The National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD) is redefining its strategic gender plan to reduce inequalities and harassment in humanitarian assistance during emergencies, an institutional source said today.
The state agency is listening to communities in the provinces of Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambézia, in central Mozambique, to draw up a new strategic gender plan for the 2023 – 2027 quadrennium.
“This strategic plan will promote gender equality, build human resilience, especially for girls and women,” within the humanitarian response in emergencies, said Adelto Chambela, director of INGD’s social safeguards division.
“It will also build on the process of reducing socio-environmental risks. I am referring specifically to gender-based violence, which has been a major problem,” which includes sexual harassment in exchange for humanitarian aid during emergencies, Mr Chambela said.
The new strategic plan, he continued, also aims to ensure inclusion, for an effective response in emergency situations where “people with disabilities, children and the elderly are affected”.
The document, which is expected to be completed by August, will have contributions from local disaster management committees, public institutions, the private sector, civil society and international cooperation partners in the southern and northern regions of the country and will be operationalised in the next rainy season.
Speaking to Lusa, João Brás, leader of the Ndeja resettlement district, recalls that several abuses were reported during the emergency and in the implantation of that area that hosts the largest number of displaced people from Cyclone Idai in Nhamatanda, 80 kilometres west of the city of Beira.
“The women suffered a lot. Others, younger ones, were told to go take help [free food] at night, and it was uncomfortable for those who were in a home, but in need of help,” João Brás explained to Lusa, reacting to the preparation of the plan.
“We even had girls who got pregnant by aid workers,” João Brás described, emphasising that “correcting that part would be very good” for the dignity of victims of natural disasters.
For her part, Henriques Verónica Henriques, executive director of Action for Community Development (Asadec), which deals with people with disabilities and the chronically ill in the emergency in Sofala, reiterates the need to prioritise humanitarian assistance for this target group.
“It is important that the disabled and elderly are the first to receive all kinds of care, food and accessible sleeping places,” appealed Henriques Verónica Henriques, whose organisation was integrated this year in the disaster response committee in Sofala province.
In Mozambique, the rainy and cyclonic season occurs between October and April, with winds coming from the Indian Ocean and floods originating in the river basins of southern Africa.
Lusa
