Start Fund provides £100,000 for Tanzania flood response
March 30, 2015
Posted by Tegan Rogers in News.
Last week the Start Fund disbursed £100,000 for response to the recent flooding in Tanzania. A local project selection committee composed of Start Network member agency staff met in Dar es Salaam on Saturday 21 March and agreed to award the funds to Oxfam and World Vision, who will work together to help 3,573 crisis affected people.
The Start Fund was alerted on March 18 by World Vision, following heavy rain and storms in Tanzania earlier in the month which have severely affected the Northwest of the country. The ACAPS briefing note produced following the alert described how the floods have affected up to 5000 people in three villages in Kahama district, Shinyanga region. At the time of its production, the briefing note cited 47 people killed, 112 injured, and 3,500 displaced as a result, with “damage to, and loss of, personal belongings and crops, in a region where more than 80% of the population lives in rural areas and on agricultural revenues.”
In their alert note, World Vision explained that the government of Tanzania provided immediate assistance and has carried out initial assessments. But despite this response, alongside support from aid agencies operating in the region, a gap still remained, “especially in water and sanitation (wells, toilets, mosquito nets), school materials, school structures and livelihoods to the affected people (i.e goats, cows, sheep and chicken).”
The alert note went on to describe how “the emergency has a very low profile in the media, and it is therefore difficult to raise funds. However, the needs are significant and with a relatively modest allocation, the Start Fund could help to close the funding gap. By responding quickly through a 45 day intervention, the needs of the most vulnerable people can be addressed and the deteriorating health, water and sanitation conditions of affected households can be improved.”
The Start Fund Allocation Committee met on the following day (March 19) and agreed to disburse £100,000 to cover these immediate needs. 48 hours later the local project selection committee was convened to discuss three proposals received in response to the activation.
The project selection committee agreed that the proposals submitted by World Vision and Oxfam should be funded, maximising the £100,000 allocation. The World Vision project will address the response gaps in the areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) through the construction of wells and latrines and distribution of mosquito nets, while the Oxfam project will provide complementary livelihood support through the provision of livestock, crops and fertilisers.
Photo: Save the Children
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