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Madagascar: Food Insecurity - Operations Update, DREF n° MDRMG017

Pays
Madagascar
Sources
IFRC
Date de publication
Origine
Voir l'original

Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action:

This Operations Update is issued to inform stakeholders of the need to extend the timeframe of this DREF operation by two months (new end date: 30 April 2021) for an overall timeframe of 5 months.

This request for extension is justified by the delay in implementing the plan of action for which the timeframe was three months (from 29 November 2020 to 28 February 2021). Indeed, the procurement of the items (food supplement, sanitary napkins and panties for dignity kit, face masks, Aqua tabs for water purification and tools for nutritional monitoring) was launched according to the NS's procurement and financial procedures. Unfortunately, due to the end-of-year holidays and the deterioration of COVID-19 context, several of the calls for tender launched were unsuccessful and had to be relaunched, taking almost two months. This delay has thus affected the implementation of some key activities, including the beneficiary’s registration, which is a key to any distribution activity, and even the care for moderately acutely malnourished children (as planned).

However, as of the date of this update (08 February 2021), most of the articles and materials have already been acquired. Some have been completely cancelled due to the lack of quality availability and the high cost (compared to the budget) on the market. As such, this timeframe extension will enable MRCS to complete the planned activities (WASH and health promotion, nutrition care, NFI and cash assistance).

The budget for this operation remains unchanged (CHF 249,900) and activities included in the original schedule are maintained, apart from the distribution of WASH and dignity kits that are cancelled due to unavailability of items.

A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

On 14 November 2020, the President of the Republic, following an alarming increase of IPC 3 and 4 areas in Madagascar, called for an international appeal to all humanitarian actors to join the Government efforts in assisting the affected population in the Great South of Madagascar, comprised of Androy, Anosy and Atsimo Andrefana with a population of 3,535,783 million people to prevent the situation from deteriorating. According to the IPC4, over the period from October to December 2020, 1.06 million people are identified as acutely food insecure (IPC Phase 3 and above), i.e., 27% of the population screened, including 204,000 people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 859,000 in Crisis (IPC Phase 3). From January to April 2021, the situation is expected to deteriorate with 1.35 million people likely to become acutely food insecure (CPI Phase 3 and above) including, 282,000 people will be in Emergency (CPI Phase 4) and 1.067 million in Crisis (CPI Phase 3). Indeed, FewsNet, in its October 2020 to January 2021 and February to May 2021 Food Security Outlook, anticipates an atypically severe upcoming lean season in the Great South.

According to the results of nutritional surveillance in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the IPC 4, the district of Tolagnaro is still under control but will experience a slight deterioration in its nutritional situation, especially in the communes of Analapatsy and Ambatoabo, where the alert phase will be more stressed.

In October 2020, MRCS and Malagasy Government, assessed the situation, which highlighted that an overall 725,620 people are currently affected by the drought and food insecurity in 10 most impacted districts of the Great South as highlighted by the Nutrition Cluster of this assessment mission.

During the mission, it was also found that the Commune of Ambatoabo, located in district of Taolagnaro in Anosy Region, with its about 10,000 inhabitants (2,000 households) is one of the most affected districts classified as being in emergency phase. Indeed, according to the humanitarian coordination, the commune of Ambatoabo remains among those which have not received any assistance so far, which has worsened its situation since from being under control in 2018 to an emergency in 2020 as seen in EPoA.

In response to Government’s call for assistance, MRCS with support from DREF launched this operation on 29 November to meet the urgent needs of all 10,000 inhabitants of Ambatoabo.