Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship Program
by Juhri Selamet
Maputo, Mozambique

Juhri Selamet is the 2018 Junior Researcher in the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCRCCC) program. He is a PhD student in the College of Media, Communication and Information at University of Colorado Boulder. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests are visual communication, corporate social responsibility, climate change, water, conservation, media coverage of risk and the environment, and strategic environmental communication. 

View photo gallery in the field by Juhri Selamet

For my last post on this blog, I would like to take this opportunity to promote CU Boulder and Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre’s summer program for CU graduate students. If you happen to get a chance to be part of this program in the future, with your summer placement locations in eastern or southern Africa, it will be an outstanding experience both for your personal and professional life. I know this from my own experience.

During my time here in Mozambique, from May to August, in my professional and personal networking to make friends and to open the door to work together in the future, I have met many graduate students from all over the world that spend time and work in Maputo. Their abilities range from public health, economic and international development, to film studies. They worked on exciting projects with a focus on developing and testing communication tools related to health system improvement, as well as malaria and family planning and mapping Mozambican culture heritages.

In addition, I have met local scholars and maintained networking connections with a local university to get the Local Review Letter as part of CU Boulder’s Institutional Review Board requirements to conduct international research (many thanks to Dr. Rui Carlos da Maia and Dra. Benedita Penicela Nhambiu at Universidade Tecnica de Moçambique – UDM for helping with the letter). This research project will still be ongoing even when I have finished my summer program. I have met Red Cross professionals who have worked their way up to contributing to development projects in Mozambique. Besides, through a Red Cross Forecast-based financing project, I have gotten in touch with local government institutions that have opened the door for future discussions. And yes, there are many more examples. Through my experiences with the people whom I have met here, my character and knowledge development have been indirectly enriched. To me, this is part of the essential learning experience during my doctoral years at CU.

“I am here to learn” is the best mantra during this program because, to me, the two-way communication process cannot be rushed. As I still lack experience in good communication for development models in a Mozambican context, this opportunity gives me a lot of room to learn in a real way and gain real-life experience—to talk, listen, and drink lots of coffee with people. Communication as I see it is part of people’s daily lives and is highly integrated with context and culture. Step by step, I arrived at understanding communication in the Mozambican context through various channels and how it could work for rural communications with an understanding of ICT infrastructure (you will read more about this on my upcoming report).

My experience is in developing a strategic communication plan for the Mozambique Red Cross and conducting training on how to activate the action plan and use the communication toolkits based on IFRC media. I hope that this will continue as I stress that ongoing communication is vital, whatever communication channels are being used. Constant communication is the only way to create awareness, change behavior, and build organizations’ reputations.

Lastly, I will also never forget the fun part of this program. If, by chance, you are part of this wonderful program, don’t forget to have fun. I am grateful to have had this opportunity to explore the beautiful country of Mozambique: its food, drinks, tropical fruits, beautiful islands, excellent beaches, lively traditional markets, and louder laughs. I have taken this opportunity as part of my life to see the world and to see and live in one of the most beautiful African countries for three months has been remarkable. True, there were ups and downs, like riding a roller-coaster, but trust me, it is really fun, and it is worth it.

Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO)
July 2018 Summary

July media attention to climate change and global warming was up 7% throughout the world from the previous month of June 2018, but down about 2% from July last year. Increases were detected in Asia (up 7%), Africa (up 9%) Europe (up 11%), Oceania (up 16%), and North America (up 5%), while going down in the Middle East and Central/South America (-23% in each). At the country level, coverage went up from the previous month in Australia (+20%), Germany (+28%), New Zealand (+9%), the United Kingdom (UK) (+13%), and the United States (+27%), while it went down in Canada (-29%), India (-7%), and Spain (-31%).

Figure 1 shows these ebbs and flows in media coverage at the global scale – organized into seven geographical regions around the world – over the past 175 months (from January 2004 through July 2018).

In January of this year, MeCCO expanded coverage to sixty-two newspaper sources, six radio sources and six television sources. These span across thirty-eight countries, in English, Spanish, German and Portuguese. We strengthened our Spanish-language searches for articles with the presence of terms “cambio climático” or “calentamiento global”, while we expanded our searches now to Portuguese through searches for the terms “mudanças climáticas” or “aquecimento global”. Figure 2 shows Latin American newspaper coverage over 163 months now (January 2005 through July 2018).

