Drought in Southern Africa (Namibia) - IFRC has launched an Emergency Appeal to support the Namibia Red Cross in meeting the food security needs of people affected by the drought.
Namibia is along with most of southern Africa, experiencing severe drought. A drought that is affecting the whole region of southern Africa, and is caused by erratic rainfall in 2015, coupled with the strongest El Niño in the last 35 years. The country is now having their worst crop performance in 80 year, and 25 % of Namibia’s population is affected by the drought.
In the region of Ondangwa, in northern Namibia, people are experiencing failed crops and no harvest. This northern Namibian region, also suffered from heavy flooding in 2014, and the soil did not recover before the current drought occurred. Currently over 550 000 people in Namibia are affected by the drought.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has launched an Emergency Appeal of 954,827 Swiss francs to support the Namibia Red Cross Society in meeting the food security needs of people affected by the drought. The appeal remains underfunded covering only 9 % of the appeal.
Even though the region of Ondangwa was included in the international emergency appeal, a region where Namibia Red Cross intended to implement relief activities, this has not yet been possible. The reason for that is the lack of funding, which has made Ondangwa region without any support from the Red Cross even though it is much needed.