UNICEF Situation Report MOZAMBIQUE 26-30 March 2007

Major Developments

Explosion of Weapons Depot in Maputo ƒ The INGC reports that a total of 102 people have died as a result of the explosions in the weapons depot in the outskirts of the city of Maputo which took place on 22 March. 515 are reported wounded. 936 families are to be provided with food and basic household supplies. Support is being facilitated through the Mozambican Red Cross, NGOs and other community organizations. ƒ A total of 4,404 UXOs have been collected to date; seven neighborhoods have yet to be cleared. Mine risk education activities are being carried out by local organizations and Protection Cluster partners, including Handicap International, Rede Came, Reencontro, IND, Save the Children and UNICEF. ƒ While initially 200 children were registered as separated from their families, only nine children are pending reunification with care givers. These children are under the care of the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare.

UNICEF/Protection Cluster Response ƒ Save the Children and UNICEF, as co-leaders of the Education and Protection Cluster, have been coordinating the protection aspects of the response to the weapons depot emergency with the National Emergency Operations Centre (CENOE) of the INGC, the Municipal Emergency Operations Centre (COE), the Ministries of Women and Social Action, Interior, Education and Culture, and Health. CENOE/COE and with MMAS, MINT, MEC and MISAU and other cluster partners. ƒ Protection Cluster partner interventions have focused on: o Tracing, registering and reintegrating separated children: Support has been provided to Ministry of Women and Social Action for the assessment of separated children, collecting and systemizing information and coordinating with the Ministry of Interior for reintegration efforts. A press release has been issued informing communities that all separated children should be referred to the police and that families looking for children should register in the “Infantario 1 de Maio.” Assessments in the neighborhoods and in the hospitals are also being made to identify separated children. o Social mobilization and Mine Risk Education (MRE): Support is being provided to activists from Handicap International, Save the Children, Reencontro, the Mozambican Red Cross and Rede Came for community sensitization and mine risk education. Handicap International has provided posters and Protection Cluster partners have developed a leaflet with basic messages for distribution in communities. Some 50 activists were trained on 26 March and initiated their work on 27 March within communities and schools. o Psychosocial Support: Psychosocial support has been provided to families and affected populations in hospitals, the morgue and in funerals by the Ministry of Health. Additional support has been provided to families at the community level through local associations such as OMM. A two page briefing note was developed by Education Cluster partners, the Ministries of Education, Health and Women and Social Action for distribution to teachers and Ministry of Education staff to provide basic guidance on how to address psychosocial concerns of children in the classroom, with additional information on where to go for additional support.

Tropical Cyclone Favio

Needs Assessment

ƒ With the transition to the rehabilitation phase underway, focus is being placed on the development of strategies and action plans for the rehabilitation of infrastructure and essential services damaged or destroyed by the cyclone.

UNICEF Response

ƒ UNICEF has reached an agreement with the Mozambican Red Cross in Vilanculos for the distribution of additional family kits in cyclone affected areas.

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ƒ A UNICEF Education staff member has traveled to Vilanculos to monitor the distribution of 200 education kits to schools affected by the cyclone; a total of 500 learners kits and 75 recreation kits will have been distributed.

ƒ The Provincial Government of Inhambane and UNICEF will undertake a programme for schools and health facilities affected by Cyclone Favio through the EU Recovery Plan for Inhambane Province. This 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. Draft Plans of Action have been developed for the various components of the Education and Health sector programmes. Initiatives under this 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. UNICEF is working with Provincial authorities to finalize the list of schools and health facilities that will fall under the programme.

2) Zambezi Floods

Needs Assessment

ƒ The UNICEF teams based in Caia (Sofala province), Mopeia (Zambezia province) and Mutarara (Tete province) are continuing to work with Government, UN and NGO partners to monitor the delivery of basic services in accommodation centres and to meet medium term needs in flood affected provinces. The priority concerns according to the INGC are sanitation and hygiene/health education. ƒ The preparations for resettlement are continuing, under the leadership of provincial Governments, with the process of plot demarcation on-going in each of the affected areas. Reports from the field indicate that community leaders are actively involved in the process of demarcating and allocating plots to families to ensure that traditional community groups are kept together. ƒ Humanitarian actors in the field are meeting to discuss how they can support the resettlement process with the provision of family and household kits. The INGC has requested that distribution of these materials be postponed until after the 5 April meeting in Chimoio that will concretize the resettlement strategy (more on meeting under the Inter-Agency Collaboration and Key Partnerships section). Assessments indicate that most families in accommodation centres in all four provinces have received some type of household or family kit. ƒ Focus is shifting to planning for the provision of basic services in resettlement centres. In most cases, resettlement centres are being created near existing accommodation centres; as a result the continuation and extension of existing services such as health and education can serve to meet the needs of resettled populations until more permanent facilities are established. ƒ Monitoring of the situation in accommodation centres will continue until the resettlement process is completed.