Moving to considerations of content within these searches, Figure 3 shows word frequency data at the Latin American newspapers in July 2018.

In July, considerable coverage related to ecological and meteorological issues, and this spun into a meta-analysis of the extent to which media connected extreme events (e.g. heat waves) with a changing climate. Beginning the month, there were a number of stories about extreme weather events around the world. For examples, in July heat records were set in many northern hemispheric countries. In particular, record setting lows in cities like Montreal, Quebec in Canada and Los Angeles, California in the US threatened vulnerable populations with unprecedented heat. While Alanne Orjoux from CNN reported on 17 heat-related deaths in Quebec at the time of reporting (raised a few days later to 33, according to ABC News (Australia)), over in the UK, the BBC reported record-setting heat across England and Wales. Meanwhile, southern California baked in many all-time temperature records. Journalist Shelby Grad from Los Angeles Times wrote that “the heat brought a big surge in power use — and power outages…Peak energy demand climbed to 6,256 megawatts Friday, knocking down the previous July record of 6,165 megawatts set in 2006 and making it the fifth-highest peak demand recorded in the city’s history…Consumers were urged to reduce their electricity usage from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, the hours when high use is typical. (Air conditioners pull much of that power, but other appliances such as washing machines, dryers and dishwashers also contribute)”. In mid-July, The Guardian journalist Jonathan Watts reported that “Record high temperatures have been set across much of the world this week as an unusually prolonged and broad heatwave intensifies concerns about climate change” and a “concern is that weather fronts – hot and cold – are being blocked more frequently due to climate change. This causes droughts and storms to linger, amplifying the damage they cause. This was a factor in the recent devastating floods in Japan, where at least 150 people died after rainfall up to four times the normal level”. On the heels of the flooding in Japan, a heat wave then swept over the country where many without power due to the flooding were vulnerable to the high daytime and nighttime temperatures. Journalist Elaine Lies from The Sydney Morning Herald wrote, “An intense heat wave has killed at least 14 people over a three-day long weekend in Japan, media reported on Tuesday, as high temperatures hampered recovery efforts in flood-hit areas where more than 200 people died last week”. At the end of July, journalists Saw Nang and Richard C. Paddock of The New York Times reported on Myanmar flooding that had displaced over 16,000 people by July 31. For the story they interviewed Myanmar’s minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, Win Myat Aye, who blamed heavy monsoon rains and climate change for the recent flooding. He said, “I just want to alert the people that climate is changing all over the world and we all have to be careful about it”. However, while these particular stories made connections between weather and climate change, they were exceptions rather than the norm. Read more …

 Juhri Selamet (left) and Edson Rodriquez (right).

Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship Program
by Juhri Selamet
Maputo, Mozambique

Juhri Selamet is the 2018 Junior Researcher in the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCRCCC) program. He is a PhD student in the College of Media, Communication and Information at University of Colorado Boulder. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests are visual communication, corporate social responsibility, climate change, water, conservation, media coverage of risk and the environment, and strategic environmental communication. 

View photo gallery in the field by Juhri Selamet

Having a large network with 70,000 subscribers, 5,500 active volunteers, and 220 employees, Cruz Vermelha de Moçambique (CVM) (Mozambique Red Cross) has multiple internal and external audiences. It has a nationwide network managed at the national level, provincial level, district level, administrative level, and locality level. Also, as a component of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement, Mozambique Red Cross has regular contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Climate Centre and works closely with both the German Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross and the Belgian Red Cross. Similarly, the Mozambique Red Cross has been working with diverse communities from governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, international governmental organizations, civil societies, the general public, and the media.

Therefore, effective and efficient communication channels are imperative in making the internal and external audience understand the Mozambique Red Cross identity, functions, values, and principles. For this purpose, it is necessary to raise awareness among members, donors, volunteers and staff to build their capacity to make them follow the Seven Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as well as the six principles of Mozambique Red Cross and values. Through this understanding, CVM will also be able to advocate for those vulnerable during humanitarian crises.

