Ethiopian government issued an urgent appeal for $398.4 million from July-Dec. 2011 for Humanitarian works; i.e., food assistance, health and nutrition interventions, for WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene works), for agriculture and livestock assistance, and to keep children in school.

Of which $292.4 million is needed to purchase 379,785 metric tons (MT) to feed 4,567,256 people up to December 2011.

This was revealed in the latest need assessment document of Ethiopian government and its Humanitarian partners ‘Revised Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD)’. Ethiopian provided journalists with a press release consisting summarized data on Monday, July 11. [Read the full text below.]

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi complained donors responded only to a quarter of the appeal made earlier this year, in his appearance in parliament on July 5. Meles Zenawi’s statement was echoed in an Editorial of the UK-based leading media the Guardian. On its July 7 Editorial column, the Guardian said:

As it is, aid agencies race from one drought to another. And the fact that the shortfall in WFP [World Food Program] funding is 42% in Somalia, and 67% in Ethiopia and Kenya, speaks volumes about the mentality of donors who are only moved to act when it is too late.

It is not clear if Meles Zenawi and the Guardian took into account the 38 mln pound($ 61 mln) aid UK’s International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell pledged on July 3 to ‘provide vital food to help 1.3 million people through the next three months’.

It is to be recalled that the Humanitarian Requirements document released on February 23 stated 2.8 million people require relief food assistance in 2011. It said:

The food security situation is, however, deteriorating in the south and south eastern pastoral and agro-pastoral areas following poor performance of the 2010 deyr/hagaya rains (October to December), which has resulted in water and pasture shortage. Accordingly, the findings of the multi-agency assessment and subsequent monitoring results indicate that approximately 2.8 million people require relief food assistance in 2011.

The number of food needy increased in the Revised Humanitarian Requirements Document’ released April 12 that indicated 255,943 more people in Oromia, Somali and SNNP states will need food aid in April and May. Thus, the total number of needy went above 3.1 million. The La Niña weather pattern that affected the seasonal rains  of lowland areas in the south and south-eastern parts of the country was blamed for it.

The increase since April is shown at regional level in the table below.

Though the number of food needy is slightly below that of July 2010. It is likely to be above the 2.5 mln needy reported in Sep. 2010, as many of the affected area do not benefit from ‘Meher’ season rains which is the long and heavy rain season usually from June to October. [See here – for 2010 monthy food dispatch]

Ethiopia’s La Niña update – seasonal outlook forecast released last month, based on National Meteorological Agency data, stated:

In the lowlands of Somali and southern Oromia, as well as eastern Afar, dry weather will prevail, as the next dry season has set in. Parts of the Somali region, including Moyale and Hudet in southern Somali and Shinile and Ayisha in northern Somali, received little to no rain this year. Requests to continue / resume water trucking operations in these areas have been received from the regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau (DPPB).

Read below the July 11 Press Release issued by Minister for Agriculture Mitiku Kassa. The full document will be posted(or made available) in this blog as soon as possible.

Check on the Hunger Archive of this blog for related posts and forthcoming posts.

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Factsheet: Revised Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD)

11 July 2011

The revised Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) was launched on 11 July 2011 and calls for an additional US$ 398.4 million in humanitarian funding to meet food and non-food needs in Ethiopia between July and December 2011.

Relief Food Assistance ($329.8 million)
• Total number of relief food beneficiaries: 4,567,256

• Food assistance requirement: 379,785 metric tons (MT), or $292.4 million
Net requirement ($292.4 mi) = gross requirement ($347 mi) – available resources ($54.6 mi)

• Estimated number of TSF^[1] beneficiaries: 708,921
TSF requirement: 39,474 MT, or $37.4 million

• Analysis: The revised beneficiary caseload represents a 47% increase since April 2011, with the largest regional increases coming from Oromia – an increase of 1.2 million people, or 178% more beneficiaries than in April – and SNNPR – an increase of 164,400 people, or 187% more beneficiaries than in April.

Health and Nutrition ($31.4 million)

Health and nutrition interventions will target the following at-risk groups for the respective diseases:

• 159,220 children under 5 years at risk of severe acute malnutrition (SAM)
• 3.35 million children under 5 screened for malnutrition and given vitamin A supplements
• 5 million people at risk of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD)
• 8.8 million people at risk of malaria
• 2 million children under 5 at risk of measles

Nutrition requirement: $17.6 million ; Health requirement: $13.8 million

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene – WASH ($20.2 million)

• Some four million people are threatened by water and sanitation hazards, including water shortages due to drought conditions, outbreaks of waterborne disease, and poor access to clean water and improved sanitation.

• WASH requirement: $20.2 million = 21.5 million (gross requirement) – $1.3 million (available resources)

Agriculture and Livestock ($12.1 million)

• Hundreds of thousands of households require agriculture and livestock assistance to protect or recuperate their livelihoods, including more than 200,000 households to be provided with seeds or sweet potato cuttings and more than 500,000 pastoralist households whose animals require health care assistance and supplementary feeding; additionally 200,000 hectares of wheat-producing land are targeted for spraying to prevent yellow rust infestation

• Agriculture and Livestock requirement: $12.1 million (seeds & cuttings = $2.6 million; animal health and supplementary feed = $6.6 million; yellow rust spraying = $2.95 million)

Emergency Education ($4.95 million)

• At least 85,000 children require urgent support to stay in school or resume their schooling.
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^[1] TSF = Targeted Supplementary Feeding, an intervention that targets children under 5 years and pregnant and lactating women suffering from moderate acute malnutrition.
* The Government plans to organize a full belg harvest assessment to update requirements in Afar, Amhara and Tigray.

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Credit to William Davison, Bloomberg’s correspondent in Ethiopia, who shared me the Press release.