Sam Mort

Sam Mort (born Samantha Melise Tuduetso Mort) is Chief of Communication and Advocacy for UNICEF South Asia in Nepal.

She was previously Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement for UNICEF in Afghanistan from 2019. In 2019, she announced that Unicef had made a historic deal to have girls educated in the Taliban-controlled areas of the country. She was with UNICEF in Kabul during the 2021 Taliban offensive, when the insurgents took over from the elected government. She stayed on in the country until 2023. Mort grew up in the Highlands of Scotland and attended Kingussie High School, and she graduated BA in English, Education and History and Dip.Ed. at University of Stirling then as assistant principal teacher for English and Drama. In 2001, she took up a 2-year role with Voluntary Service Overseas,

From 2003 through 2011, Mort served in the Office of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah in Jordan's Royal Hashemite Court as Senior Communications Manager. She was acknowledged for supporting the contribution of the Jordan royal house to the study of Arab Philanthropy by the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Engagement at the American University in Cairo.

She then joined UNICEF's Headquarters in New York, as Senior Speechwriter to Executive Director Anthony Lake, a role she held for 5 years. and in Burundi. Another 6-month mission with UNICEF Viet Nam followed.

Role in Unicef Afghanistan In September 2020, Mort took up her current role as Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement in UNICEF's Office in Afghanistan. Furthermore, during the female ban, Mort had difficulty agreeing to the one UN approach and actively worked against its implementation.

COVAX project Mort was involved in the first COVAX project in Afghanistan (a multi-agency WHO led procurement and supply, with logistics via Unicef) with delivery of almost 0.5million COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccines, which arrived in Kabul in March 2021.

Afghanistan crisis

During the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover in 2021, Mort reportedly had communications with the Taliban leaders on behalf of the UNICEF groups working across Afghanistan, announcing that they had been asked to 'pause but remain'. Shortly before this, Mort was quoted saying that ‘Afghanistan has long been one of the worst places on Earth to be a child but…. in the last 72hours, that's got a lot worse,‘ and in a radio interview, stated that in that year, 550 children had been killed and 1,400 children had been injured.

Mort reported 0.5million displaced people internally due to the conflict, about 50% of which are children, and drought and harvest failure is likely, leading to child malnutrition.

UN and Taliban education agreement At the end of 2020, Mort was reporting a formal agreement for between the Taliban and Unicef to bring in community-based education for 100,000 -140,000 children including girls. The negotiations began from considering UN-led polio vaccination and other services the non-political Unicef offered in Afghanistan, initially in Taliban-led provinces of the country and the schooling programme developed from there. Overall at that time it was estimated that 3.7 to 4million children in the country were not schooled.

Mort said on (16 -19 August 2021) Unicef were cautiously hopeful this deal would continue and the Taliban press conference would be confirmed that women can work and girls be schooled, although there is significant fear in the community, which she recognises, that women's rights and girl's education are going to be threatened.

Continuing aid work Mort has made an international appeal to support the work of Unicef in the country, which she expects will continue, as the humanitarian organisation is used to dealing with 'parties to conflict' and there are 'no enemy children' in Unicef's view. She emphasises the risk to 1 million children of malnourishment is rising with the drought and so many families fleeing conflict Along with Marianne O'Grady of Care International, Mort is remaining in position, as O'Grady said 'now is a time for the humanitarian sector to be here and to serve'. Mort had said it will be a 'new experience' in the next few days, as she is going out into the field to visit some of the programmes that UNICEF are supporting, with dialogue in progress on Taliban agreeing to provide the security cover.

UNICEF is calling on global partners to establish with the country an 'air bridge' for urgent medical and aid supplies to come into the country again. Although the Unicef compound itself felt explosions in Kabul, and the 'horrific' terrorist bombs at the airport were 'about 8-10 kilometres away', Mort and her team said their office is 'well guarded' and they were able to visit a hospital and displaced persons camp to assess whether mothers were still taking babies for vaccination, and for treatment for malnutrition. Although the wards were 'quite full' and 'around 170 women doctors, health workers, cleaners and administration staff' were still working despite increased anxiety, 'according to the female secretary for the hospital director' (as at 20 August 2021), Mort was said to note an atmosphere of 'sisterhood and camaraderie'. The Unicef aid team of 300 staff in various locations in the country are in a 'wait and see mode' and their safety risks being assessed daily. to assess the situation of 3.5million displaced Afghans, and as UN hosted a meeting of country and non-governmental organisations who pledged aid support, some expressed scepticism of the Taliban's approach to women's rights. Mort was interviewed on 17 September 2021 about her motivation for staying in Kabul, life within the UN compound and the situation in the country. She told her interviewer 'stories of loss, reunification and reaching to the stars for hope, and said “I see a bravery in Afghanistan's girls and women that I haven't seen anywhere else, because the fears and the threats are real and they acknowledge it. And they move forward."'

She said that the situation is 'on a precipice' with children's malnutrition in the country, likely to cause the 'death of 1.1million under 5 year-olds' within the next few weeks, 'without urgent treatment' but 'the global community had stopped funding'. This reflected a report, including a near 'break down' by BBC journalist John Simpson, in describing the 'hunger crisis' in which the World Food Programme estimated some 23million people are "marching towards starvation".

Mort had visited the largest children's hospital, named after Indira Gandhi, and found 'only 2 nurses for 60 children in one ward', and overall it had lost a quarter of its nurses (some could no longer afford the journey to work) and until recently, the hospital could not pay staff without finance from the health ministry, which in turn had previously come from overseas donors. She said she had found that the doctor was 'cutting down dead trees' for heating the premises as winter approached, and had no paper for prescriptions, nor an adequate food stock for sick children, parents or staff. Mort had also visited clinics where there was a reported '30 to 50% increase in malnutrition in a month'. She was shocked at the sight of a four-year-old girl (who had fortunately come in for treatment), 'Parawana....who was found to weigh only around 9.10 kg' (half the expected weight) and ' didn't have the strength or will to raise her head, she had no curiosity'. Mort describes the girl's arm as thin as a 'broom handle' and her skin was so 'paper thin, she looked like an old woman' with gaunt cheeks and hair loss, with 13 million children now considered in need of humanitarian aid, and up to 80% of the population having to drink contaminated water. Mort commented in March 2022 on the specific situation of older girls at last returning to school, a policy suddenly overturned by the 'de facto regime' once again, which she explained (in answer to press questions), had not been communicated to Unicef or other partners, who were preparing with the ministry of education there to celebrate the opportunity for adolescent girls to return to public schools;