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WFP Ethiopia Country Brief, October 2018

Attachments

In Numbers

36,000 mt of food assistance distributed

US$ 125 million, six months (November 2018 – April 2019) net funding requirements, representing 48 percent of total requirements.

4.43 million people assisted In October 2018

Operational updates

• According to the 2018 Humanitarian and Disaster Resilience Plan (HDRP) Mid-Year Review, 8 million people require targeted relief food/cash assistance until the end of the year.

• There are 2.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia, of whom over 1.6 million have been displaced by conflict and insecurity.

• In October, WFP provided food assistance to 1.6 million food-insecure people identified under the 2018 HDRP, and 300,000 conflict–induced IDPs in Somali Region. WFP is also providing food assistance to 378,000 conflict-induced IDPs in the East and West Hararghe zones (Oromia Region).

• In support of the Government’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), WFP is providing food assistance to 995,000 ‘transitory’ beneficiaries in Somali Region. These households are able to meet their minimum food needs at normal times, but unable to do so after shocks such as the lean season.

• Based on health screenings, WFP is assisting 482,000 moderately acutely malnourished children aged 6- 59 months, and acutely malnourished pregnant and nursing women, through the Targeted Supplementary Programme (TSFP), including conflict-induced IDPs in the Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ regions.

• The reopening of the border-crossing points between Eritrea and Ethiopia has resulted in a significant increase in the number of new arrivals from Eritrea: 14,000 refugees have arrived in Ethiopia from 12 September to 20 October 2018.
WFP has increased its food dispatches to Tigray Region to provide assistance to the new refugees.

• In October, WFP distributed food assistance to 694,000 refugees, of whom 149,300 (in 13 refugee camps) received a combination of food and cash.

• Due to funding constraints, refugees received food rations that were only 80 percent of the entitlements.

• WFP provided specialized nutritious foods to 136,000 moderately acutely malnourished children aged 6- 59 months, and acutely malnourished pregnant and nursing women, in refugee camps in October. In addition, 78,000 children in primary schools within refugee camps received school meals

• WFP is addressing the energy requirements of children aged 6-23 months, and pregnant and nursing women, by improving their access to dietary diversity through the Fresh Food Voucher initiative. WFP provided mobile money to 2,800 households in Amhara Region in October, to buy fresh foods from local markets.

• The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative continues to support targeted smallholder farmers who benefit from the Government’s PSNP. In October, 24,500 beneficiaries in Amhara and Tigray regions participated in activities that can offset the effects of drought, including the construction of hillside terraces, check dams and drains for water storage, and basin and plantation pits that absorb moisture and help cultivate plants.

• Through Satellite Index Insurance for Pastoralists in Ethiopia (SIIPE), 5,000 people registered with the Somali Micro Finance Institution. The beneficiaries also registered for mobile banking services to facilitate transactions such as insurance pay-outs. In October, 900 households received loans from the Village Economic and Social Association. In addition, SIIPE beneficiaries in the three woredas took part in activities to improve land and water management.

• WFP provided meals to 46,000 children enrolled in primary schools in food-insecure areas of SNNPR and Oromia regions.

• WFP Ethiopia provides logistics support to WFP’s activities in South Sudan. WFP’s Supply Chain team in Gambella Region manages logistics operations in hard-to-reach areas in eastern South Sudan, travelling by air, road and river. In October, WFP airdropped 2,900 mt of food commodities into South Sudan, thereby assisting vulnerable, conflict-affected communities in areas that are hard to reach due to either insecurity or the poor state of the roads.

• The WFP-managed United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) provides common air services for the humanitarian community to remote and challenging locations. In doing so, it facilitates the implementation and monitoring of humanitarian interventions in numerous life-saving, thematic areas. UNHAS transported 570 passengers and supported 30 humanitarian organizations in October