Appeal History:
This Emergency Appeal was launched on 16 September 2015 for CHF 832,900 Swiss francs to support the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) reach 10,830 people with interventions covering cash transfers (for immediate food need); safe water provision through rehabilitation of boreholes, hygiene promotion, and livelihoods strengthening through provision of agricultural inputs and training of lead farmers.
Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 83,000 was initially allocated from the Federation’s DREF to support the national society to start up the operations by meeting immediate needs of affected people.
On the 2nd of February 2016 the Government of Zimbabwe declared a state of National Disaster in view of the El Nino induced poor rains and the escalating food insecurity situation in the country.
Operations Update 1 was issued on 29 September 2015 while Operations update 2 was issued on 15 October 2015.
Operations Update 3 was issued on 24 March 2016 requesting for a 4 month extension of the Emergency Appeal to allow completion of the remaining activities and also revise the Appeal, scaling up, to contribute to addressing the deteriorating food situation in the country.
Revised Emergency Appeal was issued on 27 April 2016 for CHF 5,148.865 targeting 7,666 families in eight districts of Zimbabwe until December 2016.
Danish and American Red Cross are supporting the activities in Muzarabani district bilaterally with ZRCS. IFRC, on behalf of Zimbabwe Red Cross would like to thank all the partners, and appeal to all distinguished donors to support the Appeal to enable Zimbabwe Red Cross provide the needed support to the drought affected communities.
Summary:
A slow onset of the rainy season was followed by severe flooding that destroyed crops. This situation was followed, and exacerbated, by a long dry spell, resulting in a crop yield below the 5 year average. The amount of rainfall received was inadequate to meet basic household consumption needs as well as support for livelihoods, agriculture and wildlife. It is recommended that humanitarian assistance be provided from February to December 2016 and thereafter a review of the situation and needs from December 2016 be carried out for the ensuing period from January 2017 to June 2017. The most affected sectors are food and nutrition, agriculture, water, education, health and wildlife. The Government is appealing for a total of USD 1,572,009,953 between February to December 2016 to provide humanitarian assistance for both short to medium term interventions. Overall, the number of food insecure rural population has risen to approximately 2,820,000 which translates to 30% of the population compared to 16% of the population (1.5 million people) that was predicted during the peak lean season from January to March 2016, according to the government.
The ZIMVAC report highlighted the need to scale-up nutrition-specific interventions to mitigate malnutrition effects among vulnerable groups. Malnutrition remains a challenge especially in children under five. While the immediate needs of these households is food assistance, ZRCS proposes that any food assistance provided should be complemented by livelihood recovery interventions such as seed support, trainings in climate-smart agriculture practices, and water and sanitation activities.