The purpose of this study was to define a livelihood and how it had been affected by a chronic conflict and political instability, to assess the local people?s perceptions of wealth and poverty and to find the residential plan of the Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs). This kind of knowledge is the departure point for development efforts. The targeted community was the Nuba people of Heiban, Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. The community had suffered the civil war for fifteen years. The primary data was collected by using semi-structured interviews for households, key informants and focus groups. Sustainable livelihood framework supported
by gender analysis framework was used to collect and analyze the data.
The study shows that the targeted community was agro-pastoralist that depends on natural resources, supported by human and social capitals. Natural resources were highly damaged by the war. Both human and social capitals have been destructed due to death and protracted displacement. The community during the warfare had been spilt between the two warring parties and fought each other. Mutual enmity and mistrust had encompassed religious and tribal issues. Livestock was the base of the financial capital and had been eroded due to looting by troops of both parties. The war had destructed the private (houses) and public (road, market, education, health and water facilities) physical capitals, which had been poor since before the war. The Nuba people had been using their political capital since the colonial era to improve their socioeconomic status, without any positive result.
Conflict usually seems to have only negative dimensions, but in Heiban, conflict (the civil war) has some positive dimensions. The war has allowed better education opportunity for both genders, acquirement of new skills, and emerging of new livelihoods strategies in the community. The war facilitated women empowerment and had raised the general awareness of the community and shifted their focus towards education and human capital development.
The war has brought the community to attention of the international community and highlighted the inherent weaknesses within the community, which might facilitate recovery and development programs.
The community considers education as one of the criteria that distinguish the wealthy people in Heiban. Other criteria were: owing of livestock, shop, mill, having monthly salary and
producing of stable crop that enough for eight months. According to these criteria the community was categorized into three categories; better off, middle and poor. 75% of the
community was categorized as poor. Women in the community have limited access to the wealth accumulation, 98% of women headed household were classified as poor.
The residential plan of the IDPs was not clear for them, and depends on availability of the basic needs in Heiban.
