Mozambique Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024 (December 2023) [EN/PT]

Executive Summary

In 2023, the humanitarian situation in northern Mozambique was marked by the steady return of IDPs to their home districts. People returned as a result of improved security situation, the desire to reunite with their families and secure their land and cultivate crops. Some have also returned as assistance levels in displacement areas has become insufficient as funding is reducing. By August, the number of returnees stood at more than 570,000 people while the number of IDPs was approximately 670,000 people.

People returned to areas of origin in northeastern Cabo Delgado mainly to Mocimboa da Praia, Palma and Muidumbe while the bulk of IDPs remained concentrated in the southwestern districts of Pemba, Metuge and Mueda. Over half of those who are displaced live in host communities, including 137,000 in Pemba City and an estimated 220,000 people in displacement sites. Both IDPs in displacement areas and people who have returned to their localities of origin will require protection and humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs until they can fully rebuild their livelihoods.

Assessments show also that host communities are sliding further into poverty further increasing tensions between IDPs and host communities. The return of IDPs did not mark the end of vulnerability. Many returnees, away for over two years and having faced loss and trauma, returned to areas where basic social services had not fully resumed. Both IDPs in displacement areas and people who have returned to their localities of origin will require protection and humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs until they can fully rebuild their livelihoods.

Violence against civilians continued in 2023. Non-State armed group maintained the ability to launch localized attacks. In the course of 2023, more than 109,000 people were displaced as a result of localized attacks by non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs).

Mozambique is one of the countries in Africa most exposed to extreme climate shocks. It faces an array of natural hazards, the most prominent are flooding, droughts, and cyclones. The frequency and intensity of disasters is increasing due to the global climate crisis, with major consequences for rural communities. With more than 2,700 km of coastline, nine international river basins, high dependence on agricultural yields, high level of poverty, and inadequate infrastructures, Mozambicans are sensitive to climatic shocks.

Mozambique has suffered at least one cyclone a year for each of the past five years with the exception of 2020 affecting between 750,000 and 1.5 million people. Due to El Niño Southern Oscillation and a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole, Mozambique is at risk of drought and cyclones. Projections estimate that from October 2023 to March 2024, about 3.1 million people in Mozambique will be in IPC 3 and 220,000 people in IPC4. According to the Mozambique's National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD), approximately 2.5 million people are projected to be at risk of cyclones, floods and drought in the 2023/2024 rainy/cyclonic season.

The humanitarian community in Mozambique estimate that a total of 2,250,000 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. This includes 1,700,000 people in need as a result of conflict in northern Mozambique and 554,000 people in need due to natural hazards in the rainy/cyclonic season that runs from October to April.

In 2023, 1.6 million people were reached with some form of assistance in northern Mozambique (Cabo Delgado,
Nampula and Niassa). Of these, 1.4 million people were reached with food assistance. Declining funding levels meant that the food ration was halved and beneficiaries’ caseload had to be prioritized to continue to meet the needs of most vulnerable people. Some 623,000 people were reached with water, sanitation and hygiene services and 697,000 people benefitted from protection services. Funding shortfalls limited the ability to provide a full package of multisectoral assistance to IDPs. This means that even people who have been reached have significant unmet needs in critical services including nutrition, education, and protection. This will have longer-term consequences, if more quality and holistic response is not delivered.

In response to the crisis brought by the compounding effects of Cyclone Freddy, floods and cholera outbreak, humanitarian organizations assisted 668,000 people with direct assistance. This includes 666,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene services, 223,000 with health services and 574,000 people with food assistance and livelihoods support.

In 2024, a total of 1.7 million people are targeted in Mozambique including 1.3 million people in conflict-affected areas and another 429,623 people across the country to mitigate the risks and impacts of natural disasters. The response will cover areas seeing the highest returns, it will also support IDPs who are landless or people that face the threat of eviction and areas that have seen the most significant infrastructure damage as a result of the conflict.

Humanitarian partners will prioritise the areas in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa with the most acute needs while advocating for the creation of conditions that favor livelihoods and the re-establishment of essential services and livelihoods. Humanitarian efforts will be coordinated with the Government of Mozambique, development actors and the private sector, who are working to rebuild infrastructure and re-establish essential services impacted by the conflict.

In 2024, humanitarian partners will regularly review the operational environment, monitoring security, people’s ability to resume agricultural production, markets functioning and the rehabilitation of public services, such as health and education facilities, adapting the response accordingly.

It is estimated that 2.5 million people will be vulnerable to natural disasters, namely heavy rains, strong winds, cyclones, floods and drought. Based on trend analysis, Gaza, Sofala and Tete provinces are at risk of drought with anticipatory action having already been triggered in some districts of the three provinces. Similarly, cyclones have historically affected the coastal provinces of Nampula, Sofala and Zambezia, with devastating outcomes for communities and infrastructures. In 2024, anticipatory action system-building initiatives on drought, cyclones, floods and cholera will be strengthened to facilitate the expansion of anticipatory actions to save lives and reduce the impact on people. Similarly, the humanitarian community will be strengthening the prepositioning of key life-saving supplies and have pre-agreements with service providers to allow the rapid start of operations.