UNICEF Response

WASH*

ƒ In all affected provinces, UNICEF is continuing to work with Government and NGO partners to ensure complete coverage of centres with WASH interventions, in line with the agreed geographical division of labour. While the process of resettlement is ongoing, in addition to supporting ongoing implementation of water and sanitation interventions, UNICEF will focus on working with partners to assess the need to rehabilitate existing boreholes and hand pumps and drill new boreholes in the areas adjacent to resettlement centres as they are being identified. District and provincial authorities are carrying out assessments with WASH Cluster partners to determine where new water sources need to be created to meet the needs of both resettled and host populations; rehabilitation of existing water sources has also begun. Bids from water management companies are being reviewed to contract the construction of new water sources. Focus is also shifting from the use of temporary sanitation services to more permanent services such as the building of household latrines in resettlement centres.

ƒ Discussions are underway among WASH Cluster partners to develop a phased approach for the withdrawal of water treatment plants for accommodation centres, closely synchronized with the rehabilitation and construction of new water sources.

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ƒ Communication and community mobilisation activities on hygiene promotion supported by UNICEF and cluster partners are ongoing in accommodation centres in the four flood affected provinces, including video projections on the promotion of good hygiene practices by multimedia mobile units and sessions on hygiene promotion undertaken by community theatre groups. Communities are creating their own hygiene promotion vehicles – such as local theatre groups and community radio initiatives – to make hygiene promotion interventions more sustainable. UNICEF has developed a standard training for hygiene promotion to ensure consistency and uniformity in training of activists by WASH Cluster partners.

Health*

ƒ UNICEF is continuing to work with cluster partners to support the local health authorities in monitoring the status of the health situation in the centres, identifying appropriate referral facilities, and conducting activities including epidemiological surveillance, cholera prevention (no cases have been registered), drug distribution, immunisation, malaria spraying and the distribution of ITNs. To date, UNICEF and partners have distributed approximately 77,000 ITNs.

ƒ While no cases of cholera have been reported to date in the flood affected areas, vigilance has been heightened due to reports of cholera in other parts of the country. UNICEF has provided support to district health officials in Caia to establish a disinfectant site at the ferry crossing from Zambezia Province to Sofala Province as a precaution against cholera transmission.

ƒ While the process of resettlement is ongoing, UNICEF will focus on supporting the local health authorities and other partners to monitor the health situation and needs, to consolidate and disseminate information and to maintain sufficient supplies in health facilities in affected areas.

Nutrition*

ƒ 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 9,767 children have been screened under the programme across the four flood affected provinces; 1,058 of them were found to be moderately malnourished, of which 1,058 have been supplemented with BP5, 71 severely malnourished children have been referred to hospital for appropriate case management, 14,154 children have received de-worming and 12,977 children have received Vitamin A supplementation.

ƒ While the process of resettlement is ongoing, UNICEF will focus on supporting the local health authorities and other partners to conduct ongoing nutritional surveillance and to continue implementing activities under the supplementary feeding programme. 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).

ƒ UNICEF is also providing technical support to the planning of the VAC food security and nutrition assessment, particularly in terms of liaison with the Ministry of Health on the planned anthropometric component of the assessment. The assessment will be led by SETSAN with support from WFP and UNICEF. While it will be a national vulnerability assessment, purposive sampling will be carried out in flood and cyclone affected areas. Nine VAC teams are expected to carry out the assessment field work between 16 and 22 April; the final VAC assessment report is anticipated by the end of May.

Education*

ƒ While the process of resettlement is ongoing, UNICEF is supporting the local education authorities and other partners to monitor the quality of education provided. This will include support to School Council members to enable them to mobilise communities to send their children to school, particularly girls and OVC, and to keep them there; support to School Directors to monitor the quality of education provided and ensure that they practice participative school management methods; support to teachers through training in child friendly learning-teaching methods; and support to monitoring and support supervision, to ensure sufficient level of quality in the education provided.

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ƒ District and provincial education officials are carrying out assessments of resettlement areas to identify where new schools and classrooms need to be built.

ƒ Distribution of learners’ kits, teachers’ kits and school kits and setting up of tents are ongoing in accommodation centres in Morrumbala, Mopeia and Chinde that were inaccessible before.

Protection*

ƒ Monitoring is ongoing of activista protection activities in accommodation centres after the completion of trainings on psycho-social support, protection against abuse and exploitation and general protection issues.

