by Boitumelo Sekotlo | Aug 23, 2023 | Latest
On Thursday the 30th March 2023, Lesotho Red Cross Society (LRCS) held an Early Action Protocol (EAP) at ‘Manthabiseng Convention centre. Present at the workshop were LRCS Divisional Secretaries, LRCS staff, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Gender, Youth Sports and Culture, District Administrators, Disaster Management Authority, District Counsels and the Netherlands 510 team among others.
When officially opening the workshop, the president of the LRCS Mr. Hareteke Nkhets’e welcomed everyone who attended, he said the Society’s strategic intent is to alleviate human suffering. “One of our key result areas is to prepare for disasters “disaster preparedness”. This project is very key to us as the LRCS in terms of preparedness to the disasters” The President said.
He further expressed his gratitude to the government and other stakeholders for taking part in the preparation of the Early Action Protocol He emphasised on the point that the Society is thankful see that the government is working along side with the Society to make sure that the role of the Red Cross is seen and known.
When giving the key note of the workshop, the Secretary General of the LRCS said the objective of the Early Action Protocol is to close the gap between disaster preparedness and response. He stated that drought has become on of the normal event in Lesotho so this programme came at an opportune moment whereby the world is concerned about climate change.
“The research that has been done by the LRCS in collaboration with the National University of Lesotho and other stakeholders looked specifically at draught and it has been endorsed that draught is one of the big problems that face Lesotho hence the EAP that will be discussed today.” The Secretary General said.
He further stated that the Society has qualified to receive about M9.3 Million for the next five years which will be utilised to reduce the impact of draught in Lesotho. “This means it guaranteed for the next five years the country has access of funds that will at least assist about 10 500 people so that they don’t experience the full impact of draught.” Mr. Masilo stated
The EAP Project Manager Miss Sibongile Hlubi said Early Action Protocol is an approach that enables access to humanitarian funds. “We can forecast draught using different indicators, using metrological data and looking at the food security situation, with the forecast that we have we will be able to say we can predict the situation before it happens.” She said
She further stated that there is the risk analysis should be looked in to and there are two indicators to look into which are:
- The exposure; Which regions are exposed to draught
- Vulnerability: What makes the community in that area to be vulnerable.
She said the goal of EAP is to anticipate disasters, prevent their impact and reduce humanitarian suffering and losses. According to the project manager, the first phase of the project started in 2019 and ended on the 31st December 2022. In this phase, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini
tried to develop this approach and see if it works in different countries. The project focuses on draught, cold waves or heavy snow fall in Lesotho.
Miss Hlubi indicated that the Early Action Protocol project started on the 1st January 2023 and will end 31st December 2028, it is funded to a tune of M9.3 Million which is allocated for readiness, prepositioning and early action costs and it is expected to cover the average minimum of ten thousand people.
There are triggers that fully define the processes that were undertook and who will be the custodian.
She further stated that when ever the Lesotho Metrological Services gives a seasonal outlook that is normal to below normal rain fall, the early action will be activated, this includes dissemination of early warning messages and unconditional cash transfers. The dissemination messages will be done from October to end of February because the seasonal outlook would have been received.
“The Forecast Based Financing is here, Anticipatory Action is here, Early action Protocol is here, I give this to the government entities to and all stakeholders to say this is the opportunity that we can use to ensure that we protect the vulnerable community.” She concluded
The Early Action Protocol document was then handed over to Disaster Management Authority (DMA) at this event,
When receiving the document on behalf of DMA’s CEO, Mr. Thapelo Rankoe thanked the LRCS for handing over the document to them and said the DMA is mandated to conducting all Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities in the country.
“Today my colleagues and I acknowledge the handover of the EAP from the LRCS. This clearly indicates the step forward to preparing and responding to those affected by draught. Mr. Rankoe said.
He further stated that the LRCS and DMA have long been good partners when it comes to activities and initiatives aiming at reducing disasters in Lesotho. “Together we shall work hard and hand in hand to make sure that EAP is adopted in our work.” He concluded.
by Boitumelo Sekotlo | Aug 23, 2023 | Latest
With the help and guidance of Lesotho Red Cross Society, elderly people from Kena community started a “GRANNY’S CLUB” with the aim of destressing and coming together as elderly people to talk about challenges that they come across in their day to day life.
This elderly ware brought together by the Society in 2012 after seeing the struggles that they go through as they are left raising their grand children whose parents died due to HIV/AIDS. It was discovered that the elderly goes through a lot of stress as they raise these children since some of them are not working and struggle to put bread on the table. The other factor is that raising teenagers is very difficult because some of them do not listen to their grandparents.
