Social protection in fragile and conflict affected settings: The case of Sudan

Abstract

This article examines Sudan’s state‐led social protection system by conducting a mapping of the country’s main social protection schemes, drawing on legislative documents and secondary reports as well as the 2022 Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey. Focusing on three main programmes: Zakat, the National Health Insurance Fund and the National Pension and Social Insurance Fund, the article captures programme objectives, eligibility rules, and operational definitions to assess coverage, targeting accuracy, and benefit adequacy. Findings reveal systematically low coverage, substantial targeting failures, and benefits well below subsistence thresholds. Vulnerable populations including internally displaced persons, camp residents, and conflict‐affected regions, face severe exclusion despite greatest need. Sudan’s social protection system remains trapped in minimal absorptive functions, constrained by high informality, institutional fragmentation, and protracted conflict. These findings contribute to empirical evidence on social protection in fragile contexts and point to a set of practical reconstruction priorities.