Category: Study

HIGHLIGHTS

• Epidemics, cyclones, floods and prolonged drought in the south exacerbated by climate change further compound systematic weakness in Madagascar. This has affected the lives and well-being of children and their families in 2022. UNICEF projects 4.8 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2023. A projected 2.4 million children will require humanitarian assistance, including 479,0003 children aged 6-59 months who are expected to suffer acute malnourishment through the lean season in southern Madagascar.

Increased stress and economic pressure on families expose 533,000 children to violence, abuse and exploitation, including child marriage, child labour and gender-based violence.

• UNICEF will provide a multisectoral, integrated response to address the humanitarian needs of children and their families. Reinforcing the resilience of local communities and systems and aligning with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action will be the backbone of the response.

• UNICEF requires US$41.1 million4 to address the acute needs of 1.5 million people in 2023, including 760,000 women/girls.

KEY PLANNED TARGETS

92,000 children with severe wasting admitted for treatment

759,000 children receiving Vitamin A supplementation

230,000 women and children accessing gender-based violence mitigation, prevention, response

520,000 people accessing a sufficient quantity and quality of water

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS

Throughout 2022, Madagascar continued to be confronted with multiple complex crises, including consecutive cyclones that resulted in destruction and damage in the east and southeast regions; prolonged drought affecting the south; and epidemics throughout the country. The socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and climate change-driven extreme weather events, coupled with structural issues, brought the country to a historically high poverty rate, with 81 per cent of people living below poverty line. This includes 1.3 million children. The situation has significantly increased social protection needs while putting basic services under pressure.

The slow recovery from three consecutive failed rainy seasons in the south has left more than 4.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. During the upcoming lean season (January-April 2023), an estimated 479,000 children will be malnourished, including 92,000 experiencing wasting. Around 1.9 million11 are already affected by very difficult access to safe water and sanitation. The water situation is expected to deteriorate further with another season of below-average rainfall during the current rainy season (October 2022 to April 2023), which could create a sixth consecutive below-average harvest.

The particularly intense cyclone season of 2022 affected 423,800 people10 in southeast Madagascar, causing 136 deaths and the widespread destruction of public infrastructure and crops. Consequently, five out of the six districts in these regions were classified as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3, or crisis level.

While Madagascar is prone to such epidemics as plague, measles and malaria, weak health services struggle to ensure continuity of basic services during crises.

Increased stress and economic pressure on families, exacerbated by the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, further expose 533,000 children to violence, abuse and exploitation, including child marriage, child labour and multiple forms of gender-based violence. Humanitarian crises reduced households’ resilience and potentially pushed them to resort to negative coping mechanisms, which mainly affect women and children. This situation, in turn, is exacerbated by chronic weaknesses of systems for monitoring, preventing and responding to violence, including gender-based violence.

Source: UN Children’s Fund

Luanda – Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced the three Angolan winners of the 23rd edition of 2022 Secondary School Essay Competition on Friday.

The SADC Secretariat has allocated USD 1000 as prize money for national winners of the competition as follows: USD 500 for first prize, USD 300 for the second prize and USD 200 for the third prize winner.

The top three winners of 2022 Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently announced are:

In the first place was the student Casimira Pimenta in Angola’s Huambo province from the Secondary School Joaquim Kapango (12th grade), Irina Sardinha from the Commercial high Institute of Luanda (12th grade), and Ecliseaste Ricardo from Polytechnic Institute of Benguela (12th grade).

The competition takes place in two phases, with Irina Sardinha, second ranked in Angola, obtaining 10th place in the regional contest.

In 2022, under the theme: How SADC can increase production capacity in the face of Covid-19´´, 33 newsrooms competed across the country and the top three went to the regional competition.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary of State for Pre-school and Primary Education, Pacheco Francisco, said he was pleased and called for more efforts by the sector in order to evolve and win better places.

To him, the creation of the competition, in 1999, helps young people to deepen their knowledge about the region and create proposals for mitigation, as well as stimulating reflection on the resilience of different sectors.

The ceremony also served to launch the 2023 edition, with the theme: How SADC can promote industrialisation for inclusive, resilient and sustainable economic growth.

The SADC Secondary Schools Essay Competition is a regional competition for students from schools and member countries to provide new opportunities for further knowledge.

SADC currently has 16 member countries.

They are Angola, South Africa, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Eswatini, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Seychelles and Comoros.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Students at the University of Malawi are protesting over the school’s decision to have only one semester per year, doubling the length of time needed for a degree. The school closed Wednesday after students blocked roads to the campus, and administrators say classes will not resume until the demonstrations end.

The students have been holding demonstrations on and around campus since Friday in an effort to make officials abandon the new academic calendar, set to begin next year.

On Wednesday, protesters blocked roads to the campus by burning tires in the streets.

Humble Bondo, president of the university’s Students Council, said protests were stepped up this week after management failed to address students’ concerns during a meeting Monday.

“During the meeting we presented our stand, and we said to them, ‘We will not stop our vigils until the academic calendar changes,’” Bondo said. “So, instead of addressing our issue on the table or the option that we gave them, they said we cannot manage to do this.”

