PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE CAPACITY OVERALL NATIONAL AND LOCAL RESPONSE CAPACITY Five countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe) have now declared drought emergency and El Niño-related government preparedness and response plans have been developed or are under development by most countries, looking at various sectoral responses to address the needs of the affected population. Apart from support to farmers’ livelihoods and interventions to improve access to water, these responses are boosting social protection and safety nets, including direct in-kind/cash transfers to support the most affected populations. The majority of those include nutrition responses. Coordination mechanisms have been activated and sector platforms or Cluster functions are in place in Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. UN partners continue to foster collaboration and coordination at all levels. In Zimbabwe, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement is working with partners in developing nutrition informational material to influence practices in regards to infant and young child feeding. REGIONAL RESPONSE CAPACITY A regional meeting of key decision makers was convened by SADC in late February 2016 to review the regional implications of El Niño. One of the key outcomes of the meeting was to create a common regional understanding and to build consensus on essential actions and commitment on how to best prepare and mitigate El Niño impacts PREPAREDNES AND RESPONSE Regional National Local Major gaps in the response have been identified in most other countries. The economic downturn occurring alongside the El Niño has weakened governments’ response capacity, and many countries are struggling to extend service delivery at a time when it is critically needed. Bottlenecks are also being experienced at certain ports, which are causing delays in the delivery of assistance. Over the outlook period, it is expected that governance structures will become even weaker and less able to respond. through a concerted and coordinated multi-sectoral approach. Key recommendations from the meeting included the establishment of a SADC regional El Niño coordination centre by Member States and partners. This has since been established. INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE CAPACITY The UN and international NGOs have stepped up preparedness and response efforts over recent months. Prior to the onset of El Niño, a humanitarian country team (HCT) existed in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique. An HCT has since been set up in Zimbabwe and Lesotho, prompted by El Niño. However, overall humanitarian response capacity 32 in the region is severely limited, as humanitarian presence in the region is generally small and with more of a development focus.