title=""> "BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(153,204,255)">Village Assessments and Returnee Monitoring in Southern Kordofan and Two States in Southern Sudan The data collected by some 300 SSRRC enumerators in 4,905 villages in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrab and Southern Kordofan States, shows that almost a third of all communities use rivers and unprotected wells as their main source of water. Only 39 per cent of the villages have hand pumps, with more than a third broken at the time of the survey, which took place from June 2008 to April 2009.   "Although the authorities and international organizations are now deploying considerable efforts to provide access to safe drinking water, more needs to be done to ensure existing pumps are properly serviced," says Mario Tavolaj, IOM's Chief of Mission in Sudan. Lack of access to adequate healthcare facilities and qualified personnel remains problematic throughout the region, with basic medical infrastructures to be found in only 9 per cent of the villages.  Only 4 per cent of all health care facilities had medical doctors and levels of HIV/AIDS awareness remained very low.     The report also finds that only 29 per cent of the villages had direct access to basic primary schools and that a third of the schools were simple outdoor facilities.    In Southern Kordofan, 41 per cent of the students are girls whilst in South Sudan only 26 per cent of the pupils are girls.    When it comes to income-generation activities, the report notes that the overwhelming majority of returnees live from farming and livestock rearing, with some of the income generated being used to buy additional food at the market.    "The assessments at village level provide important information on the needs of returnees and host communities," says IOM's Mario Tavolaj.  "They represent an important tool for the planning of medium to long-term recovery in Southern Kordofan and Southern Sudan." This report was funded by the United Nations Common Humanitarian Fund, the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA/USAID), AusAID International Refugee Fund, the Government of Japan and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).  For more information, please contact: Alghribawy Mayssa IOM Khartoum Tel: +249 183 570 801 to 804 E-mail: "mailto:malghribawy@iom.int">malghribawy@iom.int