Mozambique humanitarian situation update, 31 March-13 April 2007Major Developments On 5-6 April, a ministerial meeting was held in Chimoio, the capital of Manica province, in order to concretize resettlement plans in the flood affected areas. Participants at the meeting included representatives of the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC), provincial and district administrators of the affected areas and members of the IASC Mozambique Humanitarian Country Team. The main recommendations from the meeting included the following: provincial governments are responsible for carrying out the resettlement process, in line with detailed action plans; the resettlement process should be completed by 31 July, with the demarcation of plots being completed by 30 April; volunteers including students and military personnel should be trained to support the process of plot demarcation; and community leaders should lead the process. The INGC will continue to play the role of facilitating logistical support to any complementary humanitarian activities. Also on 5 April in Chimoio, a meeting entitled ‘HIV/AIDS and disaster: a double emergency’ was chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by several Ministers, Vice-Ministers, provincial Governors and Municipality representatives. The meeting was organised by the National AIDS Council (CNCS), with two main objectives:
During the meeting, all four Governors of the central provinces signed a joint document entitled "Despacho Conjunto para a Actuação Estratégica Nacional de Combate ao HIV/SIDA, nas Províncias de Sofala, Manica, Tete e Zambézia". The document highlights five areas in which actions will be given priority by the provincial authorities, namely:
The team conducting the Inter-Agency Real-Time Evaluation (IA-RTE) aimed at evaluating the emergency response in both flood and cyclone affected areas began work on 1 April. The team members travelled to the affected areas, where they met with the INGC, the UN team and various other cluster partners. In addition, the team has visited a number of accommodation centres/2001 resettlement areas in Sofala, Zambezia and Tete. 1) TROPICAL CYCLONE FAVIO Needs Assessment With the transition to the rehabilitation phase underway, focus is being placed on the rehabilitation of infrastructure and essential services damaged or destroyed by the cyclone. UNICEF Response The agreement has now been signed by UNICEF, the Provincial Government of Inhambane and the European Commission for a programme of rehabilitation for schools and health facilities affected by Cyclone Favio. The 2,000,000 Euro programme, funded mainly by the EU, will help to meet the needs of the most vulnerable schools and health centres across the province, with a focus on cyclone affected districts. Initiatives under the programme will include the provision of education kits, black boards, desks and other school materials; construction materials for the rehabilitation of the most damaged schools; and in the health sector the provision of basic health kits, malaria kits, telecommunications equipment, and ambulances and motorcycles for mobile health assistance.
Needs Assessment The main needs in flood affected areas are support to the ongoing resettlement process, mainly the provision of basic services in resettlement centres, and simultaneous monitoring of the situation of people remaining in the accommodation centres until the plot demarcation and allocation as part of the resettlement process have been completed. Preparations are continuing for the rapid food security and nutrition assessment to be conducted in flood, cyclone and drought affected areas by the national Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC). The main aims of the assessment will be: to examine the food security situation in the three affected areas, including an analysis of how it is expected to evolve and any future risks; to determine whether food and/or non-food interventions would be appropriate for the vulnerable populations and identify possible response options; and to determine the potential number and location of beneficiaries. The survey will include both qualitative and quantitative components, in addition to anthropometric data collection in areas affected by the floods and the cyclone. The training of the enumerators will commence on 16 April for one week, with the data collection, to take place over 10 days, commencing the following week. UNICEF Response Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Under the framework of the WASH Cluster Transition Strategy, UNICEF and partners are now focusing on support for the rehabilitation of existing water points and the construction of new water points, in order to increase the sustainability of interventions as the emergency moves into the recovery phase. The current status of interventions is as follows:
In the whole Zambezi Valley, the totals are therefore as follows:
