UNICEF
VENEZUELA Situation Report
November 2019
© UNICEF Venezuela/2019/Fernandez 30th CRC Celebration month
Reporting Period: 1 to 30 November 2019 Highlights Situation in Numbers UNICEF supported the planning and implementation of a yellow fever supplementary vaccination activity in high risk areas of Bolivar state, after one autochthonous case was confirmed. 3,200,000 children in need of Through the National Deworming Campaign, UNICEF treated over humanitarian assistance 1,339,000 school children of 4-12 years between mid-October and (OCHA August 2019) November (63 per cent of the target) and provided information on hand washing, water treatment and safe food handling to over 876,000 children. 7,000,000 7,635 children benefited from the school feeding programme in Miranda people in need and 20,013 children and 4,772 adults, benefitted from activities to promote (OCHA August 2019) school attendance and permanence in Miranda, Bolivar, Amazonas and Delta Amacuro states. 4,769,000 16,508 people in communities were reached with prevention of family refugees and migrants from separation and violence awareness activities, while 2,922 children received Venezuela worldwide psychosocial support in UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces. (Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform, The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency December 2019) Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, conducted a three-day visit to Venezuela, to evaluate the humanitarian situation of the country. UNICEF Appeal 2019
UNICEF’s Response and Funding Status US$ 70.4 million Micronutrient 154% Funding Status (in US$) supplementation Funding status 31% Nutrition
MNH services 24%
Health Funding status 37% Funds Safe water access 78% Fundin received g gap, in 2019, WASH Funding status 74% $37.8 $32.6 M PSS access 21% M
Child Funding status 50% Protection
Education materials 31%
Funding status 36% Education
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
*Funding available includes funds received against the Venezuela HAC appeal launched in August and aligned to the 2019 HRP. 1
Funding Overview and Partnerships UNICEF Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) for July to December 2019 appeals for US$ 70.4 million to meet the needs of 1.3 million people in Venezuela, of which 900,000 are children and adolescents. As of November 2019, UNICEF has raised US$ 32.6 million against the HAC appeal to support implementation of child protection, education, health, nutrition, and WASH interventions, as well as operational and logistic support costs related to the delivery of this assistance. UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to all public and private donors for the contributions received. However, the 2019 HAC still has a funding gap of 54 per cent and UNICEF calls upon the international community to provide additional and flexible support to scale-up UNICEF´s response. Without sufficient funding, over 130,000 new- born babies and pregnant women will not have access to maternal/neonatal life-saving services, and almost 460,000 children across the country will not receive educational materials that will contribute to increasing school enrolment and retention rates.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs During the month of November, water and power service provision continued being irregular in different states. In the states of Bolivar and Caracas, water service interruptions directly affected health service delivery in two hospitals. Additionally, on 21 November, the Venezuela International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) and the Venezuela PAHO/WHO Country Office, reported a confirmed case of yellow fever in the state of Bolivar.1 According to the disease outbreak news, since 12 November the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the WHO office in Venezuela, have deployed a joint risks assessment in order to develop a response plan. PAHO has donated to the MoH over 500,000 doses of vaccines. Moreover, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, conducted a three-day visit to Venezuela, to assess the humanitarian situation and to strengthen cooperation and coordination among the various humanitarian organizations. As part of his assessment, Mr. Lowcock commented on the situation of the health system and the consequences that the current conditions have on the population.2
Summary Analysis of Programme Response Health In November, UNICEF supported the planning and implementation of yellow fever vaccination activities in high risk areas of Bolivar state, with 15,000 doses of vaccines, after one autochthonous case was confirmed. Other potential suspected cases are under investigation but have not yet been confirmed. In addition, as part of UNICEF’s capacity building strategy, during the reporting period 315 doctors from Bolivar, Táchira and Zulia states were trained on protocols to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. Furthermore, UNICEF has provided logistics and transport support for distribution of 1,800 antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in Zulia and other southwestern states of the country, in close collaboration with PAHO and UNAIDS, which includes HIV/AIDS treatment for 1,200 children. Likewise, UNICEF delivered Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care (CemOC) and Basic Emergency Obstetric Care (BemOC) kits to the Ruiz y Paez hospital, in the state of Bolivar, that will benefit 2,301 people, as well as HIV diagnosis kits for 133 pregnant women.
