Red Cross bemoans slow drought response
The Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS) is finding it hard to secure funds from donors to provide food assistance to people affected by the drought.
The society launched an emergency appeal last year for about N$14 million to enable them to help 3 200 households (about 11 500 individuals).
In an interview with Nampa, NRCS’s national manager for disaster management, Bruce Siyambango, said the emergency appeal was receiving limited attention and funding.
He said one of the main reasons was that the government has not declared the drought a national disaster.
“This has negatively impacted initial operations and as such the appeal coverage has only reached 15%, which has significantly impacted the implementation of the intervention’s work plan,” said Siyambango.
He said about N$1.5 million was initially allocated from the federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the national society’s immediate operations.
The intervention has been able to help only 1 200 beneficiaries with emergency food aid. Water-point rehabilitation projects have been delayed. He said the drought was hitting people in rural areas the hardest, such as in the Kunene, Ohangwena, Kavango and Omusati regions where communities depend on subsistence farming and livestock. These people are facing hunger this year due to no or low harvest resulting from the effects of El Niño that hit most parts of the southern African region.
Countries such as Malawi and Zimbabwe have already declared the drought a state of emergency.
Siyambonga said the drought has forced many people to use water from unprotected sources or sharing water points with animals.
This, he said, puts affected populations at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
The drought has also disproportionately affected the nutritional status of highly vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly, orphaned and vulnerable children, and those living with HIV/Aids. In response to the need, the NRCS is operating soup kitchens in affected regions and rehabilitating water points.
Due to limited funds, the society operates only four soup kitchens in Kunene instead of 12 originally proposed.
He said it was expected that 170 640 meals would have been served by now, but only 21 087 have been served.
So far, 10 water points have been rehabilitated in the Kunene Region.
Since October 2014, Namibia has been experiencing highly erratic rainfall patterns. Prolonged dry spells resulted in delayed planting and destroyed crops.
As a result, the 2014/15 harvest was 46% below average.
Cabinet has approved the extension of the 2015/16 drought relief programme to run from May to July at a cost of N$89 million.
The 2015/16 drought relief programme officially ended on 31 March.
More than half a million people in communal areas have stretched their food supplies to the limit and rely entirely on the government’s drought relief food supplies.
-Nampa
MAGGY THOMAS
The society launched an emergency appeal last year for about N$14 million to enable them to help 3 200 households (about 11 500 individuals).
In an interview with Nampa, NRCS’s national manager for disaster management, Bruce Siyambango, said the emergency appeal was receiving limited attention and funding.
He said one of the main reasons was that the government has not declared the drought a national disaster.
“This has negatively impacted initial operations and as such the appeal coverage has only reached 15%, which has significantly impacted the implementation of the intervention’s work plan,” said Siyambango.
He said about N$1.5 million was initially allocated from the federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the national society’s immediate operations.
The intervention has been able to help only 1 200 beneficiaries with emergency food aid. Water-point rehabilitation projects have been delayed. He said the drought was hitting people in rural areas the hardest, such as in the Kunene, Ohangwena, Kavango and Omusati regions where communities depend on subsistence farming and livestock. These people are facing hunger this year due to no or low harvest resulting from the effects of El Niño that hit most parts of the southern African region.
Countries such as Malawi and Zimbabwe have already declared the drought a state of emergency.
Siyambonga said the drought has forced many people to use water from unprotected sources or sharing water points with animals.
This, he said, puts affected populations at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
The drought has also disproportionately affected the nutritional status of highly vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly, orphaned and vulnerable children, and those living with HIV/Aids. In response to the need, the NRCS is operating soup kitchens in affected regions and rehabilitating water points.
Due to limited funds, the society operates only four soup kitchens in Kunene instead of 12 originally proposed.
He said it was expected that 170 640 meals would have been served by now, but only 21 087 have been served.
So far, 10 water points have been rehabilitated in the Kunene Region.
Since October 2014, Namibia has been experiencing highly erratic rainfall patterns. Prolonged dry spells resulted in delayed planting and destroyed crops.
As a result, the 2014/15 harvest was 46% below average.
Cabinet has approved the extension of the 2015/16 drought relief programme to run from May to July at a cost of N$89 million.
The 2015/16 drought relief programme officially ended on 31 March.
More than half a million people in communal areas have stretched their food supplies to the limit and rely entirely on the government’s drought relief food supplies.
-Nampa
MAGGY THOMAS
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