Mozambique 2025 Humanitarian Response (Conflict) - as of 30 April 2025

The humanitarian operation in Mozambique is facing major setbacks. By the end of April 2025, only 664,000 people—about 61 per cent of the targeted population in Cabo Delgado—had received some form of assistance, marking a 17 per cent decline from 802,000 people reached at the same time in 2024.

This contraction reflects a broader decline in operational capacity. Funding has dropped by nearly 12 per cent, from $52 million in 2024 to $46 million, while the number of humanitarian partners has fallen sharply—from 66 to just 48, a 35 per cent decrease. These reductions have significantly strained the response, especially in delivering multisectoral aid.

Much of the current progress has been driven by the Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster, particularly food aid. However, due to funding shortfalls, food distributions have occurred every other month and provide just 39 per cent of the required caloric intake to the recipient. When food aid is excluded from the analysis, the number of people reached drops to 245,000.

The scale narrows further when looking at multi-sectoral assistance: only 188,000 people have received simultaneous support in Health, WASH, and Shelter, while 162,000 children have benefited from Education, Nutrition, and Child Protection services. These figures underscore the gaps in delivering comprehensive, life-saving aid.

Across the operation, clusters are grappling with severe underfunding. Aside from the Protection Cluster (24 per cent funded) and Refugee Response (21 per cent), funding for all other clusters remains critically low—between 1 and 16 per cent—with the Nutrition Cluster receiving no funding at all. National NGOs and the Government now account for 40 per cent of total implementation capacity.

The 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) requests $352 million to provide life-saving and life-sustaining support for 1.3 million conflict-affected people across 15 districts in Cabo Delgado. The strategy includes two main components: (1) a rapid response mechanism for newly displaced and severely affected individuals using mobile teams, and (2) sustained, multi-sectoral assistance to three groups—IDPs in urban/peri-urban areas (via food, shelter, health, and education), rural IDPs, and other vulnerable populations (through livelihoods, agriculture, and essential services) to foster resilience and reduce dependency.

The HNRP is further complemented by the Mozambique Drought Appeal (Aug 2024–Dec 2025) and the Tropical Cyclones Flash Appeal (Jan–Jun 2025), reflecting the layered crises impacting vulnerable communities across the country.