Nutrition According to anthropometric data collected by UNICEF and its partners through screenings in 20 states3 during November, the proportion of global acute malnutrition reported was 6.7 per cent.4 As part of its interventions, UNICEF (i) strengthened nutritional interventions in the field, (ii) provided 265 anthropometric sets (including electronic scales, portable length and height tables and mid-upper arm circumferences -MUAC- tapes) to improve the quality of data and measurements in children and pregnant and lactating women (PLW), including 267 adolescents, screened in primary
1 ‘Yellow fever – Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.’ World Health Organization. 21 November 2019. https://www.who.int/csr/don/21-november-2019- yellow-fever-venezuela/en/ Accessed 15 December 2019. 2 ‘UN Humanitarian Chief Concludes visit in Venezuela.’ United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.’ 06 November 2019.
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health centres and, (iii) shared experiences on collection of nutritional information and data quality during a Nutrition Cluster workshop, thus providing best practices on benefitted population. In addition, UNICEF continued working with MoH and Ministry of Education (MoE) on the National Deworming Campaign throughout schools nationwide. An approximate 1,339,0005 school children of 4-12 years were treated between mid-October to November. By the end of the reporting period, the campaign reached 62.6 per cent of its target. UNICEF field offices have monitored the implementation of the campaign, and identified bottlenecks and challenges, such as: fuel and transportation constraints; limited access to remote areas; communication and; some coordination between local education authorities and MoH, especially in Bolivar, Táchira, Merida and Zulia states.
WASH In November, UNICEF continued supporting vulnerable populations with access to safe water through water-trucking (10 trucks reaching an estimated 48,000 people monthly), in Petare (Miranda state), and the ongoing rehabilitation of key water supply systems in the states of Táchira, Bolívar and Caracas that will reach 100,000 people daily. Additionally, UNICEF continued supporting prevention and control of infections in 46 hospitals across the country mainly with hygiene and cleaning products, safe water and handwashing points, trainings and monitoring. UNICEF has also initiated the installation of four electrolytic chlorinators in Caracas - to provide chlorine for water treatment and environmental hygiene -, installed a new 15 horsepower water pump for the Luis Razzeti hospital, that will benefit 1,600 people on a monthly basis, and installed generators in three hospitals in Zulia (Cabimas, Mara and Machiques) to ensure continuity of safe water pumping for 8,000 people per month. Moreover, UNICEF and Caritas reached more than 6,400 people with key hygiene messages and essential items for vulnerable families in 10 communities and primary health centres in Táchira, Zulia, Bolívar and Grand Caracas. Under the framework of the National Deworming Campaign, UNICEF promoted hygiene practices in more than 7,032 schools. After a landslide in Petare, UNICEF and the Miranda state Civil Protection distributed water purification tablets and recipients to 490 people, while monitoring the situation of children.
