PRISM El Niño 2026-27 dataset: Eastern and Southern Africa country-year panel, 13 countries, 2000-2026

This dataset is the curated panel behind the PRISM deep dive "El Niño 2026-27 in Eastern and Southern Africa" (prismonitor.eu, September 2026). It covers the 13 countries UNICEF named on 1 September 2026 as exposed to the 2026-27 El Niño: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, grouped as Eastern Africa (8) and Southern Africa (5). Tables: panel_country_year, one row per country and year from 2000 to 2026 with the ENSO phase and Oceanic Niño Index assigned to the country's rainfall season, GDACS disaster-alert counts by hazard, IDMC internal displacement flows and stocks, GRFC acute food insecurity, and FEWS NET current and most-likely IPC Phase 3 or worse populations with their key drivers; exposure_profile, one row per country with the estimated population under 18, UNICEF stunting, wasting and safely managed water indicators with their reporting years, INFORM Risk and INFORM Climate scores, the current dekadal rainfall anomaly, the EC JRC ASAP hotspot status, the country's own OCHA-coordinated plan requirements, funding and coverage, people in need, and the 2026 GDACS alert count; enso_episodes, every El Niño and La Niña episode since 1950 under NOAA's definition of 5 consecutive overlapping seasons at or above ±0.5 °C, with peak value, peak season and strength class; oni_seasons, the 3-month Oceanic Niño Index series from 1996 to May-July 2026; fewsnet_national, the FEWS NET Data Warehouse national records for the 13 countries as read on 2 September 2026. Sources: NOAA Climate Prediction Center (ONI), GDACS, IDMC Global Internal Displacement Database, OCHA Financial Tracking Service and Humanitarian Programme Cycle plans, HDX HAPI rainfall (CHIRPS-based), EC JRC ASAP, EC JRC INFORM Risk and INFORM Climate, UNICEF Data Warehouse, World Bank World Development Indicators, FEWS NET Data Warehouse, and FSIN/GRFC, all read from PRISM's production APIs or the source on 2 and 3 September 2026. Each column's source, vintage, unit and computation rule is documented in the data dictionary in README.md, datapackage.json and the workbook. EM-DAT disaster counts used in the published article are excluded from this deposit under EM-DAT's terms of use, as are IPC analysis figures held in PRISM's IPC archive. PRISM-computed fields include the season-based ENSO phase assignment (October-December for Eastern Africa, December-February for Southern Africa), the population under 18 (World Bank ages 0-14 plus 60% of ages 15-19), plan coverage percentages, and the sums and comparisons the article reports. FEWS NET values are the low end of the published ranges and read as "at least". Known limitations, including the GDACS flood-alert gap for 2006-2014 in PRISM's archive and the countries without UNICEF nutrition data or an OCHA plan, are listed in the README. Files: 5 CSV tables, 1 Excel workbook with a data dictionary and a sources-and-licences sheet, README.md, LICENSE, CITATION.cff, datapackage.json. Version 1.0, released 3 September 2026. Later versions will extend the forecast and outcome columns as the season unfolds; the concept DOI resolves to the latest version. Contact: info@prismonitor.eu