Real-time evaluation of World Vision's multi-country response to Cyclone Idai and Kenneth

Cyclone Idai, which made landfall in mid-March, caused catastrophic damage and inundated areas of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe Widespread flash flooding claimed at least 1,297 lives, affected an estimated 3 million people and caused at least USD one billion worth of damage to infrastructure.

The objective of the response is to meet the immediate life-saving and early recovery needs of up to 500,000 people affected by the cyclone in Mozambique (350,000), Malawi (100,000) and Zimbabwe (131,000). Key sectors identified at the onset were 1) WASH 2) Child Protection 3) Food Security 4) Health & Nutrition and 5) Education. To date, the total budget for the multi-country response has exceeded US $50 million, of which approximately US $30 million funds projects in Mozambique and a further US $10 million each funds projects in Zimbabwe and Malawi.

As of July 2019, World Vision has reached more than 700,000 people across the three countries (Mozambique: 425,000 beneficiaries reached; Malawi: 467,089 beneficiaries reached; Zimbabwe: 79,000 beneficiaries reached) within the first 90 days, 701,492 people received food assistance and 3,500 were reached with livelihoods support. More than 1.3 million people were provided with access to clean water. 7,477 children were reached through child protection programmes, including child-friendly spaces (CFS), temporary learning spaces (TLS) and referrals. World Vision screened more than 2,000 children for signs of malnutrition in Mozambique and Malawi.

The real-time evaluation (RTE) of World Vision’s multi-country response to Cyclone Idai took place in August 2019. The purpose was to assess the response against two criteria (organisational efficiency and coordination & influence) and culminated in a workshop comprising World Vision staff from all three countries and partners. Participants validated the findings, reviewed the response’s initial strategic intent, developed recommendations for further strategic planning around early recovery and rehabilitation and shared success stories from their respective country’s response.