Child hand's holding pen over a piece of paper with written text

We Can't Forget Sudan's Children

War Child’s Emergency Response

Across Sudan, a tragedy is unfolding, one that threatens to steal the future of an entire generation. Since April 2023, the number of children in urgent need of protection, mental health care, and education has doubled. Today, 15 million children are in desperate need of help. 

The crisis has torn apart communities and left the most vulnerable, especially women and children, facing unimaginable hardship. Although some schools in Sudan are beginning to reopen, most remain closed, leaving 17 million children with no access to education. Classrooms once filled with laughter and learning stand empty, their doors locked and their chalkboards silent. 

For many children, the loss of education is only part of the story. Every day brings new dangers: family separation, child marriage, trafficking, and violence. Countless children have endured trauma no one their age should ever experience and tragically at least 480 have been killed. Those forced to flee their homes travel vast distances on perilous journeys, searching for safety and hope in a world that seems to have forgotten them. 

Children make up around half of all people forced to flee their homes and displaced inside the country and across its borders. Their paths to neighbouring countries, including Chad, South Sudan, and Uganda, are fraught with danger. Many children arrive alone, separated from parents or siblings, exhausted and terrified. 

But even once they cross into safety, conditions remain dire. Neighbouring nations, already struggling with limited resources, are overwhelmed by the influx. Reception centres are overcrowded. Recent cuts in government aid spending mean that the safety nets and support systems that should protect these children are verging on collapse. 

These children have survived horrors no child should ever witness. Without immediate action and investment, millions of Sudanese children will lose not only their homes, but their futures too. 

Two children sitting with their adult caregiver
Photo taken by War Child Alliance

These children have survived horrors no child should ever witness. Without immediate action and investment, millions of Sudanese children will lose not only their homes, but their futures too. 

War Child’s response is clear: protection, mental health, and education - three lifelines every child needs to survive and recover from war.  

War Child is working with trusted Sudanese partners in Darfur, South Kordofan and Eastern Sudan. This means we’re helping locally based organisations lead the response. Our partners know their communities best, they understand the people, the needs, and the challenges. Together, we’re aiming to reach 15,000 children and their caregivers across Sudan in 2025. 

Already, 12 social workers are being trained to deliver psychosocial support sessions to 2,000 children - these session help children cope with the emotional and psychological effects of conflict. It gives them a safe space to talk about their feelings, play, learn to manage stress, and rebuild confidence and hope. 

We’ve supported more than 670 students to catch up on their studies and prepare for exams, a crucial step toward returning to school when it becomes possible. Among them, 270 children have also received mental health support through group counselling, sports, and art - activities that help them reconnect with joy and rebuild confidence. 

In a newly launched partnership with Norwegian Refugee Council and Plan International, funded by the European Union and our local partner Child Development Foundation, we’re taking this commitment even further. We are establishing school-based child protection committees and running awareness campaigns focused on risks to children and how communities can help keep them safe within school environments. We’re also connecting children who are at risk of abuse and exploitation to the professional specialist help they need. 

In the south of Sudan, we’re working with elders, caregivers and local leaders to form child protection committees.  The townhall style sessions spark conversations about children’s rights, and participants discuss risks within their communities. Together, they decide on steps to take to make the community safer for children.   

With our partner Adeela, we’re also supporting youth-led activities through grants that empower young people to take action on education, mental health, and child protection, giving them a voice in shaping their own futures. 

Every trained social worker, every reopened safe space, every child who laughs again, they are signs that even in war, hope can grow. War Child’s work in Sudan is only getting started, but it is already laying the foundation for a brighter, safer future for children.