Education During the reporting period, in the state of Miranda, 7,635 children (3,796 girls and 3,839 boys) benefited from the school feeding programme, along with 973 educational personnel. Activities6 to promote school attendance and permanence have benefitted 20,013 children (10,435 girls and 9,578 boys) and 4,772 adults in the states of Miranda, Bolivar, Amazonas and Delta Amacuro. Similarly, pedagogical support was given to 690 children (400 girls and 290 boys) at risk of dropping out of school in Miranda and Zulia states. In Miranda, Capital District, Táchira and Zulia states 56,933 children (31,446 girls and 25,487 boys) received educational materials to support learning activities in 266 schools (83 per cent public and 17 per cent subsidized). There were 2,015 teachers trained in teaching strategies and Education in Emergencies (EiE), reinforced with UNICEF education kits in the same states, additionally in Bolivar state. Three more trainings will continue throughout 2020. Additionally, in partnership with RET International, UNICEF has begun to define a strategy for Early Childhood Development (ECD) interventions.7 Three ECD and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) meetings with several stakeholders were held, and two workshops for teachers of implementing partners and the MoE were conducted in November. Psycho-educational support activities were carried out with 1,311 children (616 girls and 695 boys) and 1,816 teachers in Zulia, Bolivar, Amazonas, Miranda, Capital District and La Guaira states to address resilience and self-care techniques during humanitarian situations. Under the Education Cluster, UNICEF held three workshops on EiE in the states of Bolivar, Zulia and Distrito Capital, for education authorities, civil society organizations and UN agencies, 60 teachers (with an overwhelming participation of women) were trained on EiE.
Child Protection UNICEF continued to scale-up the provision of specialized services to increase coverage and quality, for children at risk and victims of different forms of violence. In partnership with sixty-eight Child Protection Councils and six non- governmental organizations, UNICEF reached 14,746 children with legal assistance, psychosocial support and referral
5 Indicator in Summary of Programme Results Table (Annex A), only includes 24-59 months children receiving deworming treatment. Figure in narrative include children up to 12 years old. 6 Face to face promotion, assessment of out of school children, promotion of assistance and school retention techniques, promotion of key messages in school boards and social media, as well as talks to parents and representatives. 7 Early Child Development: during the first years, children develop 80 per cent of their brain, thus it is a phase where most support in nutrition, protection and stimulation is required for an optimum development. During September, UNICEF and MoE agreed on a workplan to support ECD.
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services.8 Additionally, an estimated 16,508 people in communities were reached with prevention of family separation and violence awareness activities, while 2,922 children received psychosocial support in UNICEF-supported child- friendly9 spaces and by participating in community-based activities in the states of Miranda, Lara, Yaracuy, Portuguesa, Carabobo, Bolívar, Táchira, Trujillo, Vargas and Distrito Capital. The construction of the Integrated Attention Center in Táchira has been finalized and will start functioning under multi-sectorial activities targeting families, women and children on the move starting from December onwards. It is expected to reach over 100,000 people per year. Lastly, following a consultancy on Social Policy, UNICEF has designed a monitoring instrument to support Protection Councils receiving incentives and a third-party monitoring system through the partner (CISOR).
Communications for Development (C4D), Community Engagement & Accountability to Affected population In November, UNICEF conducted three advocacy training of trainers’ workshops and as a result, 42 persons were trained on children’s rights and UNICEF’s key areas, so they can consequently advocate within their spheres of influences. Furthermore, through the community engagement programme called “Jornada con los Niños”, UNICEF and partners reached 1,929 people, including 1,251 children and adolescents through three ‘Jornadas’ in Miranda state. Through these events, communities had access to birth registration, immunization, nutritional screening of children and PLW, deworming, psychosocial attention for children, legal counselling for families and distribution of chlorine tabs. Moreover, beneficiaries were reached with key messages on prevention of sexual abuse against children, positive child education practices, breastfeeding and complementary feeding, handwashing, water treatment, responsible sexuality and life planning. Prior to the ‘Jornadas,’ UNICEF conducted a situation analysis with community leaders, as a base to response and activities decided.
Supply and Logistics In November, 20 trucks with a total weight of 34.6 tons were dispatched from the central UNICEF warehouse in Caracas to different states in the country. Most of the distributed commodities were for nutrition and WASH interventions to support safe water and sanitation in hospitals. In addition, UNICEF received 96 units of three horsepower and 25 horsepower water pumps from a local supplier. These pumps will be distributed to different states during the first quarter of 2020. Lastly, UNICEF continued supporting the MoH with the distribution of antiretrovirals to nine states in the country and with improvements to the maternity wards of the Ruiz y Paez Hospital in Bolivar, including civil work, supplies for the air conditioning, cribs and mattresses for mother and children’s attention.
