Background
Angola is facing the worst drought in the last 40 years. Since January 2021, at least 5.9 million people had insufficient food consumption, according to the recent mVAM drought monitoring led by WFP in June 2021. This presents a 55 per cent increase from quarter one 2021 monitoring reports that estimated 3.8 million with insufficient food consumption and a 269 per cent increase from estimates in 2020 of 1.6 million people facing food insecurity. WFP estimates that 15 million people (about 50 per cent of the total population of Angola) are employing crisis or emergency livelihood-based coping strategies, including spending savings or reducing non-food expenses. Drought conditions are impacting more southern provinces than in previous years, expanding from three provinces to six, with the hardest hit areas including Cunene, Huila, Namibe, Huambo, Benguela and Cuanza Sul provinces.
The current drought comes on the back of two consecutive poor agricultural seasons negatively impacting both food availability and vulnerable households’ ability to cope with consecutive shocks. Food security partners report crop losses of 40 per cent and the body conditioning of animals is worsening as pasture and water availability for livestock have declined. According to Namibian authorities, more than 10,000 people from Southern Provinces of Angola are migrating to Namibia in search of water and grazing for cattle. Early IPC analysis shows a severe situation, with high levels of IPC Crisis and Emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). Proxy Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence rates have also increased from 9.8 per cent in 2018 to over 20 per cent in 2021, above emergency thresholds, in the six hardest hit provinces with over 18,000 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with an additional 38,000 children reported to be at risk of malnutrition. In addition, restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 have impacted livelihoods leading to loss of family income, increased risks of violence, including gender-based violence, and heightened child protection concerns, particularly during school closures.
To timely address the humanitarian needs of the most affected population in the six provinces, the UN in Angola officially applied for central emergency response fund (CERF), which has been approved for a total of $5 million, for a period of 6 months. CERF interventions will be led by UNICEF, FAO, UNFPA, WFP, WHO and UNDP (leading the coordination function). The assistance will focus on water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, food security and agriculture, health and protection.
Main Responsibilities:**
CERF Activities Coordination and Implementation (80% of the time)
- • Supports coordination and implementation of CERF activities in Cunene, Huila, Namibe, Huambo, Benguela and Cuanza Sul provinces, promoting inter-agency and inter-sector emergency coordination activities in the field.
- • Supports UN humanitarian response, in alignment with the Drought Recovery Framework, Provincial Plans and in liaison with the key government sectors which CERF implementation will work with (Social Action, Health, WASH, Civil Protection, Agriculture).
- • Promotes provincial Government – UN – Civil Society humanitarian coordination meetings, including amongst involved provinces and taking care of linking with medium – long term strategies such as the Resilience Framework and Preparedness Plans for Risk Reduction.
- • Represents UN in inter-agency meetings with the Governments of the six Provinces beneficiaries of the intervention.
- • Support planning, operational, logistics on behalf of UN (at a field level) for joint UN activities. Plans and coordinates joint UN and government missions to programme implementation sites.
- • Monitors and reports to the RC and DMT Chair on the trends in needs and gaps across all sectors, particularly on nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, food security and agriculture, health, and protection.
- • As required, prepares and provides inputs to CERF reporting requirements, including brief notes and updates to the Resident Coordination System through DMT and to the Government. Support the agencies in preparing the interim report and the final report to CERF.
- • Supports further analysis of the situation, assessments on nutrition and food security and proposes adjustments to the response plan, if necessary. Proactively advises on key priorities from the field perspective.
Drought Recovery Plan (20% of the time)
- • Develop a short, medium to long-term recovery plan from the existing drought response framework (2018 – 2022) to address recuring drought situation in the region to augment resilience of local populations.
- • As part of recovery plan, provide clear development priorities and possible partnerships to increase investment for longer term development interventions in the affected provinces.
How to apply
Email gpn.deployments@undp.org & rebecca.nabafu@undp.org with your CV if interested.