Highlights. Situation Overview. $ 44 m. Required by Government for response. 578,480 People affected, 25% of population

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1 Namibia: Drought Office of the Resident Coordinator Internal Situation Report No.3 (as of 5 August 2016) This report is produced by Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the period from 23 July to 5 August The next report will be issued on or around 19 August. Highlights Namibia CADRI Mission completed. Namibia to host the Africa Drought Conference in August SADC launches USD 2.4 billion appeal for 40 million affected in the region. Food insecurity is predicted to worsen from August onward; 578,480 people will be in need of food and non-food assistance. 578,480 People affected, 25% of population $ 44 m. Required by Government for response Situation Overview The Government of the Republic of Namibian reports that the 2016 harvest is 18% higher than last year but 31% below the normal average. However it is expected that these gains will be weakened by the anticipated La Nina phenomenon later in the year. This will impact on household food security throughout the country. The Capacity Assessment for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) completed its mission to Namibia on Friday 29 July The team, which was in Namibia at the invitation of the Government, started their mission on the 18 th of July, as a follow up to their Scoping Mission in May The team comprised of 5 staff members of the Namibian Directorate of Disaster Risk Management (DDRM), 4 UN Country Team members and 12 International Team members (UNDAC and UN). The CADRI mission interviewed 21 institutions including 60 staff members at national level and 14 local institutions in 4 regions including 50 staff members. The mission analyzed the capacities, needs and gaps of the Disaster Risk Management system of Namibia including the DDRM, with a view to develop a plan for Namibia based on its findings and recommendations. The full report of the mission is expected in August. Namibia will host the Africa Drought Conference from August this year. The conference is a follow-up to the 2013 High Level Meeting on National Drought Policy held in Geneva, Switzerland. The theme of this year s conference is Enhancing Resilience to drought events on the African Continent. The Conference will be guided by an agenda for action white paper document which will be distributed before the conference. This conference is especially significant as it takes place at a time when Namibia and many other countries in Africa are facing the worst drought event in over 35 years. In addition to the five countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe) which had declared national disasters, OCHA reports that eight out of nine provinces in South Africa that collectively account for 90 per cent of the country s maize production are also affected, while Mozambique has also issued an institutional red alert for its most affected central and southern provinces. It is therefore expected that with the anticipated la Nina, the situation in the Southern African Region will worsen with over 640,000 animals already dead, 40 million people affected and 23 million people in need of urgent food assistance.

2 The SADC, through its Chairperson, His Excellency Seretse Ian Khama, President of the Republic of Botswana recently launched its regional appeal at a ceremony attended by Ministers and representatives of Governments from SADC Member States, United Nations and Humanitarian Agencies, members of the diplomatic corps and regional and International Cooperating Partners. This led to pledges towards response in a number of countries, including Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Madagascar. Amounts pledged include Euro 60 million from the European Union and GBP 72 million from the UK. The World Bank might also contribute to the regional response. UN Response The Government of the Republic of Namibia is finalizing its Drought Response Plan which will guide the UN interventions in Namibia. The current drafting process includes a focus on nutrition, water provision and sanitation, livestock (destocking and restocking). In addition, the debriefing process of the CADRI mission, highlighted the following areas that the UN could support Government in strengthening: A government validation workshop on CADRI findings; Disaster Risk Management Training; Technical assistance and training on information management including the drafting of sitreps. The UN will engage the Government on preliminary support, scale up of resilience activities as a final Drought Response Plan and gaps are awaited from Government. The draft UN Preparedness and Response Plan will also be adjusted to incorporate the findings of the CADRI mission and the Governments Drought Response Plan. Agencies also continue to mobilize funds and to date have received: - UNDP: USD 100,000 to strengthen coordination and information management, as well as integration of DRR into national recovery frameworks. - FAO: USD 961,280 on livelihoods, livestock, water, coordination and analysis. - UNICEF - USD 1.7 million expected from USAID At regional level, the RIASCO Regional Action Plan, with a requirement of $ 1.2 billion to meet the needs of 12.3 million people in seven most affected countries has only raised 17 per cent of funding required. The Action Plan outlines multi-sectoral humanitarian action addressing not only food insecurity, but also increased levels of malnutrition, reduced availability of potable water, higher school drop-out rates, and increased incidence of communicable diseases. RIASCO hopes to continue providing support especially in Food, Livelihoods, Health, Nutrition, WASH, Protection, and Education. Preliminary needs to be taken into consideration as reported by Agencies include: Food Security and Agriculture FAO reports indicate that there are vulnerable households in need of vegetable seed distribution while others are in desperate need of fertilizer distribution It has also identified the urgent need for support to early warning systems, information, coordination and analysis as well as food security. As part of capacity building for government, WFP is supporting the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to train trainers in food nutrition security monitoring. The trainers will in turn train enumerators who will collect food security data from 100 sentinel sites across the country. The assessments will ascertain the food security situation at house hold level. Lack of available funds to conduct some of the identified activities. Protection UNFPA reports the short and long term effects of drought on the health and safety status, in particular for women and girls may not be immediately apparent. However, the current drought conditions are most likely to have direct and indirect impact on sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence trends. Women and girls are at greater risk of GBV, HIV and other SRH concerns. Women and girls are most likely to engage in risky coping

