The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has established a team to coordinate a regional response to the impacts of the El-Niño phenomenon on livelihoods in close collaboration with member states.

The SADC region is experiencing a devastating drought episode associated with the 2015/2016 El-Niño phenomenon which is affecting livelihoods and the quality of lives especially for women, children and the elderly in the region.

At least 27 million people, translating to about 9% of the SADC’s 293 million population, are already affected by the current disaster and this figure is likely to increase.

 

Response team

The SADC El Niño Response Team has been established in response to a directive from the SADC Council of Ministers at a meeting held in Botswana in earlier this year. The team comprises of staff from the Secretariat and the UN Agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The SADC El Niño Response Team is currently preparing a regional drought appeal for assistance with the aim of mobilising resources to meet the needs of people requiring humanitarian support in the region.

Among other things, the SADC El Niño Response Team will:

• Analyse and communicate the regional extent of the impacts of El Niño and the financial and logistical requirements for an effective response
• Coordinate the systems and institutional requirements for an effective importation and distribution programme of food and non-food commodities in the SADC region to mitigate the impacts of the El Niño event of 2016;
• Perform monitoring and evaluation of the response to allow for effective decision making during and after the response
• Based on lessons learnt during the response, make recommendations for future disasters

 

Drought update

Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have all already declared national drought emergencies. South Africa has declared a drought emergency in seven of the country’s nine provinces. Mozambique declared a 90-day institutional red alert for some southern and central areas.

Member States are currently conducting their annual vulnerability assessments and results are expected in early June 2016. These results will provide the effect of drought on food and nutrition security and vulnerability situation as a whole.

While a Regional Drought Disaster Declaration is yet to be made, the Regional Response Team has already started compiling data and statistics for a possible Regional Appeal document. Meanwhile, the team will continue to publish El-Nino Drought Situation Reports on a monthly basis.