SERVICES: National Platforms
Mozambique
Context: On 14-15 March 2019, Cylcone Idai hit and the National Red Cross activated immediately with direct communication and engagement with communities. On the 19 March, UNOCHA deployed its CCE focal person from the Regional office in Nairobi and a Community Engagement working group (CEWG) was quickly established in Beira. UNICEF, WFP/ETC and Plan increased their CCE support capacity. On 4-6 April CDAC and TwB deployed international support to the CEWG. During March coordination meetings were held daily and later 3 times per week at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), linking to local authorities depending on the activity.
The CEWG Terms of Reference were drafted, with the collaboration of UNICEF and Plan and approved by the CEWG on 29 April, when the group was still holding two meetings per week. A six-month Work Plan was approved by its members in the end of May and the group reduced its meeting to once a week.
In June 2019, as the CEWG and the health engagement working group (created shortly after the cholera outbreak) had a significant cross over of participants, it was decided to merge the two groups, but with the reassurance that CCE was still a priority and that the CEWG workplan would still be implemented.
Government links: Since early June, the Provincial Department of Health (PDH) has co-chaired the CEWG; the meetings are held in its office. The state-run Social Communications Institute (Instituto de Comunicação Social/ ICS) and its local representative has been an active member of the meetings.
Leads/Chairs/Co-Chairs: Initially led by OCHA and supported by a CDAC coordinator. The 06 May 2019 meeting of the CEWG agreed that the group, led by the Government, would be co-chaired by Plan International and UNICEF. Plan International ended up not taking the lead, and UNICEF has been chairing the CEWG with the Provincial Department of Health (PDH) since early June.
National and international actors involved: Organisations attending include: IFRC, Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), UNICEF, TWB, Plan International, Protection cluster, PSEA rep, UNFPA, WHO, WFP, WVI, UNHCR, IOM.
Donors: UNOCHA, CDAC H2H (DFID) project funds
Opportunities and challenges: At Maputo level, CCEA is discussed as part of relevant cluster meetings including the Protection, Logistics and Inter-Cluster meetings. Since the first focus of CCE was to get the community radios back broadcasting, coordination includes engagement with radio-related institutions, such as Instituto de Comunicacao Social (ICS) and Forcom (umbrella organizations for community radios), with local authorities at district level, and the INGC.
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