Based on the above perception, I have been learning about the CVM communication channels and how the information flows within the organization, to other organizations, and communities. I talked with Jose Tomas Felix, a Communication and Marketing staff member at the CVM. We discussed a wide range of communication channels including community meetings, posters, radio, SMS, and social media. “I like radio as a communication channel; it could reach rural areas,” he said. “Social media is good for urban audiences.” It is true that radio can reach large numbers of people from different segments of the community in Mozambique as opposed to social media. However, the airtime can be expensive. For this reason, the CVM currently only uses a radio spot once a year.

Jose Tomas Felix, Communication and Marketing staff member at the CVM.

As the discussion went on, I learned the importance of community meetings in the Mozambican context from Tomas. According to him, community meetings are a great way of sharing programme information and discussing things face to face, and local people usually prefer this form of communication. He said, “last time [in June 2018], our community meeting discussion was about the Measles Rubella Vaccination campaign to improve health and well-being in Mozambique.” Before that, CVM also held a community meeting to share information of Phase III – “MERCADOS” project. These CVM community meetings were meant to support local community discussions and to gain feedback from the audiences.

According to Tomas, in order to get the public informed about CVM activities, programs, and events, CVM also publishes a bulletin called CVM EM NOTÍCIAS quarterly. He said, “I create a digital bulletin and send it to CVM provincial and district levels by email. They usually print that bulletin and distribute [it] to the community.” This 8-page bulletin is designed in a manual printable format that contains rich information from disaster management services to training activities that have been conducted by CVM.

In this discussion with Tomas, I also addressed my desire to help CVM develop their presence on social media. As a communication channel, social media is an effective, instantaneous avenue for two-way communication, which can be critical before, during, and after a disaster or crisis as well as in non-crisis situations. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can be used to share early warning messages to communities in disaster-prone areas. These platforms can also be used to share practical information on where aid can be accessed after a disaster or crisis strikes. In non-emergencies, they can receive requests, comments, and feedback; encourage community action; and understand people’s perceptions of health and social issues. In this view, to me, social media could potentially work best for information as an aid for Mozambique in the future. However, for now, social media can exclude rural residents in Mozambique due to lack of internet access and the majority of the residents are not owning a smartphone. Therefore, to reach rural communities, CVM collaborates with Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (INGC) (National Disasters Management Institute) working on DataWinners platforms. DataWinners is a two-way warning system in Mozambique to use cell phones for community members who have access to cell phones by adding a data collection component – community networks share pre-disaster warning messages and collect real-time post-disaster data. It also allows Mozambique’s National Disasters Management Institute and CVM to allocate resources and coordinate public services quickly.

To our social media conversation; “CVM currently is on Facebook. I try to post an update every day,” Tomas said, showing me the Facebook page, which currently has 60 followers. “Do you have a twitter account for CVM?” I asked. He said no, but “it would be nice if we did have it.” Thus, I promised Tomas to set up a Twitter account for CVM and migrate the content from Facebook to Twitter. I would like to take advantage of the Red Cross’s big Twitter network and put the Mozambique Red Cross in this circle. Now on Twitter, for example, the German Red Cross has 101k followers, the Uganda Red Cross has 6k followers, the Indonesian Red Cross has 1.03M followers, the Croix-Rouge française has 349k followers, and the Cruz Roja Española has 110k followers.

After a long discussion with Tomas, he introduced me to Edson Rodriquez who will work to develop CVM communication channels. “I will be transferring to the Red Cross office in Cabo Delgado Province,” Tomas said. He pointed out that CVM has a new website that is still under development. Moreover, I learned from Edson what he would like to begin to start generating content for CVM’s website and creating a volunteer database. One of my offers is related to my software skills in creating and designing communication content. “I would like to learn Adobe skill sets,” he said. In our first meeting, I started to explain the standard operation on how to work on InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Then, I began to teach him InDesign to support CVM to create both print and digital communication materials. I introduced to Edson InDesign craft layouts step by step and demonstrated all InDesign component tools. Read more …

Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship Program
by Juhri Selamet
Maputo, Mozambique

Juhri Selamet is the 2018 Junior Researcher in the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCRCCC) program. He is a PhD student in the College of Media, Communication and Information at University of Colorado Boulder. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests are visual communication, corporate social responsibility, climate change, water, conservation, media coverage of risk and the environment, and strategic environmental communication. 