In this Club, the focus groups are formed whereby some focus on Kids Club which its main purpose is to teach children about their culture and help them be responsible adults on day. The kids in the club are also taught to make income generating activities so that they learn that they should work hard to get their daily needs.
Through this project, elderly people are also taught to make income generating activities such as flowers and chairs using locally available resources, the money the get from selling those items helps relieve the workload of raising their grandchildren. They also get Psycho-Social Support (PSS) from the Society.
by Boitumelo Sekotlo | Jun 23, 2023 | Latest
Africa CDC Saving Lives and Livelihoods Regional Coordinator Dr Charles Ibeneme informed the Lesotho Government Minister of Health Mr Selibe Mochoboroane that he is impressed with the achievements of the COVID19 vaccination project in Lesotho.
Dr. Ibeneme informed the Health Minister during a debriefing after the AFRICA CDC SLL Date Quality Assessment Team (DQA) visit to the country from June 12 to 15 the year. The DQA team consisted of members of Africa CDC and Deloitte Limited.
He said aim of the visit was to check the progress of the SLL project and look at the accuracy of the data that they are receiving, whether they are consistent with what was reported.
He reported that the project which started in August 2022 and ends in August this year, has achieved the following;
- recruited and trained community volunteers as RCCE teams in the Berea, Mohale’sHoeK, Quthing and Thaba Tseka district under the watchful eye of Lesotho Red Cross Society.
- Have supported data capturing and entry
- Trained and deployed data capturers/officers
Dr Ibeneme said the plan is to ensure that 100% of people with poor mobility and 70% of the eligible population is vaccinated against in Lesotho the COVID19.
He mentioned the stakeholders of the project as being Lesotho Red Cross Society and CHAL.
He said the goal of the SLL project is to vaccinate 70% of the eligible population in Lesotho.
Ibeneme also discussed the Data Quality Assessment (DQA) process, which involved field work to observe how the implementing partners collaborated during the campaigns. The DQA focused on factors such as the number of community influencers reached and engaged, the number of people reached through RCCE (Risk Communication and Community Engagement) messages, and the number of vaccine doses administered.
In the meantime, Lesotho Red Cross Society has managed to train 354 people on Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) approaches and COVID 19 vaccine, employed 47 youth and engaged a total number of 395 community influencers comprising of political leaders, religious leaders, traditional leaders, business owners and social media influencers to inform people about Covid-19 Vaccine.
On behalf of Deloitte Consulting Ltd, Linda Isawa, the Monitoring and Evaluation officer, expressed that Lesotho is performing well in the project. She mentioned that they have also come to learn from Lesotho so that they can share their experiences with other countries implementing the SLL.
Isawa stated that the Data-Quality Assessment (DQA) exercise was a valuable experience for the in-country implementing partners. It helped identify gaps that needed to be addressed in terms of implementation. The exercise also highlighted the strengths of the implementing partners.
Additionally, Isawa mentioned that the strengths of the RCCE (Risk Communication and Community Engagement) activities included strong integration with the implementing partner and the presence of an RCCE coordinator appointed by the Ministry to oversee activities in the districts. Isawa commended the accuracy of the reported data and indicators as noteworthy strengths.
Furthermore, Isawa acknowledged that Lesotho has made progress in terms of data availability in the District Health Information System (DHIS2) system, which is a positive development. She also highlighted the presence of policies governing organizations, such as policies on information confidentiality.
Isawa emphasized the integration of the SLL partners, enabling them to report consistent data. All data collected by the teams aligns with the information reported by the Ministry of Health and the SLL program.
However, there are some gaps that need to be addressed. These include the accessibility of reporting tools in other offices and the need for Health Centers to have access to their own data instead of solely relying on the Lesotho Red Cross Society (LRCS). Similar issues were identified in the Divisional offices as well.
The international team, consisting of representatives from Deloitte, Africa CDC, AMREF (subcontracted CHAL), and the Botswana Red Cross (subcontracted LRCS), visited the Ministry of Health and met with the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Nyane Letsie, in Berea on June 12th to pay curtesy call.
In addition, the Director General for Health Services, added that the Lesotho Red Cross Society and Christian Health Association of Lesotho (CHAL) have been successful in the SLL, saying they have been consistently reporting and communicating with the Ministry since the program began. “Prior to the SLL, there were significant challenges with data management, which were resolved by the data clerks engaged under the SLL,” she added.
The findings of the assessment were reported to the Ministry of Health, Director General of Health Services, Principal Secretary, LRCS Secretary General, CHAL Executive Director and staff.
