Attachments
Highlights
• It is estimated that 7.9 million people in Ethiopia will require food assistance in 2018 (a 7 percent decrease from the 8.5 million reported in August 2017).
• WFP is providing emergency relief assistance to 3.7 million people in the Somali Region. WFP assisted 1 million children under the age of 5 and pregnant and nursing women nationwide with life-saving curative and preventive nutrition services in December.
• WFP’s Refugee operations are facing critical funding gaps from March 2018. If new contributions are not received soon additional ration cuts to the already reduced entitlement (by 20 percent) may be necessary.
Operational Updates
• In January, WFP aimed to reach 3.7 million people with emergency relief assistance in the Somali Region (including 1.6 million people registered under the Government’s Protective Safety Net Programme (PSNP) and 300,000 conflict IDPs). WFP’s emergency relief assistance in the Somali Region consists of a combination of food and cash, depending on needs and where markets function. • WFP has initiated a cash pilot programme to assist an estimated 588,000 people with cash transfers in the Somali Region. The pilot aims to deliver humanitarian transfers to beneficiaries using the national safety net mechanism, in an effort to better harmonize the development and humanitarian investments in the Somali Region and to identify areas for systems strengthening as this approach is taken to scale. • In January, WFP provided curative and preventive nutrition services to an estimated 600,000 children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating mothers where the risk of malnutrition is the highest in the country. This includes an estimated 140,000 conflict IDPs in the Oromia Region. • Ethiopia remains the second largest refugee hosting state in Africa with over 892,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered in Ethiopia. Refugees mainly originate from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan. WFP provides food and cash to an estimated 650,000 refugees living in 24 camps and 4 sites. • A Standard nutrition survey undertaken in three refugee camps in Jijiga indicated that GAM rates were found below 10 percent in all of the 3 camps. This is an improvement compared to what was reported at the same time a year ago (below 15 percent). • WFP is expanding its livelihood interventions to promote food security and income generation of refugees and host communities around camps. • In January, WFP distributed food commodities to 650,000 refugees; of which an estimated 153,000 (in 13 refugee camps) also received cash assistance. • WFP’s School Feeding programme aims to reach 486,167 students each month. However, due to resource constraints, WFP was only able to reach 81 percent of its planned caseload in January. • To respond to the onset of severe droughts and loss of pasture and grazing reserves, WFP is implementing an insurance programme that allows timely pay-outs to vulnerable pastoralists; Satellite Index Insurance for Pastoralists in Ethiopia (SIIPE). A baseline data collection exercise is being conducted in three targeted woredas (districts) in the Somali region.
Challenges
• Access constraints and insecurities associated with the Oromia-Somali regional border conflict continues to delay dispatches and deliveries to the Somali Region. • The refugee operation is facing critical funding gaps from March 2018. If new contributions are not received soon, additional ration cuts to the already reduced entitlement (by 20 percent) may be necessary.