Record number of refugees receive scholarships in South Sudan

At a global level, the DAFI program was established in 1992 and has since supported more than 27,000 students in countries around the world. It was introduced in South Sudan in 2016 and since then has supported a total of 414 students – meaning that this year’s cohort far exceeds the overall number of recipients for the past nine years. 

“The objective of the program is to ensure the refugee students, as well as the returnees and now members of the host communities, are empowered to be able to access employment, to help their families and their communities,” says Kenyi Beneth Emmanuel, Education Project Manager for LWF South Sudan.  

“We also intend to train leaders who will later go back and be able to contribute toward the process of reconstruction,” he notes. Another goal, he explains, is “to produce role models who will also be agents of change for other refugees.” Female students, in particular, play a vital role in returning to their communities and mentoring other young girls on the importance of education, he adds. 

South Sudan currently hosts over half a million refugees and asylum seekers, mainly fleeing from conflict in neighboring Sudan, but also from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea. LWF has been present in South Sudan since 1973 supporting communities affected by conflict, displacement, and climate-induced crises.