Humanitarian Leadership, Coordination and Strategy Implementation of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) to assist 2.6 million people across Venezuela from July to December 2019, is led by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in partnership with the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), Inter-cluster Coordination Mechanism (ICCM), eight clusters and three field coordination hubs. Within the framework of the HRP, UNICEF and its partners are implementing an integrated and multisectoral response to address the needs of children, adolescents, and PLW arising from the socio-economic and political situation. UNICEF leads the nutrition, WASH and education clusters and the child protection Area of Responsibility (AoR), and actively participates in the health cluster and GBV AoR. In addition, UNICEF is taking part, together with other agencies, on the development of the 2020 Human Needs Overview. Education, WASH and Child Protection Clusters are established at the sub- national level in Bolivar, Táchira y Zulia.
Human Interest Stories and External Media During the reporting period, external communication focused on humanitarian response and public advocacy on children’s rights, under the framework of the 30th Convention of the Rights of the Children’s (CRC) anniversary. For the 30th anniversary of the CRC, UNICEF coordinated 13 short street concerts in Caracas and 30 theatre concerts nationwide, including six Facebook Live and Periscope broadcasts, reaching over 15,000 people and more than 1,300 reproductions.
8 Referral services include medical services, malnutrition screening, specialized psychological support, attention programme if aplicable, among others. 9 UNICEF-supported child-friendly spaces provide life skill training to bust to improve resilience and capacity to deal with Humanitarian situation, with care givers, information sessions on positive discipline and information on available services and their access, among others. 4
Activities in social media channels, on UNICEF´s work in Venezuela, reported an estimated reach of over 125,924 people through Instagram and Facebook, 429,277 impressions (number of times a message is seen) on Twitter, and an engagement (people interaction) of around 6.8 per cent with industry average being 1 to 3 per cent. Videos and human-interest stories: UNICEF response in Zulia state https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahiRr4SLkkM UNICEF provides deworming treatments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTvfN7ropdc UNICEF response in Bolivar – Deworming campaign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYPpENQycnI CRC30 – UNICEF Venezuela and El Sistema https://uni.cf/33QOwUz CRC30 – Blue Points (4 short videos for social media) https://uni.cf/33Lm0DP
PFP Campaigns: As part of CRC 30th Anniversary Celebration, the first CEO breakfast took place gathering eight important companies and three commerce chambers. PFP communicated CRC Celebration to individual donors and potential donors through mailing and social media.
Next SitRep: 25 January 2020
UNICEF Venezuela: https://www.unicef.org/venezuela/spanish/ UNICEF Venezuela Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unicefvenezuela/ UNICEF Venezuela Twitter: @unicefvenezuela UNICEF Venezuela Instagram: @unicefvenezuela
Who to contact for Hervé Ludovic de Lys Javier Alvarez Rocio Ortega further information: Representative Deputy Representative Chief of Communication UNICEF Venezuela Programmes UNICEF Venezuela Tel: +58 414 302 6553 UNICEF Venezuela Tel: +58 414 230 6342 Email: [email protected] Tel: +58 414 221 8897 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
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Annex A
Summary of Programme Results
UNICEF and Partners Sector Response 2019 Progress Progress last Result (1 Results (Jan- last Targets month Targets Aug. - 31 Nov) month (1-31 Nov) 31 Nov) (1-31 Nov) HEALTH
# pregnant women & new-born babies receiving maternal / neonatal 172,797 41,137 2,604 life-saving services in UNICEF supported facilities
# of children under 5 year vaccinated 1,200,000 286,730 2,853 against measles10
NUTRITION
