Action by Churches Together (ACT) Appeal - South Africa Post-Flood Rehabilitation AFSA-02 Appeal Target: US$ 497,936 Geneva, 26 October 2000
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) proposes assistance to selected communities that are still suffering from the effects of the floods that hit the southern part of the African continent at the beginning of this year. The targeted beneficiaries are the most vulnerable families that have lost their homes and are still struggling to provide a roof over their heads and peasant families that lost their means of livelihood. The SACC proposal comprises the following elements: Shelter (house reconstruction) Agriculture (seed distribution) Road reconstruction SACC has just successfully completed the implementation of a relief program for the floods disaster under the appeal AFSA * 01. This post-floods rehabilitation program is planned to be implemented in a period of eight months beginning the month of October, 2000. Project Completion Date: 31 May, 2001 Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested US$ Total Appeal Target(s) 497,936 Less: Pledges/Contr. Recd. 0 Balance Requested from ACT Network 497,936 Ms. Genevieve Jacques Thor-Arne Prois Rev. Rudolf Hinz Director ACT Coordinator Director WCC/Cluster on Relations LWF/World Service REQUESTING ACT MEMBER INFORMATION South African Council Of Churches (SACC) IMPLEMENTING ACT MEMBER & PARTNER INFORMATION South African Council of Churches (SACC) is the national ecumenical enabler and co-ordinator of inter-church debate and action. Well known for the part played in the struggle against apartheid, SACC is now engaged in assisting the reconstruction and development of the fragile, new democracy in South Africa. Through its membership of 23 churches together with observer-members and associate para-church organisations, SACC represents the majority of Christians in South Africa. There are nine autonomous provincial councils working closely with SACC and for the same aims. These councils are governed by representatives of the provincial churches as SACC is governed by the national member-churches. Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church is a founder member of the SACC. In order to avoid confusion, the two organisations have worked out a working relationship in times of emergencies. Before any action is carried out the two organisations communicate to find a way of working together and in many cases the assessment mission is done jointly. In many cases LDS prefers to handle long-term rehabilitation and the SACC the emergency part. The Mission Unit of The Methodist Church of Southern Africa - the Methodist Church of Southern Africa has taken the issue of Disaster Management as their focus and priority. The bishops have been encouraged to make their presence felt among the communities affected by disasters and other calamities. They have sent two people to the Africa University to attend the Disaster Management Course. As members of the Ecumenical Movement, they do not operate as a separate entity but collaborate with the responses of the Council. A joint mission to the affected areas is carried out together with the Lutherans. The Salvation Army - this is the other family member who has a long history of response to disasters. The SACC Emergency desk has managed to bring them in the family of the Ecumenical Disaster Management structure although in other parts of the country it is still difficult. The Evangelical Alliance of Southern Africa - this church grouping has just joined the ecumenical movement in the disaster management and has joined the Emergency Committee. The Provincial Council of Churches - The Provincial Councils of Churches are semi-autonomous ecumenical organisations that have been formed in all the nine Provinces. Just like ELCSA and the MCSA as well as the Salvation Army they are all part of the Ecumenical family and operate together in times of crisis. The National Office plays a leading role and also ensures that there is co-operation among the family members. Other Implementing Organizations: The Government Structures - the responsibility of disaster response is the primary task of the local government structures, including the TLC's. When disaster strikes, the local government's emergency structures assesses the nature and impact of the disaster and decide on whether it be declared a national or provincial disaster. In the case of a national disaster, the national government provides relief and it is usually relief of a bigger nature and is normally geared to assist the Province with the rebuilding of the infrastructure. If the disaster cannot be declared "national," the provincial government takes the responsibility. Though the emergency rescue task has been given to the South African National Defence Force and the Emergency Services of the town or Province (Fire Brigades) in which the disaster occurs, the department of Social Welfare is the one that deals with the registration of the affected people and provides relief materials. Therefore it is very important to establish working relations with this department in order to get accurate statistics and all the relevant data. The South African Red