Strengthening vulnerable communities post Cyclone Idai
Background
THE consortium comprising of World Vision, Goal and Plan International through its project, Strengthening Vulnerable Communities — Post Cyclone Idai through Integrated Shelter, WASH and Protection — Chimanimani and Chipinge responded in an integrated manner to the pressing needs for shelter, WASH facilities, protection and psychosocial services in Chimanimani and Chipinge which were worst affected by Cyclone Idai that hit the two districts from March 15 to 17, 2019.
The 14 months project which started on July 1, 2019 and ending on July 31, 2020 was funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and was implemented in partnership with key Government departments and relevant line ministries which include Chimanimani and Chipinge rural district councils and District Development Coordinator’s offices for the two districts, Department of Social Development, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of Women Affairs, Youth and Small to Medium Enterprises and police’s Victim Friendly Unit department.
The shelter component of the action led by World Vision, responded to the shelter needs of 1 000 vulnerable households in six wards of Chimanimani (Wards eight,16,17,21,22 and 23), by building better new houses and refurbishing those partially destroyed by the cyclone.
The WASH Action led by GOAL met the sanitation needs of 1 000 households and supported early recovery efforts by supporting access to sanitation and hygiene, building and rehabilitating springs in three wards of Chimanimani, as well as providing hygiene and sanitation awareness support throughout the target area to reduce the vulnerability to water borne disease outbreaks.
The Protection and PSS action led by Plan International provided comprehensive protection and psychosocial support to the most vulnerable and affected areas of Chipinge’s wards eight and 14 and Chimanimani’s six wards by setting up child friendly safe spaces, increasing psycho-social support and coping mechanisms as well as strengthening community-based child protection systems for prevention and response to child rights violations.
Project goal and objective
The overall goal of the project was to support the early recovery of households affected by Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts. The specific objective was to provide safe and dignified shelter, reduce WASH-related vulnerabilities and enhance psychosocial support to vulnerable households affected by Cyclone Idai. Under the protection component of the project, the expected outcome was improved access to confidential and appropriate protection and PSS services.
Presence in the area
Plan International has been operational in Zimbabwe since 1986 (in Chipinge since 1994) and has built its FY 20-24 Country Strategy (CS) based on 32 years of contributing to Zimbabwe’s development and institutional context. Plan International has learnt the value of partnerships and coalitions, capacity development, social and resource mobilisation, research, and good practice documentation for policy engagement.
Based on this experience, the CS seeks to: Contribute to the reduction of child and unplanned youth pregnancies and child marriages in Zimbabwe to enable girls, boys and young people to develop into responsible and engaged citizens.
The annual budget for Plan is US$20 million which enables support to at least 900 000 children and adults in 10 districts through the implementation of grants focusing on child protection, inclusive and safe education, sexual and reproductive health rights, HIV and AIDS, malaria, food aid, nutrition, WASH, agriculture and livelihoods.
Gender transformative approaches and child protection are embedded in all programming. Implementation in the two districts is done through the sub-office located in Chipinge.
Management oversight of the districts is provided from Plan’s Manicaland Programme Area located in Mutare. Reducing Girls Vulnerability through Inclusive Learning Environments project is a flagship PLAN project, as well as Girls Empowerment through Quality Education Grant and an under five nutrition project implemented in partnership with WFP.
Plan leverages its sponsorship model to conduct ongoing community assessments to reduce risk and vulnerability and provide emergency assistance should disasters occur.
Key Protection and PSS issues in targeted communities.
The joint Assessment on Education in Emergencies (JA-EiE) concluded in December 2018 demonstrated that there were severe safeguarding and protection issues in Zimbabwe’s natural hazard-prone areas, including the areas targeted under this project. This was the context within which Cyclone Idai occurred, which only served to exacerbate the issues. In the JA-EiE(2018), protection issues were probed along several forms/types as follows: Separation from loved ones; Child trafficking into neighbouring countries for cheap labour; Sexual abuse; Trauma; Early marriages; Forced marriages; Malnutrition; and Child labour. The findings were that generally, all the eight forms of child protection failures were found in all districts, however, separation from loved ones, child trafficking, and early and forced marriages were distinctly noticed in Chipinge. Both Chipinge and Chimanimani recorded high cases of forced marriage, especially by men upon returning from neighbouring South Africa. The two districts also have high numbers of apostolic sect (religion) members who therefore adhere to practices such as early marriages.
How the project responded/ Key milestones
In collaboration with the District Child Protection Committees chaired by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Plan International directly provided comprehensive protection and psychosocial support to over 15 000 most vulnerable and affected, comprised of 8 432 (4 446 females and 3 986 males) children aged four to 17 and 6 568 adults (3 637 females and 2 931 males).
i. Setting up of ten community based static and mobile Child Friendly Safe Spaces which provided a diverse range of age and gender appropriate PSS activities (sports, play, perceptual memory, games) for children and adolescents to assist them recover and build their resilience.
Children aged four and seven years participating at a CFS
ii. Strengthening of community-based child protection systems for prevention and response to child rights violations. These included front-line workers and community leaders who serve as links with various agencies providing protection, health and legal and other related services in the community in which they reside.
iii. Life skills training and promoting health gender dynamics. Targeted communities, particularly adolescents and young people were further supported to cope and respond to common safeguarding and protection issues exacerbated by disasters such as separation from loved ones; child trafficking into neighbouring countries for cheap labour; sexual abuse trauma and early and forced marriages, through life skills training and intergenerational dialogues that promoted healthy gender dynamics in the decisions that affect them.
iv. Appropriate reporting and response mechanisms were established to support preparedness and local action by communities. These included toll free lines, suggestion boxes and referral pathway and service directory, so that cases that are brought to the fore could be responded to by the relevant service provider.
v. Massive community awareness sessions were conducted at ward level and in schools targeting both children and adults through road shows and the distribution of various IEC materials. Information was thus made readily available and accessible to over 15 000 people in the target communities and this further strengthened the effectiveness of the reporting and response mechanisms.
vi. Identifying and supporting children/ adolescents with child protection concerns through “One Stop Shops” adopted by the Action brought service providers to the people for identification and assessment as well as provision of appropriate response to persons in need of specialised services. Over 9 500 vulnerable people were identified and supported in this regard.
Conclusion
The provision of protection and psychosocial support to communities, especially children, in the very early stages of recovery, following a disaster, contribute greatly to getting them back to their normal ways of life. A psychosocial well-being survey conducted in March 2020 revealed that 72 percent of boys and girls that accessed protection support services demonstrated an improvement in their psychosocial well-being. Emphasis should be on PSS, resilience building initiatives and also strengthening agency, especially of the girl child, in light of the rampancy of teenage pregnancy and child marriages in the target communities. Continuous engagement is important in order to promote positive behaviour change against a backdrop of deep root social retrogressive social norms.
Recommendations
For future improvements for provision of comprehensive protection and PSS services:
◆ There is need for inclusion of all vulnerable groups by capacity strengthening community structures and duty bearers in dealing with children with disabilities, especially those attending CFS, such as those with mental and physical disabilities and even consider procuring appropriate recreational materials for such children.
◆ For such disasters, the provision of food to the children attending CFS should be considered because most of the survivors lost their livelihood sources to the cyclone and lack of food hinders child participation and predisposes children to other rights violation.
◆ A holistic package should be offered for provision of specialised services so that beneficiaries are fully supported to undergo identification, assessment, referral, treatment and medication, where applicable.