Helping schools in Manica and Sofala to prevent the spread of COVID-19

In response to the initial spread of COVID-19, the Government of Mozambique closed both public and private schools on the 23rd of March 2020. This decision affected a total of 8.5 million children. Schools are currently scheduled to open in February 2021. While the initial disruption to children’s education has been significant, there is the possibility for further disruption if schools are unable to meet the COVID-19 safety standards prior to opening. If schools do not have adequate COVID-19 mitigation procedures and equipment in place they will be prevented from opening, thus potentially further disrupting children's education. While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented difficulties and unique challenges to the entire population of Mozambique, communities that were still recovering from previous natural disasters have been especially affected by COVID-19. In particular, a number of communities in Sofala and Manica provinces were severely impacted by Cyclone Idai in 2019, a devastating cyclone that wreaked massive destruction and resulted in the sustained disruption for the region’s livelihoods and educational infrastructure (we responded to this at the time). Over a year after Cyclone Idai and at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sofala and Manica were still home to 20 of the most neglected resettlement sites and surrounding areas. In these areas, families were still struggling to rebuild, recover their livelihoods, and renew their children’s education. Inevitably, the COVID-19 crisis made an already difficult situation for displaced communities in Sofala and Manica even worse. The tertiary impacts of the pandemic, specifically the shutting down of schools which further disrupted children’s education and families’ livelihood opportunities, have been devastating and require immediate steps to be taken to prevent the situations from worsening. It is undoubtedly true that these secondary impacts of the COVID-19 crisis are felt throughout Mozambique, however, the impacts have been magnified in Sofala and Manica provinces where the communities were already struggling to recover economically and educationally in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai. Project: This proposed project and response will address two clear issues in Sofala and Manica provinces: the disruption of children’s education and the disruption of livelihoods for vulnerable families. Following assessments of needs and markets, we are proposing to target 1,600 households (8,000 individuals) to benefit by providing schools with the necessary items to properly and regularly sanitise classrooms, carry out sensitisation and awareness campaigns on COVID-19 prevention measures that involve for students and their families, installing water tanks and handwashing apparatuses at schools, and providing agricultural livelihood inputs for particularly in-need families. The project will target beneficiaries in Sofala and Manica provinces whose education and livelihoods were severely disrupted by Cyclone Idai and then further disrupted by the arrival of the COVID-19, compounding their already difficult circumstances. Special attention will be placed on ensuring that girls especially will be returning to schools after this disruption, as we know from previous epidemics that enrolment rates for girls dropped as increased rates of poverty, household responsibilities, child labour, early marriage and teenage pregnancy prevented many girls from returning to school. The COVID-19 safety packs will contain the following for each school administration: - 100 boxes of soap x 12 - 5 buckets with taps 100L each - 4 sprayers for each school to disinfect the classroom -5 Two thermometers Regarding livelihood support, this project will target the most vulnerable and in-need families of school-age children to provide with agricultural livelihood inputs, which predominantly includes women headed families. These inputs will allow families in need to begin to provide for their children a source of sustenance and potential income. The agricultural livelihood inputs will include mixed seeds (maize, beans, and vegetables) and hoes. Lastly, due to the heightened risk of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and protection issues in the communities, we will involve the training of community activists on GBV issues, including a referral system to protect, defend and report cases in the target areas. In addition, at all distributions and activities, we will be distributing leaflets and conducting mass sensitisation campaigns highlight the risks of GBV, how to protect oneself, and how to report/respond to incidents.