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Impact Fund

Giving together for the boldest solutions to South Sudan’s mental health crisis

Giving together for lasting change

Impact Fund is a collaborative fundraising program of National Fair Outreach that is driven by individuals who believe in collective healing.

This initiative brings together government institutions, international organizations, as well as individual donors and local communities, all of which share the common belief that nobody in South Sudan, whether a soldier, veteran, mother, or child, should bear the burden of the war alone. With the use of trauma counseling, faith-based and culturally sensitive healing, along with effective advocacy, the Impact Fund makes each person's contribution part of a nationwide healing effort, providing levels of impact none of us could create on our own.

Fundraising for a safer and brighter South Sudan.

Our MHPSS program goes through three stages. It includes psychoeducation/counsellor training, assessment/psychotherapy, and finally the establishment of fixed behaviour health clinics.

Healing the people who carry the future of South Sudan

A Shared Vision for a Nation that Heals

Each of our services provided, starting from screening to Combat Stress Control teams, is tailor-made according to the needs of the barracks, cantonments, and deployments, not civilian programs adapted later on.

We see sustainable peace in the scenario where mental health services are available in all the barracks, all the cantonments, and all the households, and not only in the capital. The Impact Fund does not perceive the impact of traumatic experiences as an individual private experience that must be borne in silence but sees it holistically, understanding that restoring individuals is the way to restore the country. South Sudan, which:

  • Recognises the suffering caused by many years of conflict and gives it a name, a voice, and the possibility of overcoming it.
  • Respects the strength of soldiers, veterans, survivors, and displaced people who take care of their families.
  • Tackles the roots of violence, moral injury, and post-traumatic stress that affect both military personnel and civilians.
  • Prioritizes community and faith leaders in a culture that tends to stigmatise and marginalise those who suffer from mental health problems.
  • Strengthens the counsellors, clinics, and civil-military relationship, which is the basis of sustainable peace.

The Power of Giving Together

4.5 M+

People reached and screened for mental health conditions

50+

Military and community counsellors trained and recognised

10

States and 3 Administrative Areas served

29,000+

SSPDF personnel and organised forces supported through screening and care

62

Wounded assemblies' centres reached with psychoeducation

We know that it has been tough for our veterans and members in our service this season. However, together, we were able to rise to the occasion with hearts full of hope, and we have managed to make tremendous strides in terms of safeguarding the mental health and well-being of our people from South Sudan.

The scale of the need and why your support matters now

The need for mental healthcare in South Sudan continues to remain one of the highest in the world. The prevalence of a mental health condition among the population is believed to be around one out of every five individuals; the ongoing conflicts in the region, displacements, and flood situations compound this situation. South Sudan continues to have only a few psychiatrists and trained psychologists despite its population of over eleven million, implying that the treatment gap in the neediest population in the region is more than 90%.
For the men and women in the SSPDF, veterans, and Organized Forces, the situation remains even more dire. Silent cases of depression, anxiety, moral injury, and PTSD plague the barracks and cantonment areas where they live, without being addressed due to the stigma or absence of facilities and services. If left untreated, this hidden mental trauma manifests itself in the form of broken families, distrust of the soldier-civilian relationship, and further cycles of violence beyond the end of the ceasefire. That is the gap that Impact Fund seeks to address.

How the Impact Fund Enables Change?

Reaching every person in need, wherever they serve

1. Screening, Counselling & Psychotherapy

Every rand and dollar contributed through the Impact Fund enables us to screen, evaluate, and accompany our personnel and communities, whether suffering from the invisible injuries of war, ranging from mere stress to moderate and severe mental disorders. They will receive full counseling services. For those with severe illnesses, we offer psychotherapy and, where necessary, psychiatric treatment. It is conducted by an increasing number of qualified professionals rather than by chance

2. Training & Capacity Building

For each counsellor certified by NFO, the Impact Fund increases our footprint within barracks, cantonments, and wounded assemblies around the country. Through the Impact Fund, we will be able to:
  • Build a corps of military and community counsellors competent in PTSD, moral injury, depression, anxiety, and substance use treatment.
  • Increase local capacity such that healing does not rely on outsiders being flown in and out of the country.
  • Take some pressure off the few psychiatrists serving the whole country.
  • Build a sustainable mental health workforce in South Sudan.
In addition, through the Impact Fund, National Fair Outreach contributes to our own counsellors’ and staff well-being, appreciating the psychological price they pay through their work on the front lines.

3. Shared Learning

The Impact Fund opens up possibilities for authorities, security leadership, faith leadership, and communities to better understand trauma, moral injury, and healing, through:
  • Psycho-educational workshops for military leadership, organised groups, and youth.
  • Testimonials and storytelling that help destigmatize mental disorders.
  • Dialogue between the SSPDF, veterans, civil society, and the community they protect.
Through this dialogue, the South Sudanese national narrative is shifting from a blame-oriented and stigmatizing culture towards a dialogue-oriented, forgiving, and communal healing process.

4. Advocacy and Institution-Building

For healing to take place, it is rarely possible with counseling alone. The Impact Fund works on making changes outside the counseling arena as well, including:  
  • Lobbying for the formation of behavioral health clinics incorporated into barracks, cantonments, and Primary Health Care facilities in all the states.
  • Presenting data and advocacy papers to the Presidency, security institutions, and ministries concerned.
  • Creating a stronger link between the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs and mental health services.
  • Removing obstacles that prevent the most affected wounded soldiers, displaced families, and victims of violence from even accessing the help they desperately need.
The Fund directs resources to where they are most needed, especially in those hard-to-reach areas of barracks and cantonment sites. With the help of NFO’s increasing team of psychiatrists, psychologists, lawyers, priests, bishops, and other community leaders.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Impact Fund is open to everyone interested in supporting the healing of South Sudan. Whether you’re a first-time contributor or an institutional partner engaged in the area of mental health and peacebuilding. It gathers people, authorities, and organizations that believe in the approach of trauma-informed community care.

Instead of operating in isolated bubbles, the Impact Fund relies on the nationwide assessment conducted by NFO of where the biggest need for mental health treatment is right now. At this moment, it’s the SSPDF, veterans, Organized Forces, and civilian communities adjacent to them in all ten states and three administrative regions.

National Fair Outreach benefits from the diverse team of specialists that the organization has in psychiatry, psychology, counseling, religion, and law, as well as from its cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the SSPDF High Command, and community leaders.

Through the Impact Fund, donations from donors are pooled together with those of the government and other international bodies, as well as other South Sudanese people, to achieve an impact that could otherwise not have been possible on its own, reaching 4.5 million people and counting.

Support the Impact Fund

Interested in partnering with the Impact Fund or becoming a more committed donor? We invite you to join us because a healed South Sudan requires partners who recognize the time and effort needed for healing and restoration.

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