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Current Requirements (US$)$512.9 million
Analysis of the context, crisis and needs
Following a sharp escalation in the first half of 2021, the conflict in Cabo Delgado – which started in October 2017 – slowed down in early 2022 following the deployment of regional and international armed forces that aided the Government of Mozambique in regaining control of areas previously under the control of non-State armed groups (NSAGs). However, the conflict resumed and for the first time in areas that had not seen attacks in Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
In 2022, the conflict in northern Mozambique continued to deepen the needs of displaced people — many forced to flee multiple times — and host communities, who have shown solidarity in the face of increasingly stretched resources and services.According to the latest IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix
Baseline Assessment Round (June), more than 945,000 people were estimated to be internally displaced in northern Mozambique by June 2022. Of those people, 869,603 were in Cabo Delgado, 73,699 in Nampula and 2,130 in Niassa. Children and women accounted for 55 per cent and 24 per cent of displaced people, respectively. Around 70 per cent of displaced people were staying in host communities, whose already meagre resources were strained by the growing influx of people.
The armed conflict also heightened food insecurity and malnutrition, with families forced to abandon their homes and fields, and erratic rainfall in some parts of the region compounding crop losses, according to the latest IPC analysis. In the three northern provinces — Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa — more than 1,100,000 people are severely food insecure. The analysis covered internally displaced people (IDPs) in five districts (Ancuabe, Balama, Chiúre, Metuge and Namuno) and households hosting IDPs in seven districts (Ancuabe, Balama, Chiúre, Metuge, Montepuez, Namuno and Pemba City), and it highlighted the severe toll the crisis has taken on host communities.
Paquitequete, Mozambique
Internally displaced families arrive at Pemba’s Paquitequete beach by boat.
UN/Helvisney CardosoThe conflict significantly reduced civilians’ access to essential services across Cabo Delgado. According to UNDP’s Infrastructure Damage Assessment of January to May 2022 in Cabo Delgado, the level of damage to public infrastructure is severe in districts that had been under the control of NSAGs. This is in addition to health and water facilities being damaged by recurring natural disasters. More than 93 per cent of the 30 health facilities assessed had been partially damaged, and more than half the buildings surveyed do not have access to drinking water. All education facilities assessed were also found to be damaged.
According to UNICEF, prior to the conflict, 45 per cent of health facilities in Cabo Delgado lacked access to water, and 85 per cent of schools did not have adequate hygiene facilities. The arrival of displaced people has put even more pressure on the limited WASH infrastructures in health facilities and schools. A UNICEF survey shows that in 2021, schools, and their WASH infrastructures, have been severely impacted by the insecurity in Cabo Delgado, with 249 schools affected and 46 schools destroyed.
Field reports indicate that in 12 of the 17 districts in Cabo Delgado Province, the doctor/people ratio is 1/10,000; with southern districts, where the majority of the displaced people are, shwoing worse indicators (one doctor/136,000 people in Namuno, and one doctor/80,000 in Metuge).
These circumstances have reduced the capacity to detect and respond to disease outbreaks, including cholera and measles, and to provide critical and timely care, such as sexual and reproductive health care, immunization activities, access to anti-retrovirals and treatment for tuberculosis.
Montepuez District, Mozambique
Atanásio Mateus, 28, works in his field.
UN/Helvisney CardosoIn 2022, at least 1.5 million people needed life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection in northern Mozambique due to the continued impact of the armed conflict and violence in Cabo Delgado Province. They included conflict-displaced people, as well as people in host communities whose coping capacities have been exhausted following three years of opening their homes to people fleeing the violence. While the Government continued to combat NSAGs and restore peace in Cabo Delgado — with support from the international community and allied forces — some returns have been taking place. However, the situation remains volatile. Additionally, the conflict and repeated displacement destroyed livelihoods and disrupted markets and essential services across the hardest-hit districts in the north-west, particularly affecting access to education and health services in a region facing endemic disease outbreaks.
In 2022, the humanitarian response to conflict in northern Mozambique targeted 1.2 million people for assistance and protection in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa. The geographic focus of the response was aligned with the severity of the needs identified, with an emphasis on districts that hosted the highest numbers of displaced people and districts hardest hit by the conflict. Humanitarian actors have been coordinating with development actors, who are working to rebuild infrastructure and re-establish essential services impacted by the conflict.
Zambezia Province, Mozambique
The main bridge on National Road 1 connects Zambezia to Nampula Provinces, which were impacted by Cyclone Gombe.
NGD CENOE/BelezaClimatic shocks further compounded the vulnerability of people suffering the effects of the conflict. Mozambique is a large country with varied landscapes and corresponding climatic conditions. The coastal region is affected by cyclones and tropical storms, the various river basins are affected by floods, and drought is most predominant in the country’s arid and semi-arid regions. Across these locations there can be a geographic overlap, and multiple hazards may occur in the same locations. Cyclones are the most frequent natural hazard reported in recent years (17 events between 1920-2016). They also cause the greatest attributable economic losses (55.8 per cent of economic losses between 1990-2014), and they are responsible for a considerable number of deaths (11 per cent of deaths related to disasters between 1990-2014).
Drought is a dire concern for the population’s well-being; 80 per cent of the population depends on rain-fed agriculture. Drought events have been increasing in frequency, with 12 events recorded in the period 1920-2016 affecting arid and semi-arid areas, where warming temperatures and drier conditions are becoming a common occurrence and driving food insecurity, malnutrition, migration, gender-based violence and other negative outcomes.
