OVERVIEW
In response to a severe drought associated with the 2015/16 El Niño episode, the Southern African Development Community launched a regional humanitarian appeal in July 2016 for $2.4 billion to support the needs of the affected population in the affected Member States.
Vulnerability assessments and analysis indicated nearly 40 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, with around 23 million requiring immediate humanitarian assistance, as of June 2016. The international community was requested to provide assistance to affected Member States with gaps in their humanitarian response, including Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Six countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe) declared drought emergencies. South Africa declared drought disaster in all provinces except Gauteng while Mozambique declared an institutional red alert. National El Niño-related government preparedness and response plans were developed and activated in all the affected countries.
As with most drought emergencies, food and nutrition security and the strengthening of livelihoods were identified as the main priority in the response. The drought led to widespread crop failure, poor harvests and significant loss of livelihoods. Cereal harvest assessments indicated nearly 2.1 million tonnes regional shortfall in production. This meant that a significant amount of cereals had to be imported into the region to cover the needs. An estimated 1.66 million tonnes of maize was required for immediate food assistance in the 2016/17 marketing year.
Livestock, a key source of livelihoods for many communities, were also significantly impacted by the drought. More than 643,000 drought-related livestock deaths were reported in the affected countries due to lack of pasture, lack of water and disease outbreaks.
In the affected countries, it was necessary to support affected communities to recover their production capacity through provision of agricultural inputs including seeds and other appropriate support for the following (2016/17) cropping season. Livestock farmers needed to be protected through provision of emergency feed, rehabilitation of watering points and emergency vaccinations against transboundary diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease. There was also a need to scale up the use of climate smart approaches including water harvesting among high-risk farming households.
Water sources and reservoirs were severely depleted, forcing communities and their livestock to share the same unsafe sources, increasing the risk of disease.
The SADC Council of Ministers at its meeting of March 2016 recommended the declaration of a regional drought disaster, the issuance of a regional appeal for assistance and the establishment of a SADC El Niño Logistics and Coordination Team at the SADC Secretariat to coordinate a regional response in close collaboration with Member States and supported by international cooperating partners (ICPs). The SADC El Niño Logistics and Coordination Team was established in May 2016 with the support of several UN Agencies, including OCHA, FAO, WFP, UNICEF, UNDP and WHO.
Member States activated several response interventions, including the scaling up of social safety net programmes, reallocation of national resources to attend to the needs of affected populations. Rapid and in-depth assessments were conducted in affected countries to inform their response plans. Sector platforms or cluster coordination mechanisms were mobilized to coordinate the drought response. Funding needs and gaps were identified and communicated to partners and the international community.