Conflict in Unity State broke out in late December 2013, only days after the current conflict began in Juba. Since then, the state has been one of the worst affected by the conflict, and currently hosts the highest reported numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country. Many areas in Unity are largely inaccessible to humanitarian actors due to insecurity and logistical constraints. As a result, only limited information is available on the humanitarian situation outside major displacement sites.

In order to fill such information gaps and facilitate humanitarian planning, in late 2015, REACH piloted its Area of Origin (AoO) methodology, which takes a territory- based approach that may cover several bomas, to collect data in hard-to-reach areas of Unity State. The pilot began in Bentiu PoC site in December 2015, and was expanded to Nyal in June 2016 in order to interview new arrivals as they were displaced from recent fighting.