Attachments
- Emergency appeal №: MDRZM022
- Emergency appeal launched: 27/05/2024
- Operational Strategy published: 23/07/2024
- Glide №: DR-2024-000018-ZMB
- Operation update: #2
- Date of issue: 17/10/2024
- Timeframe covered by this update: From 03/06/2024 to 22/08/2024
- Operation timeframe: 22/03/2024 - 30/06/2025
- Number of people being assisted: 380,160
- Funding requirements (CHF):
CHF 8 million through the IFRC Emergency Appeal
CHF 11 million Federation-wide DREF amount initially allocated: CHF 900,000 - DREF amount initially allocated: CHF 900,000
A. SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the crisis
Zambia is undergoing one the driest agricultural seasons in more than forty years, causing major crop and livestock losses and severely affecting the well-being and livelihoods of communities nationwide. According to ongoing reports from the UN, 84 out of 116 districts in the country have been affected by this crisis. The IPC report from August 2023(1) projected an estimated 58,000 people, between October 2023 and March 2024, to be in an Emergency condition (IPC Phase 4) and two million people in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and requiring urgent humanitarian support.
On 29 February 2024, the President of Zambia declared a national emergency due to the prolonged drought. On 16 April 2024, the joint rapid needs assessment (2) was commissioned by the Agriculture and Food Security Cluster and the National Government Drought Response Appeal indicated that 6.6 million people were in need of urgent humanitarian assistance (33 per cent of Zambia’s total population according to World Bank data). This includes more than three million children under 18 years of age, mostly based in the provinces of Lusaka, Luapula, and the Western, Eastern, Southern, Central, and Northwestern Provinces. According to the rapid assessment report, the top three provinces with more than 1.3 million people in need are Western, Southern, and North-Western. The report also highlights that many households are struggling to meet their basic needs, including access to food, with many resorting to negative coping mechanisms. Although most of the surveyed households reported that they cultivated maize and other crops in the 2023/2024 season, projected production levels were minimal, and the majority of households reported total crop failure particularly due to the prolonged dry spells. Likewise, livestock and fisheries are equally affected due to the drying of water sources, almost half of surveyed households that kept livestock reported a reduction of pastures especially for cattle, while 39 per cent indicated that distance to water points increased.
The country continues to recover from a cholera outbreak that began in October 2023, with over 21,000 reported cases. The decreased access to water has also led to outbreaks of diarrheal and other vector-borne diseases, exacerbating the health crisis. The IFRC, in support of the Zambia Red Cross Society (ZRCS), launched a Cholera Emergency Appeal in October 2023. Zambia has regions that are also prone to malaria, which could spike once bodies of water and water sources start drying up creating conducive breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In response to the compounding impacts of the drought in Zambia, the IFRC, in support to the ZRCS, launched an emergency appeal of CHF 11 million (Federation-wide), to scale-up its operation initially funded by the DREF. To date, a total of 1,525,573 CHF has been mobilized where interventions have started being implemented in two Districts of Sinazongwe and Chikankata out of the 5 planned Districts.
In summary, the following are some of the achievements made so far by Zambia Red Cross Society (ZRCS), with the support of IFRC, Netherlands Red Cross and other partners:
- ZRCS with technical support from IFRC conducted consultation/ engagement meetings and briefed Sinazongwe district authorities on the drought response operation. The authorities included the District Commissioner, Social Welfare, Community Development, Agriculture and MTN as Finance Service Provider (FSP)
- Mapping was of 8 Wards and wetlands for support of smart agriculture activities including field validation exercise to appreciate the wetlands where the beneficiaries will be planting the crops was carried out.
- In collaboration with the district authorities, the team monitored activities such as land preparations and moisture/water availability in selected areas for winter cropping.
- Through the Camp Agriculture Officers and Community Development, 32 lead farmers were identified in 8 wards of Sinazongwe District for smart agriculture training.
- With technical support from the Camp Agricultural Officers based in the field, 32 Lead farmers were trained in climate smart agriculture to help support fellow farmers in their respective locations.
