Improving Relief and Development Responses to
Climate Variability: Lessons from the 2015 – 2016 El Niño in Southern Africa

El Niño weather system was one of the strongest on record, causing drought and flooding in locations across the world. Parts of sub-Saharan Africa were particularly hard hit. In Southern Africa, low or erratic rainfall caused serious drought and associated food insecurity in 10 countries, severely testing the coping strategies of households, communities, and governments and prompting an emergency response by donors. In June 2016, a team from the CSIS Global Food Security Project and CSIS Africa Program visited two of the hardest-hit countries—Malawi and Mozambique—to assess the scale of the disaster, observe the relief effort, and consider efforts by the United States to boost agricultural growth and build the resilience of affected countries.

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This report is made possible by generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.