According to UN Habitat Coordinator in Beira, Juan Hurtado, it is estimated that US$32 million is needed to rehabilitate schools in the central provinces of Sofala and Manica which were the worst affected by Cyclone Idai in March this year. He is also hopeful that the same principles of resilient construction can now be applied to other sectors including hospitals and housing.

Unicef representative, Eimar Barr, says a key challenge is getting children from resettled families back into education given that over a million people were affected by the damage or destruction to some 300,000 houses from the cyclone season.

Funding has now been secured for the rehabilitation of 157 classrooms in Sofala and Manica provinces and to provide some teacher training and materials for the children over the next six to nine months; a modest start compared to the scale of the needs for which adequate funding is not yet forthcoming.

Mr. Barr emphasizes that a key aspect of the rehabilitation programme will be to ensure the classrooms are accessible to children with disabilities.

His estimation is that enrollment in primary schools is high across the country at between 80% to 90% and there is parity between boys and girls but the transition to secondary or high school is low “because of poverty.”

He also flags the fact that Unicef is working against the problem of early marriage and welcomes the new law which makes child marriage a criminal offence for both parents and the man involved.

The scale of the problem is revealed by the fact that UNFPA has provided ante-natal consultations to 71,000 girls aged between 15 and 19 since April this year across the cyclone affected areas.

Date:

30 Sep 2019

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Themes:

Children and Youth

Hazards:

Cyclone

Countries:

Mozambique

Regions:

Africa