Ethiopia Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #3

January 26, 2016

Highlights

USG conducts humanitarian assessments in drought-affected areas

Approximately 102,600 people displaced due to drought between July and December 2015

USAID activates GRAD crisis modifier to support drought-affected populations

Key Developments

In December 2015 and January 2016, U.S. Government (USG) staff, including U. S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Patricia M. Haslach, visited USAID-support relief programs and conducted various humanitarian assessments across drought-affected areas of Afar, Amhara, Oromiya, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) regions. The visits highlighted widespread humanitarian needs in affected regions.

USAID has launched an integrated response that includes scaling up humanitarian assistance and modifying development programs to mitigate the drought’s impact and speed recovery. USAID/OFDA is supporting life-saving response activities in Ethiopia, including nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions and the provision of agricultural and livestock supplies. USAID/FFP is also providing emergency food assistance to approximately 4 million Ethiopians, as well as refugees from Eritrea, Somalia, and South Sudan. In addition, USAID-funded resilience programs have activated a second crisis modifier designed to support drought-affected households and livestock in Tigray Region.

HUMANITARIAN ASSESSMENTS

From December 14–15, 2015, Ambassador Haslach—along with Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia Aidan O’Hara and staff from USAID/OFDA and USAID’s Office of Assets and Livelihoods in Transition (USAID/ALT)—traveled to Amhara’s North Wollo Zone to assess humanitarian needs and visit USAID project sites.

During the trip, the group observed a food distribution in North Wollo’s Meket District, or woreda, conducted by USAID partner Save the Children International via the Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP) program, which is funded by USAID/FFP and implemented through a consortium led by non-governmental organization (NGO) Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Community members in Meket reported a significant decrease in agricultural production in recent months, prompting some residents to prepare to migrate to other areas of Ethiopia; however, deliveries of emergency food assistance have enabled community members to remain in the area.

USG staff also visited North Wollo’s Kobo District, an area severely affected by famine in 1984. Community members in Kobo reported acute agricultural losses similar to those in Meket and indicated that the current drought has generated agricultural conditions worse than in 1984. Community members also emphasized that humanitarian assistance, including USAID-supported activities, has saved lives in the district. Farmers in Kobo expressed concern about growing debt burdens—an increasingly concerning trend linked with the drought. The farmers also noted that they will likely require agricultural assistance, especially seeds, to rebuild livelihoods in the coming months.

From December 22–23, the USAID/Ethiopia Mission Director and staff from USAID’s Office of Economic Growth and Transformation (USAID/EGT), USAID/ALT, and USAID/OFDA traveled to Afar’s Amibara and Awash Fentale districts to assess the humanitarian effects of the ongoing drought. In 2015, the districts received below-average rainfall during both the April-to-June sugum and July-to-September karma rainy seasons. As a result, household livestock holdings have decreased and crop cultivation has been below average in recent months, increasing food insecurity in the area.

During the visit, district officials and community members reported increased humanitarian needs in recent months. District officials in Awash Fentale identified approximately 4,900 new households requiring emergency assistance in November 2015, bringing the total number in need of support to nearly 13,400 households. This total includes the approximately 4,900 food-insecure households assisted by the USAID/FFP-supported, Government of Ethiopia (GoE)-led Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). Awash Fentale authorities also reported that cases of malnutrition have increased in the district since August 2015.

AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY

On January 18, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced a $50 million appeal to protect livestock and enhance crop production in drought-affected areas of Ethiopia. The plan, which aligns with the 2016 Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD), aims to reduce gaps in food supplies and restore livelihoods and agricultural production through emergency seed distributions, small-scale irrigation projects, and gardening initiatives targeting approximately 1.8 million farmers and pastoralists. An estimated 837,000 households require seed support, including 145,500 in Amhara, 252,000 in Oromiya, and 313,000 in Tigray, according to FAO. Households require seed distributions for the two upcoming planting seasons—the January-to-April belg season and the June-to-August meher season.

The FAO appeal identifies more than 868,000 households requiring livestock feed assistance, representing a significant increase compared to the nearly 499,000 households identified by the 2016 HRD in December 2015. The most marked change was in Amhara, where FAO now identifies nearly 300,000 households in need of livestock feed assistance, up from the approximately 90,000 households identified in late 2015. FAO reports that households in Afar, northern and eastern Amhara, northeastern Oromiya, northwestern Somali Region, and eastern Tigray require urgent feed interventions. In addition, FAO estimates that up to 900,000 livestock may have died since the drought worsened in 2015, although countrywide livestock mortality levels remain unknown. During 2016, FAO plans to provide livestock support, including emergency livestock feed and immunizations, to approximately 293,000 households across Ethiopia.

In December 2015, the USAID-funded Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) program—a USAID resilience initiative—activated a second crisis modifier designed to protect GRAD’s development gains during shocks. USAID/OFDA-funded crisis modifiers provide humanitarian response funds for long-term USAID development activities, helping to protect development gains while augmenting emergency response efforts. The GRAD crisis modifier aims to prevent additional drought-related asset losses and reductions in livestock productivity among targeted households in southern Tigray Region’s Alamata, Ofla, and Raya Azebo districts. With nearly $250,000 in USAID/OFDA support, GRAD—through implementing partner CARE—is providing supplementary livestock feed and fodder to strengthen the coping capacity of more than 6,400 households in the region. USAID/OFDA previously activated a crisis modifier for GRAD in July 2015, following failed 2015 February-to-May belg rains, to support livestock interventions in SNNP’s Guraghe Zone, Mareko District.

