Southern Province Permanent Secretary, Namani Monze has disclosed that six Districts in the province will benefit from the implementation of the Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) during the 2022/2023 relief programme.

Dr Monze, who is also Southern Province Disaster Management Committee (PDMC) Chairperson, said some districts were adversely affected by both flash floods and prolonged dry spells during the 2022/2023 rain season.

He explained that the flash floods adversely affected Choma, Gwembe, Itezhi tezhi, Mazabuka, Monze, Namwala and Sinazongwe districts while prolonged dry spells affected almost all districts in the province.

ZANIS reports that Dr Monze, disclosed this during an Ad hoc Provincial Disaster Management Committee Virtual Meeting in Chirundu district.

He added that the 2022/2023 relief programme will be implemented as an Emergency Cash Transfer in six (06) districts namely, Chirundu, Chikankata, Namwala, Kazungula, Pemba, and Zimba aimed at cushioning the beneficiary households in selected districts in place of in-kind food relief operations.

“The 2022/2023 rainfall season 2023 2023/2024 relief programme will be implemented as an Emergency Cash Transfer in six (06) districts namely; Chirundu, Chikankata, Namwala, Kazungula, Pemba, and Zimba,” Dr Monze said.

“I wish to welcome you to this very important meeting regarding Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) which the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) will be implementing in selected districts in place of in-kind food relief operations.

“As you are aware, during the 2022/2023 rainfall season, Southern Province was affected by both floods and prolonged dry spells. The floods affected the following districts: Choma, Gwembe, Itezhi tezhi, Mazabuka, Monze, Namwala and Sinazongwe. While prolonged dry spells affected almost all districts in the province,’’ he stated.

Dr Monze explained that nine out of the twelve assessed districts were identified as food insecure as follows; Chikankata, Chirundu, Gwembe, Kazungula, Namwala, Pemba, Siavonga, Sinazongwe and Zimba.

He pointed out that during the analysis and report writing, based on the assessment findings, Itezhi Tezhi, Mazabuka and Monze were placed under monitoring.

“As you are aware, the DMMU in the past has been responding to the hunger situation with the provision of relief food to the affected communities except in 2022/2023 when Emergency Cash Transfer was implemented through the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services,” he added.

And contributing to the same virtual meeting, Chirundu District Commissioner, Patrick Kasambila, hailed the government for including the district on the list of beneficiaries.

Mr Kasambila said the district is food insecure owing to perennial adverse weather patterns as a result of negative effects of Climate Change.

The Chirundu District Commissioner, has however appealed to the Provincial Administration to consider increasing the number of beneficiary households to the area as many households are in dire need of relief services.

“We are grateful to the government for considering our district on the list of beneficiaries as you may be aware that our district is food insecure owing to perennial adverse weather patterns as a result of negative effects of Climate Change,” he said.

The Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) under the umbrella of the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZVAC), which is a technical committee in charge of carrying out Vulnerability Assessments, conducted the In-Depth Vulnerability and Needs Assessments in 75 districts across the country and out of these, twelve (12) districts were assessed in Southern Province.