ƒ UNICEF and Protection Cluster partners met with the Vice Commander of the national Police in Maputo to discuss the continued presence of police in accommodation centres and to discuss support to training of community police and enhanced coordination with INGC. A Police team was traveling to the field on 28 March to assess the situation on the ground.

ƒ UNICEF is supporting the “Escolinhas” or schools for younger children through the provision of recreation kits.

ƒ While the process of resettlement is ongoing, UNICEF is supporting local authorities and other partners to monitor the protective environment in accommodation and resettlement centres. Efforts are focusing on ensuring a continued police presence, an appropriate psycho-social environment for children and ongoing support for the most vulnerable. Community committees responsible for the protection will be established.

Programme Communication

ƒ UNICEF is working with partners on implementing a longer term strategy for programme communication initiatives. Theatre group activities are being expanded through the creation of community and district level theatre groups trained in the Grupo de Teatro do Oprimido (GTO) methodologies to ensure more coverage of the most remote accommodation centres. Radio spots have been created for hygiene promotion and malaria prevention and are being broadcast on community radio; Call-in question and answer radio programmes will start next week. Plans are also being put in place to address cholera prevention through child-to-child radio programmes. District education officials are working with community radios to develop monthly contests where student essays on hygiene promotion, cholera and malaria prevention, among other topics, are broadcast, judged and awarded with school supplies.

ƒ UNICEF aims to strengthen the sustainability of these programmes by engaging community radio and district education and health officials in the development process to ensure local ownership of the programme communication initiatives.

* Please note that cumulative information on the status of supply distribution by sector is available upon request.

Inter-Agency Collaboration and Key Partnerships

ƒ A national meeting to concretize resettlement plans in the flood affected areas will take place on 5 April in Chimoio, the capital of Manica Province. Meeting participants at the Ministerial meeting will include the INGC, provincial and district administrators of the affected areas, and members of the Mozambique Humanitarian Country Team (HCT). The HCT will meet on 2 April to agree on issues and concerns that should be raised at the meeting.

ƒ An IASC Humanitarian Country Team Meeting was chaired by the Resident Coordinator on 30 March. The main issues addressed were the Real Time Evaluation (RTE) mission that would be arriving in Maputo in coming days, agreement on the Mozambique IASC Humanitarian Country Team Terms of Reference, and the status of contributions received to date by Humanitarian Country Team partners for the flood and cyclone emergency responses.

The current list of cluster leads and participants is provided below:

Cluster for Cluster lead Cluster participants

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emergency response Logistics WFP UNICEF, UNDP, IOM, IFRC, Africare, CAFOD, CEDES, Care, Jacana, CUAMM, Mozambican Red Cross, EC, Food for the Hungry International, Humedica, German Agro Action, LWF/ACT, Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, Save the Children Alliance, UNOCHA, USAID, World Vision, HelpAge International, Kulima, Oxfam, Italian Embassy, INGC Food Security WFP/FAO IRD, SCA, World Vision, World Relief, CEDES, ADMR, FHI, German Agro Action, CARITAS, IMVF, Mozambican Red Cross, Kulima Telecommunications WFP UNICEF, Télécoms Sans Frontières, Swedish Rescue Services Agency, Oxfam (representing NetHope) Water, Sanitation and UNICEF Oxfam, Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, Médecins Hygiene sans Frontières, International Relief and Development, Food for the Hungry International, Concern, IFRC, Mozambican Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross, World Vision, German Agro Action, USAID Nutrition UNICEF SCA, WHO, FAO, WFP, CARE, World Vision, Food for the Hungry International, World Relief, Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, UNAIDS, MSF Health WHO Medicus Mundi, World Vision, NAFEZA, TRIMODER, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS Education Save the Children World Vision, Concern, UNESCO, Africare, Samaritan’s Alliance / UNICEF Purse International Relief, Instituto da Comunicação Social, Action Aid Protection Save the Children World Vision, UNFPA, UNESCO, WFP, Africare, Handicap Alliance / UNICEF International, Samaritan’s Purse International Relief, Action Aid, Concern, Halo Trust, ASADEC, ASVIMO, Mozambican Red Cross, Helpage International, Terre des Hommes, Rede Came, Rede da Criança and Food for the Hungry International Emergency Shelter Mozambican Red Habitat for Humanity, German Agro Action, Samaritan’s Cross/IFRC Purse International Relief, UNICEF, Kulima, IOM, UNDP, UNHABITAT Early Recovery UNDP All Partners

For more information, please contact:

Leila Pakkala Representative Tel: 82 3051900 [email protected]

Thierry Delvigne-Jean Communication Officer Tel: 82 3121820 [email protected]

Melissa Fernandez Emergency Officer Tel: 82 3179160 [email protected]

Olívia Wills UNICEF Emergency Situation Centre Tel: 82 3828477 [email protected]

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