- Continued coordination with other actors through participation in cluster meeting such as WASH, Health, Food security, Cash. Humanitarian Team Coordination meetings as well as Internal movement coordination meetings.
Weather Forecast and its impact for the next three months
According to the latest South African Weather Service Seasonal Climate Watch, there is an increased chance of La Niña conditions developing during the remaining spring months and summer. The latest El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO ) diagnostic discussion issued by the CPC, predictions show that a La Niña system can form as early as spring until the end of summer.
Some of associated impacts of the forecast include reduced access to safe water due to the effects of drought which will increase the risk of water borne diseases, food shortages and rise in food commodity prices will hinder vulnerable people`s access to food especially in rural areas where the level of poverty remains high. In the absence of safe water and food hygiene practices are compromised hence increase in diarrhea cases including cholera. Zambia has one of the highest malnutrition and stunting in sub–Saharan Africa. Reduced access to food due to the failed harvest and high commodity price will increase prevalence of malnutrition in a country were 35% of children under five years are stunted and 4% of children under five years are acutely wasted (Have low weight for height) according to Demographic Health Survey (DHS 2018).
The operation will keep on monitoring the forecast and adjust the plans accordingly.
Summary of response
Zambia Red Cross Society, mandated to act in emergencies with its network of 60 branches, 66 staff and 7,857 volunteers with coverage countrywide and active offices in 60 out of 116 districts, acted promptly and activated the weekly emergence response coordination mechanism to discuss the response to this crisis. Currently, ZRCS has one PNS present in the country, the Netherland RC, jointly implementing the ECHO Pilot Programmatic Partnership (PPP) program and IFRC coordination office.
Overview of the host National Society and ongoing response
To date, the ZRCS, with the support of Netherlands Red Cross and IFRC has been contributing to the government’s response operations as follows:
- The Emergency Appeal was launched for ZRCS to support vulnerable households with emergency relief through multi-purpose cash grants, livelihood support through smart agriculture initiatives, nutrition education and promotion of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). The activities have started being implemented in Sinazongwe and Chikankata Districts
- ZRCS distributed cash to 3,000 households in IPC4 in Sioma district for three months as part of the emergency response under the ECHO PPP project.
- ZRCS is also part of the Agriculture, Food Security and Livelihood cluster, Cash working group, WASH and HTC 5 activated by the Government through its Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU). ZRCS’s internal movement coordination mechanism is meeting weekly to discuss the response to this crisis.
- ZRCS participated in rapid assessment coordinated by the Government through the Zambia Food Security Cluster.
- Started activities in two Districts by briefing stakeholders, mobilising branch volunteers and identification of farmers for livelihood support as well as distribution of farm inputs for smart agriculture.
- With technical support from the Camp Agricultural Officers based in the field, 32 Lead farmers were trained in climate smart agriculture to help support fellow farmers in their respective locations. Each lead farmer was assigned 20 farmers who were then trained in climate smart agriculture. Working with the district authorities, the team monitored activities such as land preparations, moisture/water availability and validated the prioritized farm inputs by the beneficiaries and Camp Officers from the government.
- The ZRCS and IFRC have invested in strengthening Community, Engagement Accountability (CEA) capacity as part of the drought response. The feedback database is being used to record and analyze the input received which will be used to guide and improve the response. In addition, the ZRCS, with support from the IFRC, has installed a functional data management dashboard that enhances the work on community feedback and complaints analysis collected through community volunteers during activities in communities, social media platforms, and responses provided through community meetings. The available CEA structure will be used as an integrated system to ensure that the information and feedback flow is well coordinated. The real-time data information flow will further help to ensure the response is integrated.
(1) Zambia: Acute Food Insecurity Situation for August - Projection for October 2023 - March 2024
(2) The Agriculture and Food Security Cluster coordinated by the Disaster Management Unit (DMMU), chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture, and co-chaired by the WFP and FAO, commissioned a joint rapid assessment https://reliefweb.int/report/zambia/wfp-zambia-droughthttps://reliefweb.int/report/zambia/wfp-zambia-drought-response-april-2024response-april-2024