View photo gallery in the field by Juhri Selamet

The Red Cross and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre organizations developed the mechanism, Forecast-Based Financing (FbF), which can prepare the people for possible disaster situations and reduce the damage in the community. The fundamental reason is that natural disasters cause severe damage or casualties to people, their livelihoods, and the infrastructure they depend on. In order to engage local stakeholders and elicit their feedback on a draft of the FbF Early Action Protocol, the Cruz Vermelha de Moçambique (CVM) (Mozambique Red Cross) held a National Meeting of Experts on Disaster Risk Reduction in Maputo City, Mozambique, on July 11-12, 2018. On the first day of the meeting, the FbF team presented their work on the Early Action Protocol (EAP). On the second day, stakeholders were broken into groups. Each group examined several early actions under consideration for the protocol in detail, answering questions about feasibility and helping CVM to develop and refine theories of change. For  this meeting, the participants came from various organizations such as Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia de Moçambique (INAM) National Meteorology Institute), Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (INGC) National Disasters Management Institute), International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Centre for Evidence-Based Practice (CEBaP), Direcção Nacional de Águas(DNGRH)(National Water Directorate), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Forecasts for AnTicipatory HUManitarian (FATHUM), Belgian Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross, etc., with 43 attendees in total.

How the mechanism works

Forecast-Based Financing is a tool that seeks to complement existing modes of humanitarian preparedness and response by providing funding for pre-defined early actions aimed at reducing the impact of extreme hydrometeorological events. The premise for the adequate actions are the forecasts and evaluations of hazards via the protocol of early action. There are three central components of an Early Action Protocol. The first is a trigger, forming the bar to indicate the level of danger based on the examination of previous events and relevant natural events. The second is the early actions. Forecast-based financing teams aim to identify actions that reduce impact and can be implemented in the window between the forecast and the event. The final component is the financing mechanism that was established by the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva and has recently become part of the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF). The funds are activated when the trigger defined above is reached. As a result, Early Action Protocol serves as a guideline to effective implementation of early activities when certain climate forecasts show a high probability of negatively impacting people. It provides step-by-step instructions for the selected actions to be implemented in a specific way as soon as it is activated. The EAP clearly defines: who takes what action, when, where and with what funds.

The relevance of Forecast-based Financing (FbF) project in Mozambique

The project in Mozambique is being developed by the Mozambique Red Cross with support from the German Red Cross and the Belgian Red Cross, and in close coordination with the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC), the National Institute of Meteorology (INAM), and the National Directorate of Water Resources Management (DNGRH). The project seeks to develop an Early Action Protocol for Mozambique, giving CVM access to funds before a disaster occurs. According to Marcia Penicela, a representative of Mozambique Red Cross Zambezia branch, “it is very important in Zambezia, Mozambique, if this project could be implemented” because “in Zambezia, there are many cyclones and floods. And when disasters hit, there will be many people suffering from malaria and diarrhea.” Zambezia is located in the central coastal region, southwest of Nampula and northeast of Sofala Province, in which the cyclones usually move from east to west of the Indian Ocean. It is therefore at high risk of being affected by tropical systems (tropical cyclones, depressions and tropical storms). Cyclones rip roofs from houses and cut off power and water supplies; people are at risk from disease because of this condition.  The FbF team has therefore been exploring actions that could be implemented in a short time to minimize these impacts based on analysis of impacts, exposure and vulnerabilities. Through the activation of the FbF project, for example, mosquito nets could be distributed to reduce the risk of Malaria.

Left photo: Marcia Penicela, a representative of Mozambique Red Cross Zambezia branch (credit: Juhri Selamet). Right photo: A group discussion at the National Meeting of Experts on Disaster Risk Reduction (credit: Juhri Selamet).

