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Disability Inclusive Rapid Gender Analysis (DIRGA) - Cabo Delgado

Países
Mozambique
Fuentes
LFTW
Fecha de publicación
Origen
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Executive Summary

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), over 745,000 people have fled the north-eastern and central parts of Cabo Delgado province since armed conflict began in 2017, of which 52% are children and 27% are women (UNHCR, 2021). Girls and women with disabilities face compounded risks and threats in times of extended humanitarian and emergency contexts. This is true for conflict-affected girls and women with disabilities from the north-eastern and central parts of Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique who had to take refuge in Internal Displaced People (IDP) resettlement camps in Metuge and Chiúre as the attacks and fighting intensified.

A Disability Inclusive Rapid Gender Analysis (DIRGA) was carried out by Girl Child Rights-GCR in partnership with Light for the Word and financial support from the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). The DIRGA seeks to analyze accessibility and inclusiveness of humanitarian service delivery to conflict affected girls and women with disabilities in the resettlement centers and host communities in Metuge and Chiúre districts in Cabo Delgado. Primary data was collected in the districts of Metuge, and Chiúre between the 1st and 5th of November 2021. Most of the study participants were conflict-affected girls and women with disabilities, their families and community members of which some are project beneficiaries. Identification of the study participants and interpretation was facilitated by Disability Inclusion Community Development (DICD) Activists from Agência de Desenvolvimento Econômico Local de Cabo Delgado (ADEL), a Light for the World implementing partner in Cabo Delgado.

The Rapid Gender Analysis found that the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado resulted in family separation, increased exposure to Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), forced recruitment, sexual abuse, and exploitation. Additionally, girls and women with and without disabilities were compelled to take on adult gender roles and responsibilities that they are ill-prepared for and/or were coerced into engaging in risky behaviors to survive, cope, or care for their families. For example, narratives from girls and women with disabilities strongly indicate that at times food has been used as a weapon to perpetuate GBV to girls and women with and without disabilities. Even though this unique study was undertaken only in two districts, both primary and secondary data clearly highlights several drivers apart from the conflict that resulted in a systematic and persistent violation of the rights of girls and women affected by the conflict in Cabo Delgado.

Key Findings

  • Nearly 745,000 people were estimated to be internally displaced in northern Mozambique by the end of November 2021 according to the 14th round of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Data Tracking Matrix baseline assessment. (Mozambique: Humanitarian Response Dashboard (January-November 2021), 2021, p. ReliefWeb). The displaced people were from Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa provinces and an estimated 15% are persons with disabilities;

  • The study found that Internally Displaced People in Metuge and Chiúre were receiving halved food rations due to the overwhelming demand for food paired with funding shortfalls. This resulted in internally displaced people experiencing acute food intake resulting in acute malnutrition, which affected mostly children under five years of age, pregnant and breastfeeding women, female headed households and girls with and without disabilities. According to the study, 31%, 56% and 13% of respondents reported that they have one, two and three meals per day respectively The 31% of respondents who have one meal per day are significantly below the minimum meal’s frequency and minimum dietary diversity standard (UNICEF, 2021);

  • Children under five years old, pregnant, and breastfeeding women and persons with disabilities were chronically malnourished due a host of factors including lack of access to appropriate food and poor nutrition practices;

  • Due to damage and destruction to the public health infrastructure caused by the conflict, the study found that girls and women with and without disabilities lacked access to essential Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (SRHS) such as safe methods to prevent unplanned pregnancy, safe abortion, provision of services for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV); and provision of information and protection to avoid contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections;

  • The crisis has highlighted the intersectionality between gender inequality and the discrimination of people with disabilities. For girls and women with disabilities who are systematically and persistently discriminated against and stigmatized based on their gender and disability, both issues are forms of human rights violations. Such violations include SGBV, Intimate Partner Violence, physical and sexual violence, abduction, sexual trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse, and early and forced marriage among others;

  • The crisis has exacerbated gender inequalities by placing the burden of new household chores that they did not have prior to the crisis on girls and women with and without disabilities. For example, natural resources like water and firewood have been depleted due to high demand and girls and women mostly without disabilities had to spend many hours searching for and fetching water and firewood or doing temporary work to earn money for their family's sustenance;

  • Persons with disabilities reported that they were discriminated against and stigmatized by their family members and the community at large. The study team observed inhumane and degrading treatment of people with disabilities by their family members. For example, in one household, a young man with an intellectual disability was chained outside the tent under the scorching sun. In another household, another man with a disability slept on a makeshift bed outside the tent. Lastly, a young woman with an intellectual disability from a different household spends the entire day locked indoors. There is a belief that it is a curse to have a family member with a disability. The study team noted that the biggest barriers people with disabilities encounter could be lack of awareness and insensitivity towards disability by the people closest to them be it family members or staff from NGOs responding to the crisis;

  • The study found that some respondents still had fresh memories of witnessing close family members such as husbands, wives, sons, daughters, children or close relatives being abducted, beheaded, recruited, trafficked, or sexually abused and separated respectively. A handful of respondents shed tears during the interview, highlighting the imperative and urgent need for the provision of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services;

  • The study showed that MHPSS services were among the most deprioritized services. All interviewees reported that they never received MHPSS services since arriving in the IDP camps. This is substantiated by the research team’s observations that both in Metuge and Chiúre there were no safe spaces for women and girls, or any child friendly spaces provided.