South Serbia has the country’s only concentration of ethnic Albanians, and is also the poorest part of Serbia. Tensions continue to exist over inequalities, actual and perceived, between ethnic communities in South Serbia and between the south and the rest of the country. The Joint Programme addressed the key obstacles to sustainable peace in the region by strengthening dialogue and social cohesion, improving access to and quality of public services, and stimulating equitable economic development.

Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in 2005, provided an enabling environment for the return of more than four million displaced people. Yet poverty and unemployment remain high, particularly in the southern areas devastated by the 21-year civil war. The Joint Programme's goal was to improve job prospects for youth, particularly returnees and demobilized soldiers, through skills development, the creation of employment opportunities and ensuring that job creation is integrated in national development policies.

The South Kordofan area of Sudan is one of the most complex conflict systems in the country, with increasingly serious tensions building since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 and the secession of South Sudan in 2011. The Joint Programme aimed to prevent conflict from relapsing in four bordering states of Sudan by bolstering peace building, the rule of law and socioeconomic recovery within -- and between -- vulnerable communities and local authorities in targeted areas and villages.