Emergency mobile cash transfer: Rebuilding climate-resilient households in Zambia

By Misheck Nyirongo, independent journalist, Zambia

In the dead of night, flash floods tore through Lumezi district in Zambia’s Eastern Province. For small-scale farmers, a single extreme flood erases years of development progress in hours. This is a misery reality of the devastating flash floods, due to climate change.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Caritas – Chipata are shifting from traditional emergency aid to proactive, swift disaster-responsive support, climate-resilient solution with an Emergency Mobile Cash Transfer to 125 households affected by the recent floods which had a devastating impact on local food systems.

CRS’s Country Manager, Katherine Overcamp emphasized the organization’s swift action to secure funding. “This is a gesture of solidarity to the people of Kazembe; we hope you will be able to build back your livelihoods,” Katherine reassured.

An Emergency Mobile Cash Transfer is a rapid, non-contributory mobile cash payment distributed to disaster-affected 125 households, with liquidity to replace submerged food stocks (such as bags of maize) and basic assets without slipping into deeper poverty. CRS’s Emergency Response Coordinator, Senge Ndhlovu disclosed, “The beneficiaries are receiving an emergency mobile cash transfer of K400.00 per month for three months, totaling K1, 200.00.”

The total package of K1, 200.00 – equates to approximately US$63.00.

CRS’s Emergency Response Coordinator added that alongside direct liquidity, the CRS and Caritas – Chipata have continued distributing essential relief items such as washable sanitary pads, sleeping mats; mosquito nets, solar lights, chlorine and soap.

Caritas – Chipata and CRS team held community verification meetings, engaging floods-affected households to confirm eligibility details, validate beneficiary lists, and ensure accurate targeting, for the Emergency Mobile Cash Transfer.

Rather than keeping these 125 affected families in highly vulnerable floodplains, Chief Kazembe of the Chewa speaking people, has generously given elevated, safe land away from the floodplains for both residential and agricultural use. This response sets a new benchmark for humanitarian aid in Zambia.

It demonstrates that the best way to handle climate disasters that combine instant financial relief with long-term, structural support.

On these new, secure grounds, CRS and Caritas – Chipata are facilitating drilling of a borehole to guarantee ongoing access to safe drinking water.

As education is the only thing floods can’t wash away, as such the aid allows families to keep children in schools without selling assets and buy food rations. “I save some money for school requisites, so my children won’t drop out of school,’ Jackson Ng’uni – the beneficiary said, “With the support, I paid off the debt I took after the floods, so my family wouldn’t go hungry.”

As these 125 households settle into their new, elevated homes – complete with clean, safe water and secure fields – they are not just recovering from a disaster; they are rebuilding a stronger, climate-resilient future that will withstand the storms ahead.

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