NUTRITION

During the week of January 11, USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP nutrition advisors assessed the drought-related nutrition response. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is the lead organization managing severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and notes that the treatment of SAM is well funded and coordinated in Ethiopia. As of mid-January, relief actors reported that sufficient supplies to treat up to 435,000 SAM cases—the number of cases anticipated among children younger than five years of age in 2016—were already in Ethiopia or scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) is the lead humanitarian organization for treating moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), and USAID/OFDA partners plan to work with WFP to support the GoE Ministry of Health with community-based management of acute malnutrition interventions in nutrition hotspot priority one districts—identified as in need of urgent nutrition interventions—to prevent MAM cases from deteriorating to SAM. The interventions also aim to prevent prior MAM cases from relapsing into acute malnutrition. USAID/OFDA is working with the USAID/Ethiopia Health Office to identify geographic areas where development programs can help bolster the MAM response.

In addition to ongoing USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP support to GOAL for countrywide rapid response nutrition interventions, USAID/OFDA recently committed an additional $7 million to GOAL and its sub-grantees to provide vital nutrition assistance to drought-affected communities across Ethiopia. In response to worsening drought and deteriorating food security conditions, GOAL and its sub-grantees are scaling up existing programs and doubling the geographic coverage of the program. In previous years, GOAL’s nutrition interventions reached 20–30 districts countrywide; with the additional USAID/OFDA funding, GOAL and its sub-partners had reached nearly 40 districts as of early January and plan to expand interventions to 50–60 districts by March. The organization is providing life-saving nutrition interventions to malnourished populations in Afar, Amhara, Oromiya, and SNNP.

WASH

The WASH Cluster—the coordinating body for humanitarian WASH activities, comprising UN agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders—recently released an updated list of priority districts in need of emergency WASH assistance. Based on information collected and categorized in December 2015, the cluster reports 211 hotspot WASH districts across Ethiopia, of which 165 are classified as priority one hotspot districts requiring urgent WASH interventions. The majority of districts in Afar are considered priority one hotspots, with concentrations of other priority one districts in eastern Tigray, northern Amhara, eastern and southern Oromiya, southern SNNP, and western Somali. The cluster plans to expand criteria for determining priority WASH hotspots in the coming weeks, incorporating additional factors such as the operational presence of humanitarian WASH actors.

In FY 2015 and to date in FY 2016, USAID/OFDA has provided approximately $7.1 million to support emergency WASH programs in Ethiopia. With ongoing USAID/OFDA support, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) recently expanded the number of sub-partners under its rapid response WASH program in Ethiopia. IRC and its partners are currently rehabilitating water systems and sanitation infrastructure in Oromiya, SNNP, and Tigray.

NGO Concern, with nearly $3.3 million in FY 2016 funding from USAID/OFDA, has initiated nutrition interventions in 15 districts in Amhara and Tigray. The program combines WASH interventions with community-based management of acute malnutrition to reach approximately 86,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance.

POPULATION DISPLACEMENT

Between October and December 2015, the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia increased by more than 130,000 people, from 505,000 IDPs in October to approximately 636,000 IDPs in December, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The displacement figures include both new and protracted IDPs. The increase of approximately 26 percent is largely due to the effects of drought and flooding, according to IOM.

IOM reported that conflict and drought displaced more than 67,400 people during December—a nearly 120 percent increase compared to the nearly 30,700 people displaced in November. More than 58,000 people, or 86 percent of the newly displaced individuals in December, relocated due to drought in Afar, with the majority relocating to urbanized areas, nearby villages, or other regions of Ethiopia.

Between July and December 2015, drought-related conditions prompted the displacement of approximately 102,600 people in Afar and Somali, including 62,000 IDPs in Afar and 40,600 IDPs in Somali’s Sitti Zone. According to IOM, drought-induced migration only occurred in Afar and Somali during 2015, despite significant drought-affected populations across much of eastern, northern, and southern Ethiopia.

PUBLIC DONATION INFORMATION

The most effective way people can assist relief efforts is by making cash contributions to humanitarian organizations that are conducting relief operations. A list of humanitarian organizations that are accepting cash donations for disaster responses around the world can be found at www.interaction.org.

USAID encourages cash donations because they allow aid professionals to procure the exact items needed (often in the affected region); reduce the burden on scarce resources (such as transportation routes, staff time, and warehouse space); can be transferred very quickly and without transportation costs; support the economy of the disaster-stricken region; and ensure culturally, dietary, and environmentally appropriate assistance.

More information can be found at:
- USAID Center for International Disaster Information: www.cidi.org or +1.202.821.1999.
- Information on relief activities of the humanitarian community can be found at www.reliefweb.int.

Ethiopia FY2106 Fact Sheets