Mozambique - IOM is helping around 10,000 displaced families build new homes in Zambezia province by supplying them with shelter tools. Many families lost their homes, crops and possessions when devastating flooding hit the province in early January.

IOM has partnered with Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe to distribute 2,000 shelter tool kits and 6,500 solar lamps this month to communities in Zambezia. Each kit will be shared between five families and includes hammers, shovels, handsaws and rope.

“Shelter materials are the most needed items in these communities right now,” says Camila Rivero-Maldonado, IOM Project Manager. “At 41 of the 45 sites we visited last month community leaders said they needed more shelter support.”

At the Matebe relocation community in Zambezia’s Mocuba district, 17-year-old Domazio Rafael and his brother, aged 25, are the first residents to build a permanent house by making mud bricks in their backyard. But it hasn’t been easy; they only have a hoe, a trowel and a piece of rope, all of which they borrowed from a friend who lives in another town.

“There are hardly any tools here,” says Domazio, partly explaining why every other household in Matebe – home to nearly 2,500 people – still relies on donated tents and tarpaulins for shelter. These become unbearably hot during the day.

The tool kit distributions, which are part of a project funded by the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, will enable other displaced people like Domazio to build permanent homes.

In addition to the toolkit distributions, IOM is rolling out a series of trainings for local leaders at 13 communities this month to ensure relocation sites transition into well-functioning permanent settlements.

IOM is also monitoring the situation on the ground with its Displacement Tracking Matrix – a data collection system that regularly updates the Mozambican government and humanitarian partners with key information for future planning and site management.

For further information, please contact Camila Rivero-Maldonado at IOM Mozambique, Tel.  +258 823089655, Email: crivero@iom.int