Drought Crisis in Zambia: Urgent Call to Action to Protect the Nation’s Children

jfa
Thursday, October 3, 2024

For Immediate Release: Thursday, 3rd October 2024, Lusaka: Today, the Joining Forces for Children alliance Zambia chapter, a global coalition of six of the world’s largest child-focused agencies, issued a press statement in response to the Government of Zambia's release of new figures concerning the ongoing drought crisis. The updated statistics reveal an increase in the number of people affected by the severe drought that continues to grip the nation. 

This latest data projects that 5.83 million individuals are in urgent need of assistance, exacerbating the vulnerabilities among children identified in a recent interagency assessment, the Rapid Qualitative Assessment (RQA) for Zambia (June 2024). The assessment already highlighted the dire consequences of the drought for Zambia's children, painting a bleak picture of their current and future prospects. 

The RQA reports the following:

  1. A significant drop in school attendance due to hunger, as many schools, particularly secondary institutions, lack feeding programs.
  2. There has been a troubling rise in child labour and transactional sex, particularly among adolescent girls in transit areas, where girls are engaging in transactional sex.
  3. An increase in child marriages, as desperate families marry off their children in exchange for money or food.
  4. A perceived rise in adolescent pregnancies and unsafe abortions, putting young girls at severe risk. 

The Joining Forces for Children alliance is gravely concerned about these new numbers and the impact on children. 

The children of Zambia are now facing challenges that require resilience and significant support to overcome. As the drought continues to ravage the country, it is imperative that we, as a nation and as a global community, unite to protect the most vulnerable among us - our children. They are the least responsible for the climate crisis, yet they are suffering the most from its impacts.

The Joining Forces for Children alliance urgently calls on international partners, the Government of Zambia, and local communities to prioritize interventions that will safeguard the future of Zambia’s children. Immediate action is needed to provide relief and build long-term resilience against the impacts of climate change. The time to act is now, before the situation deteriorates further and more lives are irreversibly affected.

The six Alliance members in Zambia are already actively supporting affected children and communities through immediate and medium to long term services such as the provision of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), school-feeding programs, child protection services, provision of relief food and non-food items, nutrition services, psychosocial support and linking vulnerable families to government social protection programs, including emergency relief funds. However, there remains a critical shortage of funding for humanitarian interventions addressing children's immediate survival needs.

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Signed on behalf of the Joining Forces Alliance

Dr. Paul Kapotwe

National Director – SOS Children’s Villages in Zambia

(Chairperson – Joining Forces Alliance Zambia)

For more information, please contact:

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Notes to the Editor:

In 2017, the six largest child-focused agencies: ChildFund International, Plan International, Save the Children International, SOS Children’s Villages, Terre des Hommes International Federation, and World Vision International, joined forces. We aim to use our collective power to accelerate change, secure children their rights, and end violence against them. We will pilot and scale innovative and effective approaches worldwide, driven by the voices and needs of children.

Advocacy Africa Child Labour Child Participation Child Protection & Participation Child Rights and Equity El Nino Drought Response Partnering Southern Africa