Attachments
Overview
By the end of the first half of 2023, partners have reported reaching 45% of the targeted 1.5M affected populations in Tigray. While this is the highest percentage of reached compared to other affected regions in Ethiopia, the shelter and NFI needs in Tigray, remain a considerable challenge as these are linked to the protracted nature of displacements, returns, and relocations across the region.
The majority of IDPs are living in host communities that are also affected since community resources are stretched to the limit. While returns are increasing in the accessible areas, many cannot fully return to homes that are damaged. Relocation of IDPs who have settled in schools started in May with the government merging schools, but more need to be relocated or face forced evictions. The cluster has been seeking alternative shelter solutions to these various situations but currently, cluster partners have limited or insufficient funds to respond to various caseloads, and most affected populations entirely rely on humanitarian assistance to survive or improve their lives due to a lack of or limited access to livelihood support.
In addition to limited funding, restricted access to some pocket kebeles in the Central, Eastern and Southern zones has limited partners’ movements towards these areas and immensely hindered the implementation of Shelter and NFI response plans, leaving vulnerable populations with no shelter or NFI assistance. Presence of military forces in some border woredas in Central and North Western zones further limits much needed humanitarian assistance from reaching affected populations.
The weather in June, which was characterized by torrential rains and heavy windstorms, caused considerable damages to existing shelters. This has further exposed the IDPs to health and protection risks. The cluster is advocating for resourc-es towards maintenance of damaged shelters.
In June, the cluster in Shire conducted a loss and damage assessment in return areas and the findings revealed extensive damage to houses. With the ongoing sponta-neous returns there is need for extensive shelter repairs in return areas. The planned relocation to the Mai Dimu site has been on hold due to the suspension of food distribution but the distribution is set to commence by mid-July. This should enable the relocation plans to resume with 2,000 HHs targeted for the initial phase of reloca-tion, for which the cluster has lined up ESNFI kits as part of the package.