Cross Society - this is another national organisation that operates almost in the same way as SACC and there is always collaboration to avoid duplication. The Africa Muslim Agency - as its name indicates, this is the organisation that operates throughout the African continent and their main target is the Muslim community. They do render assistance to other people, but before that they check on their members first. There is also a good working relationship between this organisation and SACC. DESCRIPTION of THE EMERGENCY SITUATION The situation in South Africa has been overshadowed by the media publicity of the disaster in Mozambique to an extent that there has been a feeling that the impact of the flood disaster in South Africa was minimal. The fact that the South African National Defence Force took part in the rescue mission in Mozambique also played down the situation in South Africa. The South African government has also contributed to the confusion by making promises that they have been unable to fulfil. In the quest to avoid duplication and confusion, there are many villages that SACC did not attend to, as it was believed that the government would be assisting those areas. After some time, when the media started to lose interest in the flood areas, it was discovered that there were many villages with vulnerable families affected by the floods that had received no assistance at all. An example of such is Maputaland, or best known as Kosibay, in northern Kwazulu Natal on the southern border with Mozambique. This area was severely affected by the floods but because of its location,1 The Maputaland (Ingwavuma * Kwangwanase area) is situated behind the Lebombo Mountains and communication with the rest of the Province is very difficult. In fact for a long time, television coverage in the area was non-existent. See the map on page 9 1, was not noticed until some political parties took it to the media to highlight that all attention was turned to Mozambique and that equally stricken areas in South Africa were being ignored. Impact on human life The current flood disaster has highlighted the problem of acute poverty that is aggravated by the high unemployment in the rural areas. The most vulnerable affected by the floods have lost everything and have no hope of getting back on their feet without external help. Many of these households are headed by single parents, or women whose husbands have left to try and get employment in towns. Houses A total of 337 homes have been identified as damaged beyond repair and need to be completely rebuilt. These are in the following villages and belong to unemployed, pensioners and widows. Sand River 80 Nyongane 71 Shabalala 20 Bhekiswayo 19 Numbi 20 Mahushu 22 Phola 17 Schoemansdal 10 Driekoppies 7 Tauland 9 Mkhuhlu 8 Cork 12 Mganduzweni 15 Msogwaba 10 Langeloop 17 Total 337 North West Province: Moshana 35 Serake 37 Pitsedisulejang 4 Ramokgolela 10 Lobatla 28 Sesobe 3 Ntsoletsoku 12 Total 129 In addition to these houses, the North West provincial Council of Churches has identified the Silverkrans village whose roads were badly damaged by the floods. A stretch of 7 km, crucial for the village as it leads to the local cemetery, to the tribal office and to the local High school and part of the village Metejwe, has been severely damaged with no repairs done to date. Men in the village started to repair the damage but, heavy machinery is need on some sections and the villages cannot afford to pay for this themselves. Northern Province Giyani/Malamulele Nondweni 17 Mahale 20 Prieska 13 Rhulani 85 Xipurapureni 23 Malamulele 44 202 Phalaborwa/Tzaneen Humulani 67 Makhushani 37 Seloane 35 Ga-Sekororo 12 151 Bushbuckridge: Dwarsloop: 13 Kildare 12 Arthurseat 07 Arthurstone 11 Lilleydale 05 Belfast 07 55 Kwangwanase (Northern Kwazulu Natal) This area was not originally in the SACC programme as the extent of the flooding was not known at the beginning. The dire situation of the people was only known when some of the church members alerted SACC to the situation. Jozini 22 Manguzi 10 Phelindaba 13 Mvelabusha 21 Kosibay 16 82 Grand total 956 Damage to Agriculture In addition to houses that are damaged, people lost valuable agricultural products that they had planted during the good rains that fell during the latter part of the year. The areas that are hardest hit are the former refugee camps.2 These communities have been granted permanent residence status. 2 These communities remained in the country after the UNHCR sponsored repatriation programme that failed dismally. Since the declaration of the Cessation Clause, these communities received absolutely no assistance from anybody and the destruction caused by the floods exacerbated their problems. The SACC Emergency Programme had several agricultural projects with these communities and many of them were destroyed. Even the new status will not help them much as the unemployment crisis is already desperate, particularly in the areas in which they reside. Eight communities used to have community garden projects to grow food and generate income, all of which have been affected. Humulani Project in Phalaborwa: The project is situated next to a river which washed away the fencing on the