Horn of Africa Food Security Response – Ethiopia
Above: A women receives emergency food distributions by Oxfam in the Somali region of Ethiopia. The distribution includes cooking oil, split peas, wheat flour and salt. (Photo: Dagmawi Tadesse/Oxfam)
Ethiopia is facing one of the most acute humanitarian crises in decades: conflict in the North, a prolonged drought and hunger crisis in the South, the refugee crisis in the West, and widespread displacement and insecurity in central regions. Food security is an acute and pressing issue, with WFP reporting more than 20 million Ethiopians are in need of food assistance.
The devaluation of the Ethiopian Birr, a foreign currency deficit, hyperinflation, and fuel shortages have added new layers of vulnerability, and the country is on the edge of political, social, and economic crisis.
Conflict has left the Tigray, Afar, and Amhara regions in dire condition, with loss of lives, destruction of private and public assets and communities needing urgent support. According to the World Food Program, 90% of the 2022 crop harvest in Tigray was lost (looted, burned, and/or destroyed), and 89% of households in conflict-affected areas are reported to be food insecure. In Amhara, levels of acute malnutrition are alarmingly high, while in Afar, the multiple shocks have resulted in 50% of the population needing food support and high levels of child stunting.
The conflict and related displacement has intensified gender and protection concerns, with increased evidence of Gender Based Violence (GBV), including rape, intimate partner violence, and sexual exploitation, which is largely unreported due to stigma or shame.
The AHP Response
On 11 February 2023, the Australian Government announced $25 million in additional emergency assistance to respond to global food insecurity. This included $15 million for the Horn of Africa to provide food, water and other essential support, delivered through Australian and local NGOs, the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN partners.
From this funding, $10 million was allocated for an activation of the Australian Humanitarian Partnership (AHP) for activities in Ethiopia.
AHP partners Oxfam, Plan International and Save the Children are working with local partners to implement the response.
An additional activation in Kenya was also funded through this package.
Plan International, Save the Children and partners are aiming to improve access to lifesaving nutrition services across the Oromia region, with a particular focus on malnutrition in children under five, as well as lactating and pregnant women. This will be complemented by providing technical and logistical support to the local health system to enhance its capacity to treat malnourishment and build towards sustainable community-based management of malnutrition cases, as well as cash and voucher assistance for vulnerable households. Vulnerable households will also be supported with early maturing and drought resistant improved crop and vegetable seeds, goats and poultry to support livelihoods, and capacity development opportunities.
Oxfam and partners will aim to improve protection for vulnerable groups in Tigray, Afar and Amhara through regular community awareness sessions which will disseminate information about available protection services, including referral pathways and the sensitisation of SGBV, sexual and reproductive health and more. To support households to strengthen and restore livelihoods and to empower the community economically, Oxfam will establish food production hubs in Afar with solar powered irrigation systems which will be managed by community-based cooperatives and supplied with vegetables, fruits and tools to sustain the hubs. Emergency nutrition services will support the prevention, identification and treatment of acute malnourishment cases among infant, children, pregnant and lactating mothers.
The response will run for 12 months, until mid 2024.