How can someone build a friendship in Sudan when no formal registration or membership exists?

People usually build friendships through repeated contact in neighbourhoods, schools, universities, workplaces, community spaces, cultural or faith groups and shared activities such as sport, study or volunteering. No Sudan-wide registration, membership requirement or minimum duration applies.

How can people maintain a friendship in Sudan during displacement or communication failures?

They may use phone calls, mobile networks, WhatsApp, Facebook or local radio, but access is uneven and telecommunications failures, displacement and insecurity can interrupt contact. Safe in-person meetings and local community settings may provide alternatives where communication networks are unavailable.

Which organised settings can support a friendship in Sudan, and who controls access?

Adolescent-led clubs, Child-Friendly Spaces, Safe Learning Spaces, youth centres, MPCCs and Community-Based Protection Networks can support social connection. UNICEF and partners, education and social-service actors, Emergency Response Rooms and local youth, women's, faith and community structures may run or support them, with access depending on the programme, age group, location and security situation.

Can Nafeer, a communal kitchen or an Emergency Response Room be treated as a friendship in Sudan?

These are functional alternatives for collective assistance, solidarity or protection rather than friendship itself. They become relevant to friendship only when people also form a freely chosen, personal, recurring and non-romantic relationship.

Friendship in Sudan

Friendship in Sudan is a freely chosen, personal and non-romantic relationship built through recurring mutual contact. People commonly meet through neighbourhoods, schools, universities, work, community spaces, cultural groups, faith communities and shared activities. No Sudan-wide authority registers friendships or provides a formal friendship service.

byAisha&Mohamed

In Sudan, friendship is known as الصداقة, while صديق, صديقة and صديقات refer to a friend or friends. A friendship does not require registration, membership, a minimum duration or a contract. It develops through repeated contact, mutual interest, listening, emotional support and shared experiences. Common activities include studying, sport, art, dance, cultural events and volunteering. Friendships between host and displaced communities have also been documented. People may meet through neighbourhood networks, schools, Safe Learning Spaces, universities, workplaces, youth groups, women's groups, cultural organisations, religious settings and other local community spaces. Digital contact through phones, mobile networks, WhatsApp, Facebook and local radio can help maintain relationships across distance. Access is not reliable throughout Sudan because telecommunications failures, limited connectivity, insecurity and displacement can interrupt contact. Several organised settings can support social connection without being friendship institutions. These include adolescent-led clubs, Child-Friendly Spaces, Safe Learning Spaces, youth centres, MPCCs and Community-Based Protection Networks. UNICEF and partner organisations, education and social-service actors, Community-Based Protection Networks, Emergency Response Rooms and local youth, women's, faith and community structures may support such settings. Access depends on the programme, age group, location and security situation; no general Sudan-wide entitlement applies. Emergency Response Rooms are often not formally registered, and their legitimacy usually comes from the local community. Private friendship normally has no required fee, fixed duration or compulsory payment. Practical costs may still include mobile data, phone use, transport, safe meeting places, hospitality and time. Organised activities are often partner- or donation-supported, but availability is not guaranteed and reliable nationwide price or duration figures are not available. Friendship creates no specific legal status and does not give either person an enforceable right to continue the relationship. Its practical norms are voluntary participation, reciprocity, respect, personal boundaries, freedom from coercion and confidentiality. Children and adolescents using organised spaces should be protected by applicable child-protection and non-discrimination standards. A friendship cannot replace a protection service; when violence, exploitation or another immediate danger arises, the person should seek an appropriate protection or social-service referral. The armed conflict since 2023, displacement, violence, exploitation, separation, stigma, unsafe travel and communication failures can make contact difficult. Friendship can strengthen peer support, belonging, psychosocial stability and social cohesion, but it should not be confused with kinship, clan support, a protection network or collective assistance. Darrа and Nafeer, communal kitchens, Emergency Response Rooms, Community-Based Protection Networks and community meetings can provide solidarity or essential help, but they are primarily collective-help arrangements rather than freely chosen personal relationships. Sudan has 18 states, and access, safety, displacement and connectivity differ greatly between places. Evidence covers areas including Kassala, Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum, Eastern Sudan, Northern Sudan and the Red Sea area; conditions in one location should not be treated as national practice. Acquaintanceships, romantic relationships and household or housing arrangements belong to different subjects. Kinship, clan or community support belongs within friendship only where there is also a freely chosen, personal, recurring and non-romantic bond.

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