Cash not food needed to help Mozambique flood evacuees recover

Save the Children is calling on the UN, the Red Cross, the government of Mozambique and international aid agencies to hand out money rather than food aid to families affected by flooding in Mozambique once they return home.

Save the Children is urging all organisations that are responding to this emergency to consider cash grants to help affected people rather than automatically providing food aid. The charity argues that the recent flooding in the central region of the country provides an opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the emergency response by aid organisations and the government.

Chris McIvor, Save the Children's country director, said: "This is an important debate that needs to be had. Cash is the best way to encourage self-sufficiency, to stimulate local markets and to give people the dignity of choice. This is not about undermining the importance of food aid but about what is most appropriate and effective after the immediate crisis is over."

Around 37,000 people, the majority of whom are children, have left or been evacuated from their homes and are living in camps in the four affected provinces, where they may stay for up to six weeks.  When they return to their communities many will find their crops destroyed and their fields in need of replanting. Although there are some immediate food needs in the camps, all the evidence indicates that local markets are functioning well and that the forthcoming harvest in the country will be good.

As well as supporting local markets, cash is more efficient as it does not require large logistical operations - it doesn't need to be stored in a warehouse or transported by trucks - and there is no delay for procurement and import as there would be with food. Children and their families are affected in different way so cash grants allow people to make choices about what is most appropriate for them.

Chris McIvor said: "Cash will help families to rebuild their lives once the floodwaters recede, allowing them to buy seed to replant their devastated crops, materials to rebuild their homes, animals to re-stock their herds or tools to help them to restart work. "

Save the Children UK has been using cash as a response to emergencies for the last three years. Following the drought in the Horn of Africa in early 2006 and the resulting loss of livestock, Save the Children provided cash grants to 750 households to help them buy animals to support their recovery. People who benefited from the grants also chose to spend the money on school fees, improvements to their homes and starting up small businesses. The response was overwhelmingly positive and beneficiaries spoke of the freedom and flexibility the grants gave them.

Following the South Asia Earthquake in October 2005, Save the Children provided cash grants to more than 5,000 of the most vulnerable families to provide a safety net as they struggled to rebuild their lives. Local shopkeepers were supported with cash grants to enable them to give re-stock their shops and provide credit to others.

Save the Children also provided cash to families in India after the tsunami meaning parents could stay at home to look after their children but could afford to buy food for their children and pay for education and health facilities.

Notes to editors

• For more detailed case studies on the use of cash grants in an emergency or for more information on Save the Children's response to the current situation in Mozambique, please contact the UK press office on +44 (0)20 7012 6841
• Save the Children UK has been working in Mozambique since 1984, providing emergency aid to children and families displaced by the war. Since the war ended, the focus has shifted to development projects but the floods and droughts of recent years have highlighted the need to be ready to respond to emergencies, as children tend to be most vulnerable during times of crisis.

For more information please contact:

Save the Children UK Press Office: +44 (0)207 012 6841
Email address: media@savethechildren.org.uk

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