Highlights
While Ethiopia’s 2016 US$1.4 billion appeal has received over US$758 million from the Ethiopian government and the international community, significant life-saving gaps remain across all sectors.
Humanitarian partners have launched a 90-day campaign to raise awareness on the urgent need for additional funding for the drought response in Ethiopia.
Government and partners are exploring the use of mobile technology to improve real-time data collection and sharing.
Situation Overview
The El Niño global climactic event wreaked havoc on Ethiopia’s summer rains on the heels of failed spring rains in 2015, driving food insecurity, malnutrition and water shortages in affected areas of the country. The joint Government and partners’ Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) requests US$1.4 billion to assist 10.2 million people with food, health and nutrition, water, agriculture, shelter and non-food items, protection and emergency education.
Under the leadership of the Government of Ethiopia, a coordinated response is already underway and expanding rapidly. The Government and international donors have together committed US$758 million to the plan so far.
Since the break of the crisis in the second half of 2015 over $380 million has been allocated by the Government for the drought response, including $109 million in 2016. Significant life-saving gaps remain.
At present, the humanitarian response is threatened by looming pipeline breaks of relief commodities, at a time when the emergency is expected to enter its peak in April. Surges in humanitarian needs are already registered since the release of the 2016 HRD in early December 2015. The Government's National Disaster Risk Management Commission is receiving ad hoc requests for food assistance to drought-affected people not initially included in the HRD. Emergency seed needs for smallholder farmers have tripled, but only 22 per cent of seed requirements are met so far. Some 2.2 million moderately malnourished children under five years and pregnant/breastfeeding mothers and 450,000 severely malnourished children require specialized nutrition interventions. Similarly, small-holder farmers requiring belg and belg/kiremt seeds has also increased. Further spikes are expected following the release of the hotspot woreda re-classification in April. The classification considers the impact of food availability, WaSH, access to markets, nutrition and other contributing factors to identify areas and people in need of assistance.
Delays in assistance, particularly food, will increase human suffering, lengthen the recovery period of affected people, put increasing pressure on the humanitarian and development systems in place, and the interventions become more expensive. Food assistance with supplementary feeding for the moderately malnourished is three times cheaper than responding to severe acute malnutrition, that can also lead to life-long cognitive impairments for those affected. Given the four months procurement and transportation lead times of relief commodities, it is critical to fill the funding gap now.