Health The UNICEF Health and Nutrition Office based in Caia is working with cluster partners to support the local health authorities in monitoring the health situation and needs, consolidating and disseminating information and maintaining sufficient supplies in health facilities in affected areas. UNICEF has been working with the district health authorities to ensure that health activists have a plan to reach every family in the accommodation centres. A volunteer theatre group called ‘Raio de Esperança’ has been promoting messages on malaria and HIV/AIDS. UNICEF and the district health authorities are planning focus group discussions with accommodation centre residents to review the first round of programme communication activities, in order to inform planning for the second round. Nutrition UNICEF is continuing to support the local health authorities and other partners in ongoing activities under the supplementary feeding programme in affected areas, which is underway in the districts of Caia, Marromeu and Chemba in Sofala province, Mopeia and Morrumbala in Zambezia province, Mutarara in Tete province and Tambara in Manica province. The current available figures indicate that an estimated 10,746 children have been screened under the programme across the four flood affected provinces; 1,152 of them were found to be moderately malnourished, all of whom have been supplemented with BP5; and 92 severely malnourished children have been referred to hospital for appropriate case management. 14,551 children have received de-worming and 14,546 children have received Vitamin A supplementation. It is anticipated that the emergency supplementary feeding programme will need to continue for at least three months, following which the needs will be reassessed. The programme will continue in those three districts in which it was already operational before the floods, while the focus of UNICEF and partners will shift towards interventions targeting chronic malnutrition (such as infant and young child feeding, the promotion of breastfeeding and nutrition education). Education UNICEF and Education Cluster partners have developed a concept note on the next phase of the education response in line with the resettlement process. While access to education continues to be monitored and supported, partners are now beginning to focus on supporting the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) to improve the quality of the education provided in schools in the affected districts, through the following activities:
UNICEF and partners are also working with the provincial and district education authorities to ensure that learners in all of the resettlement sites have access to education and that those schools are supported to absorb the increased numbers through deployment of extra teachers and provision of adequate materials. UNICEF and Education Cluster partners plan to work with the INGC to establish a Working Group for Education in Emergencies with representatives from the INGC, the MEC, other government institutions, NGOs and UN agencies. This group will be responsible for monitoring and supervision of education-related activities in the emergency-affected areas and will also be charged with emergency preparedness planning for the sector. Protection UNICEF and partners are focusing on the consolidation of training sessions on the prevention of violence, abuse and exploitation of women and children and psycho-social support for vulnerable groups. UNICEF is supporting HIV Alliance to conduct the second phase of the training on psycho-social support. Cluster partners Save the Children and WFP are finalising the training of 45 food distributors in all provinces on the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation. With support from UNICEF, Handicap International is preparing to conduct the second phase of training on mine risk education in the remaining areas of Sofala province. Following a meeting held between the national Police Commander and Protection Cluster co-leads Save the Children and UNICEF, a team from the Ministry of Interior has been sent to the affected areas to conduct an assessment of the situation in the accommodation centres. Preliminary reports indicate that the majority of the centres in all provinces are covered by the police, with only the smaller centres and those centres close to ‘Gabinetes de Atendimento’ (centres of support for women and child victims of violence and abuse) remaining uncovered. UNICEF is working with the Ministry to ensure that the remaining camps are provided with permanent police presence and that Caia is provided with a permanent police base for overall coordination, as well as for the protection of the warehouse and other emergency related goods. Programme Communication The community theatre groups will continue their social mobilisation activities in the accommodation centres in Chinde, Mopeia, Morrumbala, Mutarara, Caia and Marromeu districts until the end of April. In relation to community radio, the community radio in Mutarara is broadcasting a package for radio, including radio programmes "saude para todos” (“health for all”), malaria and cholera spots and integration of these issues into the child to child radio programme. This programme will continue until the end of May. UNICEF is also working with partners on implementing a longer term strategy for programme communication initiatives. Inter-Agency Collaboration and Key Partnerships The current list of cluster leads and participants is provided below: Logistics Food Security Telecommunications Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Nutrition Health Education Protection Emergency Shelter Early Recovery
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