# of children under 5 years with SAM and MAM (with or without 7,000 9,55411 728 8,604 6,568 1,213 complications) receiving acute malnutrition treatment
# of children aged 6 to 59 months and PLW receiving micronutrient 150,000 231,35112 7,306 153,406 195,394 8,252 supplementation
# of children 24-59 months and PLW 287,774 845,25314 407,69515 287,774 878,650 409,549 receiving deworming treatment13 WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE # of people benefitting from access to 800,000 621,627 73,279 1,713,31817 441,808 74,165 safe water 16
# people benefitting from access to 577,000 383,574 35,414 1,713,31819 397,892 42,839 safe sanitation18
# of people who access basic information on hygiene and water treatment and conservation at the 592,000 930,332 883,88320 home
10 The indicator and target have been revised as these were set at a time where the measles outbreak that began in July 2017 with cases reported in all 23 states and the Capital District was ongoing. However, since then the outbreak has been progressively controlled and the last confirmed case was reported in Zulia in August 2019. As part of the national routine immunization programme, UNICEF has focused on vaccinating children under 1 year against measles. 11 This figure includes information not reported in previous Sitrep due to delayed submission of information by implementing partners: 1,027 children under age 5 with SAM and MAM (with or without complications) receiving acute malnutrition treatment. 12 This figure includes information not reported in previous Sitrep due to delayed submission of information by implementing partners: 101,144 children aged 6 to 59 months and PLW receiving micronutrient supplementation. 13 New indicator for HAC’19. It only includes children 24-59 months. Deworming campaign is reaching children up to 12 years old, not included here. 14 New indicator for HAC’19. This cumulative figure includes information not reported in the October Sitrep: 98,848 children 24-59 months and PLW. 15 This figure includes information from National Deworming Campaign for children 24-59 months, as per data from MoH. 16 New indicator for HAC’19. It combines two 2018-19 Scale-up Plan indicators: # of people provided with access to safe drinking water and # of people with access to WASH services in health centers, schools, learning spaces, child friendly spaces and shelters. 17 This figure represents the total beneficiary target of the WASH cluster for WASH activities in communities (water and sanitation, as the latter depends on the former. As over 90% of households have toilets connected to sewerage or septic tanks that depend on water to function) 18 New indicator for HAC’19. 19 This figure represents the total beneficiary target of the WASH cluster for WASH activities in communities 20 This figure includes the over 876,000 children reached with hygiene practices with the National Deworming Campaign in 7,032 schools.
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EDUCATION # of children aged 4 to 18 years in schools who received education 680,000 211,682 56,933 820,000 208,733 56,933 materials
# of out of school children aged 6-12 years accessing formal and non- 13,500 280 77 15,000 280 77 formal basic education21 CHILD PROTECTION # of children with access to 129,600 26,704 2,927 166,080 12,213 2,927 psychosocial support
# people sensitized on prevention and response to cases of 172,800 79,794 10,959 316,800 56,843 11,584 exploitation, violence and abuse22
Annex B
Funding Status*
Funding gap Funds available
Sector Requirements Emergency funds Other funds US$ %
Nutrition 8,922,000 2,795,561 0 6,126,439 69% Health 14,782,000 4,465,711 1,031,640 9,284,649 63% WASH 16,000,000 10,313,962 1,571,840 4,114,198 26% Child Protection 9,418,000 4,242,288 512,175 4,663,537 50% Education 21,271,000 2,736,755 4,915,985 13,618,260 64% TOTAL 70,393,000 24,554,277 8,031,640 37,807,083 54% * As defined in the Humanitarian Appeal of 19 August 2019 for a period of 6 months
21 New indicator for HAC’19. 22 New indicator for HAC’19. It combines two 2018-19 Scale-up Plan indicators: # of people reached in communities where social support networks to prevent and address violence, abuse and exploitation (including GBV) - with emphasis on migrant routes - have been mobilized and strengthened with UNICEF support and # of people reached with messages on life saving skills and protective practices or information on uptake of services in UNICEF-supported facilities. 7