Mentor Initiative is recruiting a Emergency Response Team.
A weather system that produced heavy rains flooded parts of Malawi in mid-March 2019, before developing into Cyclone Idai which struck Mozambique and Zimbabwe on 14-15 March, 2019. The flooding has killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed towns/communities, leading to massive displacement and the humanitarian needs are enormous.
Mozambique, and particularly the cities of Beira and Buzi, in the centre of the country, are been the hardest hit. Roads, electricity and communications having been cut off, and buildings have been submerged or severely damaged, including the health facilities. Hundreds of people have been confirmed to have died in the meantime, and authorities expect the toll to rise in coming days and weeks.
In Zimbabwe, the cyclone hit Chimanimani, a small district of approximately 30,000 people in Manica land province, late Friday 15 March, after passing through Mozambique. Several roads leading into Chimanimani have been cut off, and the only access is by helicopter. In Malawi, extremely heavy rains in lower Shire River districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje, in Malawi’s far south, has been compounded by further rains from last week’s rains and caused severe flooding in 14 of Nsanje’s 28 districts. Official figures confirm over 50 deaths, and hundreds are injured. Rivers have broken their banks leaving many houses fully submerged, with 11,000 families in Nsanje have been displaced.
A large-scale humanitarian effort to rescue people, provide clean water, shelter and food has started in recent days and will gain pace in coming weeks, despite the enormous logistical challenges. However, current relief operations will not be sufficient to prevent upcoming, life-threatening vector borne diseases that breed in open surface water (malaria), or in domestic water storage receptacles in homes and small pockets of water held in rubble and rubbish (most importantly, dengue fever) across the destroyed communities which now characterise much of the affected area. Mechanical transmission (e.g. flies) of the pathogens that cause diarrhoeal diseases can be responsible for up to 25% of the overall disease burden and first cholera cases are now being reported in Beira. Combining WASH and fly control activities significantly enhances control of these diseases
Mentor has an emergency team on the ground that is fully integrated in the existing network of humanitarian organisations (clusters), donors and other stakeholders, whilst preparing an emergency response that aims at vector control (flies, mosquitos), health education and health workers training, in order to address an enormous public health issue that can potentially kill many more people, now (cholera) and in the weeks following (dengue, malaria, typhoid fever)
In order to scale up its efforts to control these communicable diseases outbreaks for the affected population, MENTOR aims at recruiting experienced staff, used and/or able to work under very challenging circumstances and ready to leave in the next 1-2 weeks. What we are looking for at the moment are:
CV and letter of motivation to be sent to recruitment@mentor-initiative.net
Please indicate your availability and duration of time in country you can commit to.
Work Base: Mozambique, Beira and Buzi areas, possibly other areas both in Mozambique and in Malawi
Responsible to: Program manager
Duration: Variable, from several weeks up to 3-4 months
Start date: Asap
Closing date: Ongoing
Fee: USD 3500 to USD 4000 depending on experience