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ACT Alliance Appeal: Ethiopia Drought Response, Rev. 3

by Elisabeth Gouel | ACT Alliance - Switzerland
Monday, 23 July 2012 14:27 GMT

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Appeal

Ethiopia Drought Response - ETH111, Revision 3

Appeal Target: US$7,621,198

Balance Requested US$2,220,641

 

Geneva, 10 July, 2012

The ACT Alliance Ethiopia forum has found it necessary to revise the current appeal to include drought rehabilitation activities and to prioritise activities based on the funding received to date. This revised appeal replaces the previous one issued on October 6th 2011, ETHrev2. New and revised parts of the document are highlighted in green colour.

Pre ETH111: The worst drought in 60 years hit the Horn of Africa, affecting more than 12.4 million people according to UN OCHA. In Ethiopia, some 4.8 million needed immediate support to meet their daily food requirements. In addition, approximately 120,000 people from Somalia crossed the border to Ethiopia and are currently living in crowded and under-resourced refugee camps in Dollo Odo. Recent conflict in Sudan has also resulted to more than 25,000 refugees crossing the border seeking refuge in Ethiopia.

The prolonged La Nina conditions in Ethiopia affected a second consecutive rain season resulting in drought. Following a complete failure of the 2010 October?December rains and related harvests, the 2011 March?May rains began late and were erratic. This led to the current drought, which is considered the worst in thirty years. The drought is characterised by substantial harvest failure, decrease in water availability, deteriorating pasture conditions and livestock losses in the southern, south-eastern pastoral and agro-pastoral parts of the country, including major bulgar cropping areas of Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray.

4,567,256 people and their livestocks were identified as affected by the drought and required urgent assistance. Out of the total, 41% of the needy population is from Oromia region while 31% is from Somali region and 31% from Amhara region.

According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) and World Food Programme (WFP) joint food security report, the cumulative effects of the failed October to December 2010 rains and the insignificant contribution of early 2011 rains means that food security in lowland and pastoral areas will be classified at emergency levels in the coming months until the next good rainy season.

This appeal complemented the ongoing efforts by the government of Ethiopia through the Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS), in collaboration with humanitarian partners (donors, NGOs, UN agencies).

For the full document, please click here.

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