Introduction
Southern Africa faces a complex array of humanitarian challenges driven by environmental, social and economic factors. Extreme weather events occur regularly in the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region. They are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. The consequences of El Niño induced drought in 2024 have resulted in almost 30 million people experiencing high levels of food insecurity.
What are the needs?
The Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region is vulnerable to natural hazards (e.g. drought and cyclones) and conflict and violence. Three tropical cyclones hit the region in December 2024, January and March 2025, floods and droughts are frequent, causing significant damages on a yearly basis. In 2024, a prolonged El Niño-induced drought scorched crops in a region where 70% of the population relies on agriculture to survive. More than 30 million people across 14 countries are facing acute food insecurity and six countries have declared a state of emergency due to the El Niño induced drought: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The region is also regularly affected by disease outbreaks.
In Mozambique, a total of 1.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection due to armed conflict and insecurity in the Cabo Delgado province and there are some 1.3 million displaced people and returnees due to violence.
In the Grand Sud and Grand Sud-Est regions of Madagascar, some 1.9 million people are facing acute food insecurity and around 360,000 children are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition.
In Zimbabwe, El Niño has induced prolonged dry spells, reduced rainfall, and increased temperatures with 6 million people expected to be food insecure during 2024-2025 lean season.
In Zambia and Malawi, 5.8 million and 5.7 million people are projected to experience high level of food insecurity respectively.
How are we helping?
In 2025, the EU made an initial allocation of €41 million to support humanitarian actions, including €10 million to strengthen disaster preparedness.
In Mozambique, EU humanitarian funding covers multi-sectoral life-saving assistance including food security, nutrition, WASH, education in emergencies, protection, rapid response mechanism, disaster preparedness and logistics. In Madagascar, the EU humanitarian aid supports food security, nutrition, heath, protection, logistics and disaster preparedness operations in the “Grand Sud” and South-East. Regionally, the EU supports disaster preparedness capacities, and an additional €25 million was allocated in response to the El Niño induced drought to support Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Additional EU humanitarian aid was also mobilised to support Mozambique following the 3 tropical cyclones which hit the north of the country since December 2024.
Furthermore, the region is benefitting from the EU-IFRC Programmatic Partnership, which includes anticipatory action/disaster preparedness.
The EU supports actions to ensure the continuation of education in humanitarian crises. EU humanitarian funding ensures safe learning spaces and provides adequate education programmes for children in areas affected by violence and displacement.
The swift provision of aid through emergency cash transfers to vulnerable people affected by disasters is also supported. This saves people from having to sell their possessions when food runs out.
Preparedness and prompt action can reduce the impact of natural hazards and help prevent loss of life, livelihoods, and property. The EU supports actions that improve the capacity of communities, as well as regional, national and local disaster management authorities, to prepare for and respond to disasters. Reinforcing the logistics capacities is also an integral part of preparedness and response.
Last updated: 08/04/2025