The university, so far, has not stated a reason for cutting back to one semester per year.

Similar protests in September ended in clashes between the police and students.

The University of Malawi administration said in a statement Wednesday it decided to close the institution because the protests were threatening the security of management and members of the public.

They instructed all the students to leave the campus by noon.

Bondo said closing the institution was unfair.

“The impact is a lot,” he said. “Mind you that we are fighting this so that we should have the same academic calendar, we should finish the period within one year, two semesters. But this will also prolong the time that we will stay at the university. So, this will put us in an awkward position.”

University spokesman Alfred Banda told VOA Wednesday he would not make further comments about the matter.

Education expert Benedicto Kondowe faults the university administration for closing the institution and said he hopes the matter gets resolved soon.

“If they take longer, some of the students would drop out because they will lose motivation because it does not make sense to do a four-year program in five, six years,” Kondowe said. “So, there is already a risk there, what about a girl child? Some of the girls will fall pregnant, so there is huge implication that the duty bearers will need to consider in the circumstances.”

Student union president Bondo told VOA the students are seeking a court injunction against the closure of the institution.

Source: Voice of America

LUSAKA, 9 August 2022 – Children in Malawi and Zambia are calling for their governments to change the school calendar and close during the winter months of June and July with climate change bringing colder temperatures leaving students unable to concentrate and skipping classes, Save the Children said today.

Schools currently close for winter in the two countries between mid-August and September as many classrooms don’t have heating. However, changes in the climate have meant winters are getting colder and children want the holidays brought forward so they can stay at home where they have a better chance of keeping warm.

Average temperatures in June and July in the two countries range from 9°C to 23°C. While not considered freezing in many parts of the world, the southern African nations are not accustomed to such temperatures, and houses and schools are not built with adequate heating or insulation. While winter climate data on Zambia and Malawi is scant, across Southern Africa, there has been an increase in the frequency of extreme cold events induced by changes in regional climate patterns, such as the number of cold fronts which move over South Africa.

Since the start of winter in June, children in the Southern Africa countries have been complaining of extremely cold days taking a toll on their lives and stopping them from enjoying their right to education.

Faith, 13, a child rights campaigner from Malawi, is passionate about climate change and how it is impacting children. She told Save the Children that she has noticed a change in the weather pattern in the past few years.

“The cold was there, but it was not like this one we are experiencing now. It was cold, of course, but sometimes the sun could be there. But this cold we are experiencing… it’s hard to withstand.”

Malawi and Zambia are among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with the full impact of the climate crisis already being felt in the form of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and landslides. They also topped the list of the world’s underreported crises in 2021.

Earlier this year Save the Children said Zambia is experiencing a slow and silent climate crisis that has driven about 13% of the population into severe food shortages, with 1.58 million people – including an estimated 821,000 children – facing an underreported environmental disaster, including late rains, prolonged dry spells, extreme high temperatures, devastating insect swarms, and floods. In Malawi, a third of the population – 5.4 million people out of 16.6 million – is on the brink of extreme hunger driven by poverty and climate change-induced shocks to the food system.

But as parents struggle to feed their families, children like Faith are struggling to stay sharp in class and to keep their dreams alive.

Faith said: “Climate change is affecting me a lot because I’m skipping classes and my right to education is being disturbed because I’m not enjoying my education as I used to. And another thing (it) is affecting is my right of aspiration and inspiration of what I want to become … I want to become the president of Malawi.

“It’s a cold time, of course, but the cold is beyond because it reaches the extent where children don’t go to school and I’m learning at a boarding secondary school. And then it happens that we have to bath with cold water. It’s too much for us to handle so we skip classes sometime.”

Pohamba, 14, lives with his mother and brother in Lusaka, Zambia. He said that he has noticed a rapid change in the weather pattern which is affecting children in many ways, including those living with disability like himself.

“In Zambia weather patterns have really changed …maybe from seven years ago. I was young, but I still have a bit of a memory of what was happening. When it was raining, it wasn’t raining as it is raining now. And when it is summer, it wasn’t this hot. The weather right now is just changing.

“People that have disabilities are affected by climate change in a lot of ways. When it comes to school as I said, it’s cold or it’s too hot and it’s hard to concentrate. They (extreme weather events) could get worse if we don’t start treating our environment the right way.”

At last month’s inaugural African Children’s Parliament in Zambia, Faith called on her government and other African governments to revise the school calendar so children are given a winter holiday in June and July. Her message was greeted with a huge round of applause by fellow children in what could set the precedent for other nations in the continent.

Jo Musonda, Save the Children Country Director in Zambia, said:

“The extreme weather conditions including the cold seasons have become regular for Southern Africa and a cause for concern for families and children. Save the Children stands with children in their quest to have the school calendar revised and we will pick up this call and include it in our on-going advocacy and dialogue with the Ministry of Education and look forward to achieving positive outcomes for children.”

Save the Children’s Country Director in Malawi, Kim Koch, said:

“We know that climate change affects children first and worst and stands in their way of enjoying their basic rights including the right to education. With the number of climate-related disasters tripling in the past 30 years, frequent and recurring climate shocks – such as flooding, and cyclones – are repeatedly putting the lives and dreams of children, our future generation, at great jeopardy.