During the last rainy reason (October 2021-April 2022) Mozambique was hit by four extreme weather events. They affected at least 1,043,000 people and created large-scale damage to private and public infrastructure, affecting 22,000 hectares of agricultural land, flooding 180,000 homes, and damaging more than 6,000 km of roads, 2,127 schools and 2,981 energy towers. Tropical Cyclone Gombe, a category 3 cyclone, was the weather event that most affected people of Mozambique, with Nampula province being the hardest hit. Of the 736,000 people affected by Gombe, more than 642,000 were in Nampula. For people in villages across Nampula who had already shared their meagre resources with the displaced people from Cabo Delgado, Tropical Cyclone Gombe’s landfall represented a crisis on top of a crisis.
Beira city, Mozambique
The Munhava neighbourhood after Tropical Cyclone Eloise.
UN/Brenda HadaProjected situation in 2023 and beyond
In 2023, approximately 2 million people will need life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection in northern Mozambique due to the continued impact of armed conflict, violence and insecurity in Cabo Delgado province. They include 945,000 conflict-displaced people, as well as people in host communities and people who return to their home districts. The needs of 33,000 refugees will be reflected in the Humanitarian Needs Overview through the inclusion of a distinct refugee chapter with a relevant budget.
Humanitarian needs are concentrated in the districts hardest hit by the conflict, namely Chiure, Macomia, Mocimboa da Praia, Palma and Quissanga, as well as those districts that host the highest number of displaced people, namely Ancuabe, Metuge, Montepuez, Mueda, Nangade and Pemba. The unique needs of women and girls are a high priority; 53 per cent of people in need are female and women-headed households who are faced with specific challenges. The crisis severely impacted children, with some 59 per cent of people across Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa being under 19 years old, according to the census. While only 3 per cent of people in the three provinces are over 65 years old, they face multiple unique challenges, including dirculties [eeing con[ict as well as constraints on physical access to services. Ensuring access to vital services and holistic support for the estimated 468,000 people (most of whom are women) living with HIV in the three provinces is critical.
Beira, Mozambique
A resident of the Praia Nova neighbourhood takes shelter from Tropical Cyclone Eloise in the Agostinho Neto school.
UNICEF/Ricardo FrancoThe climate forecast model indicates above-average rainfall between October 2022 and March 2023, and and a rather below normal activity in the South-West Indian Ocean cyclone basin between December 2022 and March 2023. This season could therefore see the development of 6 to 10 systems (tropical storms and cyclones), with 3 to 5 reaching the stage of a tropical cyclone among them. Mozambique remains extremely vulnerable. It is estimated that across Mozambique, 1.74 million people will be vulnerable to natural disasters, namely cyclones, floods and droughts, in the 2022/2023 rainy/cyclone season. During 2023, OCHA will lay the basis for coordinated anticipatory action in Mozambique in 2024. Based on trend analysis, Gaza, Inhambane and Tete provinces present high risks related to drought. Similarly, cyclones are likely to affect Nampula, Sofala and Zambezia provinces, with potentially devastating outcomes for communities and infrastructure.
Response priorities in 2023
In 2023, the humanitarian response in northern Mozambique will target approximately 2 million people in the most urgent need of assistance and protection in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa. The geographic focus of the response is aligned with the severity of the needs identified, with an emphasis on districts that host the highest numbers of displaced people and districts hardest hit by the conflict. The priority is to provide life-saving assistance to people who have borne the brunt of the conflict, including protection services, shelter, food assistance, treatment for acute malnutrition, and emergency obstetric care. In addition, humanitarian partners will provide life-sustaining support for people whose access to assistance, essential services (especially education, health care, WASH and livelihoods) has been compromised by the conflict. The humanitarian community is strengthening rapid response mechanisms to provide immediate support to people affected by sudden outbursts of violence.
Mozambique HRP
The focus of the humanitarian response is on responding to the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by conflict in the three provinces in the north. However, in developing the needs and vulnerability analysis, the humanitarian community adopted a multi-hazard approach that also looked at the historical impact of natural disasters and the population at risk of cyclones, floods and drought in 2023. Placing different hazards at the centre of the analysis allowed for a focused and risk-informed approach that also considers early action and anticipatory action.
The approach for the different hazards will differ, including with regards to timing, triggers, actions and funding requirements. However, a strategy will be developed outlining the viable approaches across these elements, building on the pre-existing work by humanitarian partners.
Humanitarian actors will coordinate with the Government and development actors, who are working to rebuild infrastructure and re-establish essential services impacted by the conflict. Humanitarian partners will focus on life-saving and life-sustaining assistance while advocating for the creation of conditions that favour re-establishing essential services and livelihoods. Investments on building and rehabilitating public and private services, such as public administration buildings, health and
education facilities, access roads, energy and telecommunication systems, water supplies, markets
and shops are set to continue in 2023.
Finding new ways to deliver life-saving assistance
In 2022, humanitarians and partners worked intensively to access areas that were previously cut off in Mozambique, developing strategies to enable road and air access in hard-to-reach areas. As insecurity along Cabo Delgado’s roads threatened the provision of assistance, the humanitarian community secured 13 helicopter landing zones across the province, facilitating access to people who need life-saving assistance in hard-to-reach areas. Through access assessments, humanitarian actors regularly received updated information on access to partially accessible/hard-to-reach areas and alternative roads.
Humanitarian actors regularly engaged with national/international armed forces on humanitarian principles and operations, ensuring dialogue and the safeguarding of humanitarian principles and operations. Coordination efforts were localized to enable the timely provision of assistance in the wake of violence. District coordination meetings were held in southern and coastal districts (Ibo) and northern districts (Mueda, Palma), efforts were redoubled to provide assistance in the south, and assistance was expanded to Mueda to cover northern areas. Agencies also sought to expand local actors’ participation to increase their response capacity.