3 This image cannot currently be display ed. Internal UN Emergency Situation Update No. 3 mechanisms such as substance abuse, baby dumping, unsafe abortion and unsafe sex in exchange for commodities for survival. Work with government and partners (MOHSS) to ensure that pregnant women and girls still have access to quality antenatal care, skilled delivery assistance and emergency obstetric care. Engage with partners (WFP, FAO, MGECW, MYNS, Local Authorities) involved in food and water assistance programmes are gender responsive. Work with government (MOHSS, MoE, MYNS, MGECW, MAWF) and partners to ensure that health facilities continue to function fully during water shortages and that the health and sanitation needs of women and adolescent girls are considered Advocate for inclusion of SRH, GBV prevention and response across inter-agency clusters. Advocate and provide technical assistance in ensuring that all on-going assessments and appeals include sex and age breakdowns of affected populations. Pre-position of sanitary commodities for adolescents and young women. Strengthening preparedness and response coordination at national and regional levels through enhancing the evidence base. Community based support to health and nutrition programmes for pregnant, lactating women and adolescent girls. (supplementary food rations, sanitary care, delivery kits) Advocate for gender mainstreaming in all the sectors emergency preparedness and response plans in the review and update of the Disaster Risk Management Action Plan. Addressing SGBV and reproductive health in emergencies in the absence of data is a challenge. Lack of financial resources. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Conduct training of Government staff (MAWF, MURD, MoHSS and MoE) Community led total sanitation (CLTS) Humanitarian Assistance - Water Trucking to affected communities Hygiene Promotion focusing on hand washing with soap at critical times, household water treatment and storage Health WHO reports that the Health sector needs support for effective and well-coordinated preparedness and response activities, intensification of disease surveillance, data monitoring and reporting for timely and appropriate response. Provision of support and training for disease prevention and health promotion: i) Supporting the health sector in risk assessments, risk communications and risk management, as well as provision of uninterrupted health services ii) Assist MoHSS in the mobilization and deployment of health workers in the most affected areas as well as the need to ensure communities have access to potable water for household use. iii) Provide close support for the coordination of the response to mitigate the effects of drought emergency on health. Coordination and communication between stakeholders including NHEMC and the DRM There is inadequate coordination and communication between stakeholders, resulting in delays and bottlenecks in data flow, data analysis and timely/complete reporting on disease monitoring and growth monitoring. 3

4 Internal UN Emergency Situation Update No. 3 Nutrition WHO reports the need for medicines and supplies for therapeutic feeding, equipment and materials for nutritional status monitoring at community and health facility levels as well as treatment and care (admission to hospital) of children under age 5 for severe acute malnutrition (SAM), with and without complications. Training and related support need to be strengthened on the MOHSS Nutritional Assessment, Counselling and Support program, for severely undernourished children and other vulnerable groups. There is inadequate coordination and communication between stakeholders, resulting in delays and bottlenecks in data flow, data analysis and timely/complete reporting on disease monitoring and growth monitoring. Funding Regional Pledges: - DiFD - 72 million pounds sterling - European Union - 60 million euros - United States US$ 127 million Country breakdown to be confirmed Background on the crisis Namibia has been suffering from droughts since 2013, however this year seems to be the worst yet for the country. Namibia has experienced persistent drought over the past four years, which has caused farmers to destock and has affected over a quarter of the population, who are currently food insecure. Furthermore, the country is faced with a water crisis due to adverse effects of drought.the 2015/16 rainfall season was characterized by poor and erratic rains and prolonged dry spells, spanning from mid-january to end February The onset of the rains was delayed with little to no rainfall received in October and November 2015, leading to delayed sowing. The ongoing El Nino event has affected much of Southern African with similar drought conditions. The likelihood of a La Nina event in late 2016 has risen to 75%, which is likely to exacerbate current food security conditions throughout the region. The government has set aside N$90 million for the period April to July For further information, please contact: Martha Wilhelm, UN Coordination Analyst, martha.wilhem@one.un.org Ernst Mbangula, UNICEF Focal Point, embangula@unicef.org Nelson Zakaapi, UNDP Focal Point, nelson.zakaapi@undp.org Wendy Hilongwa, IOM Focal Point, whilongwa@iom.int, Beata Negumbo, FAO Focal Point, beata.negumbo@fao.org Peter Mhata, WHO Focal Point, mhatap@who.int Obert Mutumba, WFP Focal Point, obert.mutumba@wfp.org Cathline Neels, UNFPA Focal Point, neels@unfpa.org 4

5 NAMIBIA Drought: Food Insecurity July 2016 Omusati 45% Oshana 28% Ohangwena 41% ANGOLA Oshikoto 42% Kavango (West & East) 41% Zambezi 40% ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE Kunene 38% Otjozondjupa 27% ATLANTIC OCEAN Erongo 7% Khomas 2% Windhoek Omaheke 27% Windhoek Locality Map BOTSWANA Region DROUGHT: FOOD INSECURIITY Total Population (Census 2011) % of Population with Survival Deficit Population with Survival Deficit Omusati 243, ,388 Ohangwena 245, ,741 Kavango (West & East) 223, ,096 Oshikoto 181, ,903 Oshana 176, ,150 Otjozondjupa 143, ,770 Zambezi 90, ,311 Kunene 86, ,120 Omaheke 71, ,055 Erongo 150, ,234 Hardap 79, ,982 //Karas 77, ,750 Khomas 342, ,339 TOTAL 2,113, ,839 Source: Namibia VAC 2016/17 Rural Food Security and Livelihood Vulnerability Forecast Hardap 13% //Karas 13% SOUTH AFRICA Percentage of Population with Survival Deficit, by Region: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations Creation date: 4 Aug 2016 Map No: 500v01 Sources: Namibia Vulnerability Assessment Committee, Humanitarian Partners Feedback: ocharosa@un.org km % 10-19% 20-29% 30-39% 40-50% Region Boundaries International Boundaries