ECDE DRRM SOUTHERN AFRICA MULTI- COUNTRY REPORT

Worldwide, over a billion children live in areas affected by conflict and high levels of violence, with an additional 175 million likely to be affected by climate-related disasters each year. In 2011, an average of 13 percent of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons were children under the age of 5. Children in such fragile and conflict-affected environments are twice as likely to die before they reach their fifth birthday. The southern African region has not been spared and have had to grapple with effects of several disasters that have struck in the recent past. In six southern African countries namely; Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and eSwatini, Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) has been significantly affected by disasters such as droughts, disease outbreaks, cyclones, floods, and malnutrition. As recent as 2023, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe were affected by Tropical Cyclone Freddy which claimed more than 500 lives in Mozambique and Malawi. During the 2015/16 season, eSwatini was affected by an El-Nino induced drought which resulted in the death of 80, 000 livestock and more than half of the entire population became food insecure. Children were affected by malnutrition. Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi have recently suffered major polio outbreaks which resulted in children especially those below the age of five falling victim. These disasters have affected some of the key pillars of early child development which include nutrition, health, education and hygiene. While it is clear that these disasters have hindered Southern Africa from achieving SDG 4.2 which seeks to provide quality pre-primary education for all boys and girls, the key question is, are there any ECDE DRRM policies that have been created regionally and nationally? This study engages with this question by arguing that various disasters have exposed Southern Africa’s lack of elaborate ECDE DRRM policies both at national and regional levels. While there are no elaborate ECDE DRRM policies, the study identifies different interventions, plans and strategies which are being used in responding to disasters in all the six southern African countries.