“We are calling on African governments and world leaders to listen to children and give them a seat at the table in decisions that affect their lives now and, in the future.”

Save the Children has been working in Zambia for nearly 40 years, running health, nutrition, education and protection programs across the country. In response to the climate crisis, Save the Children is supporting children and their families impacted by drought and floods, providing education support, emergency cash and voucher assistance and school feeding programmes.

In Malawi Save the Children works in 25 of 28 districts, delivering programmes, advocating for children’s rights and building capacity to respond to emergencies.

Through partners Save the Children is empowering children to become child right campaigners and support with advocacy on a number of issues affecting children in Zambia and Malawi including climate change.

Source: Save the Children

Weather disasters that happen more often because of climate change create conditions in which gender-based violence often spikes, according to new research.

The study, published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, reviewed research from five continents and found increased violence against women and girls in the aftermath of floods, droughts, hurricanes and other extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent as the planet warms. Humanitarian organizations that respond to weather disasters should be aware of this troubling trend when planning their operations, the study authors said.

“When we think of climate change effects, we think of some very drastic and very visual things, things like floods, disruptions of cities, supply chain disruptions — which are all very valid and very real risks of climate change,” said study author Sarah Savic Kallesøe, a public health researcher at Simon Fraser University in Canada. “But there are also some more veiled consequences that are not as easily visible or easily studied. And one of those things is gender-based violence.”

The researchers scoured online databases to find studies on rape, sexual assault, child marriage and other forms of gender-based violence following extreme weather events.

The initial search, based on broad keywords like “violence,” “women,” and “weather,” yielded more than 20,000 results, each of which Savic Kallesøe and her colleagues screened individually to determine whether they were relevant.

Only 41 studies that assessed links between gender-based violence and extreme weather made the cut. The researchers then graded the robustness of each study’s methodology using standard rubrics for grading data quality. Although many of the papers were flawed and a few contradicted each other, most studies — especially the higher quality ones — reported a rise in gender-based violence following extreme weather, Savic Kallesøe said.

For instance, one study found that new moms were more than eight times as likely to be beaten by their romantic partners after Hurricane Katrina if they had suffered storm damage than before the storm hit. Five studies of good or fair quality linked drought in sub-Saharan Africa to upticks in sexual and physical abuse by romantic partners, child marriage, dowry violence, and femicide.

And interviews with survivors revealed that seeking disaster aid can make women more vulnerable: “The shelter is not safe for us. Young men come from seven or eight villages,” said one survivor to researchers following Cyclone Roanu in Bangladesh in 2016. “I feel frightened to stay in the shelters. I stay at my house rather than taking my teenage daughter to the shelters,” she added.

Lindsay Stark, a social epidemiologist at the Brown School of the Washington University in St. Louis, said the pattern “is something that those of us who are working in the humanitarian space know intrinsically, because we see it all the time. So, it is very nice to see this distillation of the evidence.”

Savic Kallesøe emphasized that climate change itself doesn’t directly cause gender-based violence. Instead, she and her colleagues found that gender-based violence is “exacerbated by extreme weather events because it’s a type of coping strategy at the expense of women, girls, and sexual and gender minorities,” she said.

Extreme weather can place people under enormous stress, displace them, force them into crowded relief camps, destroy their livelihoods, and expose them to strangers who might do them harm. Layered over the gender roles that often drive gender-based violence, these risk factors make women especially vulnerable. For instance, a family might marry off a daughter early to have one less mouth to feed after a flood, or a man stressed after a hurricane might snap and strike his wife.

Researchers widely recognize that humanitarian crises, like conflict or forced migration, tend to expose women and girls to violence. That climate disasters would have similar consequences isn’t surprising, said Lori Heise, an expert on gender equity at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

However, the exact ways in which climate disasters lead to gender-based violence still aren’t clear from the data. Few high-quality studies are available — and almost no data has been collected on the challenges faced by LGBTQ people following extreme weather events. The new study highlights the need for more and better research and for humanitarian organizations to engage with women and girls in climate-stressed areas about how best to protect them when disaster strikes, Savic Kallesøe said.

“Gender-based violence is happening all the time, everywhere,” Stark said. “We need to be preventing gender-based violence now … and to understand that if we don’t act now, the situation is going to increase exponentially with the impending climate crisis that we all know is upon us.”

Source: Voice of America

Abstract

It is often taken as a given that community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) serves as a mechanism for the inclusion of local knowledge (LK) in disaster risk reduction (DRR). In this paper, through in-depth qualitative analysis of empirical data from Malawi, we investigate the extent to which CBDRR in practice really takes into account LK. This research argues that LK is underutilised in CBDRR and finds that current practice provides a limited opportunity for the inclusion of LK, due to five prime obstacles: i) current approach to community participation, ii) financial constraints and capacity of external stakeholders, iii) the donor landscape, iv) information consolidation and sharing, and v) external stakeholders’ attitudes towards LK. In CBDRR, a strong dichotomy between local and scientific knowledge is maintained, and further re-examination of community-based approaches in practice is needed to make them truly transformative.

Source: UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction