When war began on April 15, 2023, hundreds of young Sudanese volunteers organized a grassroots network support groups to deliver life-saving aid in their communities. These groups became known as Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) embodying the Sudanese spirit of nafeer – collective action. The ERRs developed a charter for decision-making and resource sharing built on the principles of accountability, participation, transparency and equality. 

While international humanitarian aid organizations have struggled to access parts of the country since the start of the war, limiting their overall effectiveness, ERRs have become primary responders supplying food, water, and hygiene materials, organizing evacuations and providing healthcare. Often, they are the only ones providing aid within their communities and beyond. For millions of Sudanese, mutual aid is a lifeline.

Their success is attributed to local knowledge and relationships that afford operational advantages in a challenging environment. A decentralized structure allows organizers to make hyper-local decisions based on context and adapt, in real time, to security conditions. They have proven to be not only an effective aid distributor, but uniquely accountable. 

The characteristics that make mutual aid highly effective have, paradoxically, limited their access to reliable financial resources and support. Despite their demonstrated ability to deliver life-saving aid at scale throughout the past year, they have been unable to unlock sustainable or substantial funding from institutional donors who cannot find ways to unlock their own bureaucratic barriers in order to fund mutual aid.  

The ERRs and mutual aid continue to expand across Sudan, working in coordination with international and national NGOs and UN Agencies, who are less equipped to navigate the complex conflict environment. Since these large organizations lack direct access to many communities, this network of mutual aid responders provide the only means to identify needs, report on the crisis, and deliver aid around the whole country.

In addition to their proven and unique ability to respond effectively and cost-efficiently to immediate humanitarian needs, the network of mutual  aid actors in Sudan is also thinking about the future, even in these dark times.

At the time when Sudan begins rebuilding and reuniting in peace, the camaraderie, capacity, and organization of mutual aid groups will be the foundation for conflict resolution, democratic transition and accountable public service delivery. Just as the ERRs and mutual aid have empowered the citizens of Sudan to lead their own humanitarian crisis response, they see their role in the recovery and rehabilitation as equally vital.