The National Meeting of Experts on Disaster Risk Reduction

The organization of the event has particular goals which, in general, are to promote the idea and discuss the plans of Early Action Protocol. Hanne Roden, the project manager of Forecast-Based Financing and a German Red Cross delegate in Mozambique, outlined: “The primary objective is to get further input, make space, and make room for discussion among key stakeholders in Mozambican disaster management.” This explains the variety of presenters and participants. According to Hanne, “The participants are coming from the key institutions in the center level in Mozambique, the National Disaster Management Institute, INAM, and water resources authorities. We have invited the people from the same institution based at the provincial level and three provinces—Nampula, Zambezia, and Sofala—and also CVM staff. We also have a representative here from two districts, one district from Zambezia and one district from Sofala.” The objective of engaging stakeholders with the concept of FbF appears to have been met. Marcia, who specially came to Maputo to attend and participate in the two-day meeting, she said, “I enjoy the meeting. It gives me a clear understanding of FbF and the activation of Early Action Protocol.”

Commenting on the discussions and activities in the meeting, Trui Van Ackere, Disaster Response Officer from Belgian Red Cross, said, “I do enjoy this (meeting) a lot. Because of many people around the tables. Everybody is very kind to give inputs. They are really expert in their domain. Everybody contributes. It is a nice atmosphere. I like it.”

Left photo: Hanne Roden, German Red Cross delegate (credit: Juhri Selamet). Right photo: Trui Van Ackere, Disaster Response Officer from Belgian Red Cross (credit: Juhri Selamet).

When asked about her objective to come to the meeting, she replied, “our objective is that we try as Belgian Red Cross to build our intervention on scientific evidence about what might work, and what won’t.  We try to make the most of our activities evidence-based, in order to improve their impact. So that’s why we are involved in this research, we want to inform the selection and prioritization of early actions with scientific evidence on which works, and which won’t work. We do this by looking into the scientific literature, but the knowledge of the local experts that are here around the table today, is equally as important to give us a feeling about which early actions are most relevant. Today I come to the meeting together with my colleague Anne-Catherine, who will present these evidences to the groups and to learn from them if they agree with the results of the research that we have provided.”

Moreover, together with the comprehension of the significance of the preparation and protocols needed to respond to the disasters adequately, the meeting may bring another benefit for both the participants and FbF team since the forecast-based financing project mechanism is relatively new. Lelo Tayob from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia de Moçambique (INAM—National Meteorology Institute), said, “This meeting is important to tell people that the key concept of this FbF project is the activation before phenomena [disaster] occurs.” Likewise, Lelo hopes that this project could help the Mozambican government to prepare for the disaster to help to reduce the number of deaths and diseases and to minimize the loss of money and goods. Echoing Lelo, Elcídio Ilídio João, Focal Point and Master Administrator of the Datawinners Application at Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (INGC) (National Institute of Disaster Management) said, “FbF could help the government in reducing deaths and damages caused by extreme events. With the difficulties of channeling the budget, the FBP can be used to remedy this budget gap.” Learning from the meeting, Elcídio believes that, in the future, FbF can be integrated into the disaster management program in Mozambique.

Left photo: Lelo Tayob from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia de Moçambique (credit: Juhri Selamet). Right photo: lcídio Ilídio João from the Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (credit: Juhri Selamet).

Hanne expressed a similar idea underlying the future hope for the protocol for the FbF development. She said, “My hope for FbF project in Mozambique is, together with our key partners in Mozambique, to be able to develop the protocol. We will present them; we will have the protocol validated and approved; we will have ability together to do simulations to train and verify that what we have put in the protocol is efficient and effective.  I hope that the protocol can also assist in coordinating activities, well-understood, well-integrated in the existing disaster management system in Mozambique.”

As far as the meeting, it includes group discussions on climate risk analysis, forecasts of cyclones, and the interpretation of theories regarding natural disasters. The atmosphere of the conference shows the rise of the awareness and underlines the significance of early actions for saving lives.

Lelo Tayop, said, “I am learning about the distribution of mosquito nets and how to do this distribution since we will receive the information before a disaster.” The weather affects the mosquitos’ activity which may bring hazards to the people. As a result, the participants see that the distribution of mosquito nets could save lives or repair damage if provided before the risk of malaria increases.

From the two-day meeting, the participants enhanced the FbF project with their ideas and feedback for further development. At the same time, the participants discovered new ideas, which were seen as opportunities for them to improve safety and benefit communities. Read more …