eastern part of the garden. The flooding river damaged the crops and also affected the individual gardens/farms. The community cannot embark on meaningful farming until the fencing is repaired. Giyani Project: The project is situated in black clay soil that is very useful when there is moderate rainfall. However, the heavy rainfall caused severe water logging and all the crops were damaged. The fencing also fell apart as the poles could hold to the wet ground. Overall, the following are the gardens to be rehabilitated in this proposal; Xitlakati 5 ha. 60 participants Muyexe 5 ha. 60 participants (family per plot) Humulani 10 ha. 125 Giyani 15 ha. 140 GOALS & OBJECTIVES The main goal is to embark on a rehabilitation programme for the victims of the floods that devastated the country since December 1999 into 2000. Objectives: To help rebuild houses for the victims: To rehabilitate farming by providing, agricultural inputs such as seeds and irrigation instruments To help rehabilitate roads in North West Province BENEFICIARY INFORMATION The following criteria will be followed in targeting the most vulnerable as beneficiaries: Those who cannot help themselves due to old age, disability or ailments. Those who would be in a position to help themselves but, due to unemployment, are unable to do so. Those who are working, but the nature of disaster is such that their income is insufficient for them to rebuild their houses and again stand on their own feet. PROPOSED ASSISTANCE & IMPLEMENTATION While SACC had initially planned to carry out only the Crisis Phase, it was realised that there was no way they could continue giving people emergency aid while people had no roof over their heads. Since the initial assessment area was limited, a more comprehensive needs assessment was embarked upon in order to establish the extent of the need in areas which had been previously thought covered by government relief assistance. The process of carrying out the second assessment delayed the formulation of the rehabilitation programme. Housing re-construction: After discussions with the different communities involved, it was agreed that most of the people whose houses have been destroyed were able-bodied persons able to carry out the work themselves. The cost of erecting a two-roomed house would be very high, but if the people are also contributing manually the costs could be brought down substantially. It was decided that SACC will provide the necessary materials and the people on the ground/beneficiaries would provide labour and also make sure that materials such as water and soil are made available locally. A plan has been worked out with the Alpha Cement Company that they will assist with the bulk purchase and delivery to the affected areas. Farming rehabilitation Provision of seeds Many communities, particularly those close to the border with Mozambique and the North West, suffered loss of their crops. Now that winter is almost over it will be helpful to assist them in planting new crops. It is planned to distribute seeds to 1,000 families that have been getting food rations. The seed distribution will be as follows; Mpumalanga 467 Northern 398 North West 135 Total 1000 New Community garden projects: All the villages occupied by the former Mozambican refugees were severely affected by this flood disaster. At the end of the relief services in the early 1990's, SACC had encouraged some of the former refugee settlements to embark on farming. Those villages that took this challenge succeeded in providing vegetables and maize for their families. It will be important that villages affected by the floods be encouraged to embark on the community garden projects. Repairs to the existing garden projects Almost 50% of the garden projects in the Mpumalanga and Northern Province have been damaged by the floods. Either the soil has been washed away or the fencing and irrigation systems destroyed. Assessment has already begun to salvage gardens but it is clear that in most cases, assistance will be needed. Road repairs The damage to the road infrastructure is so enormous that there are even talks to turn some of the roads into gravel roads until funds could be found to do proper repairs. While it is the duty of the government to ensure that roads are repaired, some communities have been forced to make repairs for their own survival. In North West, the community in Silverkrans is faced the problem of access to the local cemetery. It has become difficult to take corpses to the funeral site and the community has been informed that they are not on the priority list as the road in question is classified as "Private." The road also leads to the Lutheran Church which has contributed much in the current flood disasters in other areas. The congregation also contributed clothes for Mozambican victims. After consulting with the local Churches and the North West Provincial Council of Churches, SACC feels that it is essential to assist them with this vital road. ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, MONITORING & REPORTING Management The project management will be handled in the same way as the other emergency projects. The Emergency Programme staff of the South African Council of Churches is made up of the staff at the National, the Provincial and volunteers from the SACC member Churches on the ground - usually at the scene of the disaster. In addition to the staff, there are trained teams that serve as a back up to the staff. The following structure exists: The National office: Programme Director, assisted by the Secretary, co-ordinates the programme in liaison with the General Secretary and the National Emergency Committee. The committee meets at least once a month to look at reports from the field and to give guidance to the operational structures. It is responsible for the overall management of the programme and responsible for policy matters with regards to Emergency Disaster Management. The committee will monitor the progress and report to the National Executive Committee through the Emergency Programme Director. Provincial Council of Churches: The staff in the Provincial offices work with the churches and communities affected by the disaster to assess the extent of the problem and to work out a relief process in collaboration with the Programme Director. Regional and Provincial Emergency teams have been set up all over the country and they work in collaboration with the Provincial and local Emergency Committees. Churches on the ground: They are the ears and eyes of the Ecumenical movement on the ground and their main responsibility is to oversee the relief programme at that level. They are responsible for alerting the SACC on all its levels of any disaster and help to organise the response mechanism. In the case of emergencies the churches on the ground serve as the immediate response operational centres. The churches remain in the area and they help to implement the rehabilitation programme once the rest of the organisations have left. The victims/affected people: The success of any project depends so much on the involvement of the people affected. It is SACC policy that the victims should be the major role players in determining the rehabilitation measures otherwise the whole process will not succeed. The Council, in collaboration with the committees on the ground, co-ordinates all the activities. The account and reporting mechanism starts from this level. IMPLEMENTATION TIME TABLE The intended period to conclude this project is eight months from the date of implementation but the length of operation will depend largely on the availability of the much-needed resources. CO-ORDINATION In conjunction with SACC policy, the first thing to establish in the emergency disaster area is who is doing what? Co-operation with the other structures helps get the data and the priorities. In this case co-operation with the Chiefs, Indunas, the Civic Associations, Transitional Local Councils is of the utmost importance, as it is necessary to negotiate a lot of things pertaining to land and the rights of the victims of the flood disasters. BUDGET ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE Description Type of No of Unit Cost Budget Unit Units US$ US$ Non Food Items - Road Rehabilitation Soil Load 60 46.00 2,760 Stones Load 30 50.00 1,500 Gravel Load 25 40.00 1,000 Culverts Piece 15 15.00 225 Cement Bags 120 4.00 480 Building sand Cubic meter 3 37.00 111 River sand Cubic meter 1 36.00 36 Labor Lumpsum 152.00 152 Sub total 6,264 Materials for construction of houses Roofing poles Pole 36,328 0.18 6,577 Corrugated iron (sheets) Meter 3,824 14.70 56,213 Window frames (typeNC1) Frame 1,912 25.68 49,100 Window frames (typeNC2F) Frame 956 84.70 80,973 Cement Kg 47,800 1.60 76,480 Doors (outdoors) Door 956r 71.74 68,583 Doors (indoor) Door 956 11.50 10,994 Door frames Frame 1,912 6.43 12,285 Solid treated poles Pole 3,824 5.00 19,120 Insulating material Roll 956 18.55 17,734 Reinforced wire Roll 956 23.79 22,743 Nails Box 956 5.00 4,780 Roofing nails Box 956 4.00 3,824 Concrete Cubic meter 956 38.99 37,274 Wire mesh Roll 3 60.54 182 Treated poles Piece 25 2.72 68 Galvanized wire Meter 5 1.20 6 Barbed wire Roll 3 35.87 108 Water pipes Meter 12 5.67 68 Sub total 467,112 Description Type of No of Unit Cost Budget Unit Units US$ US$ Agricultural Rehabilitation Seeds - maize Kg 1,060 1.30 1378 Seeds - spinach Kg 13 32.01 416 Seeds - tomatoes Kg 12 86.73 1041 Seeds - green beans Kg 6 34.50 207 Seeds - beans Kg 10 69.00 690 Seeds - pumpkins Kg 10 46.00 460 Sub total 4,192 TOTAL DIRECT ASSISTANCE 477,568 Staff salaries & support Project Coordinators (4) Month 8 359 11,488 Agricultural Coordinator Month 8 359 2,872 Staff travel Local & Emergency Committee Month 8 337 2,696 Monitoring Travel Trip 16 87 1,390 Per diem Trip 16 42 672 Office operation Communications Month 8 156 1,250 sub total 20,368 TOTAL APPEAL TARGET & ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE US$ 497,936 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Action by Churches Together (ACT) is a worldwide alliance of churches and their related agencies, meeting human need through co-ordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ecumenical Centre Phone: ++41-22-791.60.33 150, route de Ferney Fax: ++41-22-791.65.06 1211 Geneva 2 Telex: 415 730 OIK CH Switzerland http://www.act-intl.org distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -