From Donor Projects to National Systems: Institutionalising Social Protection Beyond NGO Delivery in South Sudan

South Sudan has relied heavily on donor-financed projects, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations to deliver emergency assistance and early safety-net interventions. That reliance has saved lives and created operational experience, yet it has also raised a central institutional question: how can social protection move from externally managed project delivery toward a nationally governed system that is legitimate, accountable and scalable? This article examines the political and administrative conditions required to institutionalise social protection beyond NGO delivery in South Sudan. The Study used qualitative documentary analysis of policy frameworks, programme reports, World Bank project documents, humanitarian planning data and systems literature published between 2018 and 2023. The analysis found that social protection institutionalisation depends less on the physical act of transferring cash than on the construction of durable public functions, including policy authority, budget anchoring, beneficiary registry systems, management information systems, grievance mechanisms, payment reconciliation, monitoring and local administrative capacity. Evidence from the South Sudan National Social Protection Policy Framework, the South Sudan Safety Net Project and the Productive Safety Net for Socioeconomic Opportunities Project shows that national systems have begun to emerge, but the institutional base remains thin, donor-dependent and uneven across counties. The article argues that NGO delivery should be treated as a transitional capacity platform rather than as a permanent substitute for public administration. It proposes an institutionalisation pathway built around common delivery tools, staged transfer of functions, fiscal commitments, citizen accoun