Between 2010 and 2018, Sudan undertook significant efforts to expand its child protection architecture through the adoption of multiple national strategies addressing violence against children, harmful traditional practices, parental care, and the protection of children in vulnerable situations. These initiatives reflected an important policy shift toward formalizing protection commitments within national frameworks
However, while the normative and strategic landscape expanded, implementation capacity did not evolve at the same pace. This study finds that childhood protection outcomes during the period under review were constrained not primarily by policy absence, but by structural governance weaknesses affecting coordination, accountability, and service integration. Fragmented vertical coordination between federal policy-making bodies and sub-national implementation authorities limited institutional coherence.
Overlapping mandates and sector-specific interventions frequently operated in isolation, resulting in duplicative institutional roles and inconsistent service delivery pathways. Monitoring and data systems remained insufficiently integrated, weakening oversight and reducing the ability to measure impact across regions