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Social Development Department
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Emergency and
Food Security
History of Drought and Famine in Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country endowed with a wealth of human and natural resources. Yet it has been plagued by disasters, especially acute food shortages and famine. The population growth is very high and at the same time, people have less capacity and access to poverty reduction mechanisms. Ethiopia and drought have a recorded history since the 9th century. During the sixteenth century and at the beginning of seventeenth century, about six famines had plagued the country. A major famine, which was known as the great famine, was observed throughout the country between the year 1888 and 1892. However, the most notable of all, as measured by the level of disaster, are the 1973/74 and 1984/85 droughts. The 1984/85 famine was a result of a succession of poor rains and poor harvest that began in 1980. In 1979 the Belg (small rain season) and Meher (major rain season) rains were poor in many areas and the pattern continue in 1980 as well in most parts of the country. Traditionally, more is known or written about famines than drought or other causes of famines. But from available records, drought is known to be the major immediate cause of famine in Ethiopia. It is also observed that, the occurrence of drought every year is now an established fact in the drought prone areas. What is not regular is the geographical extent of its coverage and the severity. Some of the researches findings are indicating that the occurrence of drought and its persistence in the drought prone areas will not only continue but will also increase in severity and geographical coverage unless effective measures in environmental rehabilitation and development are taken over a long period of time to reverse the worsening trend of the enhancing factors. From this, it can be noted that drought can persist indefinitely in an area, revisit some places frequently, can affect new areas every year and can also occur successively in the same places. Major Drought Periods in Ethiopia
Source: Web, P. et al Famine in Ethiopia: Policy implications of Coping Failure at National and Household levels, 1992. In 2002/2003, about 14 million people were suffering from food shortages Policy Environment After the 1974 famine, the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) was established by a proclamation to deal with emergencies. The Commission built its logistics and Early Warning capacity and considered other elements of preparedness. But when RRC failed to avert the 1984/85 famine, it became evident that institutionalization of the problem (establishing the RRC) only could not work. The need for the policy and political commitment was emphasized. Since 1993, the Government of Ethiopia has developed a National Disaster Prevention and Management Policy for the first time. The policy defined the objectives, basic principles, preparedness modalities and duties and responsibilities of all stakeholders. In this line, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) was officially established by proclamation in replacing RRC in the year 1995. Different implementation guidelines were also developed. However, the policy itself is highly biased towards slow-onset and drought-induced disaster. Fast onset disasters like flood, earthquake, epidemics, etc. are not addressed in the national policy of 1995. However, in the developed implementation guidelines, institutional arrangements for better emergency response were indicated and duties and responsibilities of main stakeholders were stated. So, it was after this time that the government of Ethiopia started looking for an organized new ways to protect the forte from the effects of disaster. Before the establishment of DPPC in 1995, the National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management (NPDPM) was declared in 1993. This policy has two main aims, which are:
Unlike old programs, the new policy integrates these two components in what is called "linking relief to development". This was different and complex than the previous approaches to emergency and relief.
Response of Ethiopian Catholic Emergency Situations ChurchThe Ethiopian Catholic Church (ECC) is involved in promoting integral human development through evangelization, education and health, social development justice and peace and emergency interventions at the time of disaster. ECC has a long-standing history particularly in emergency interventions. With fund raised from the Caritas Network, ECC has played a great role in saving lives of thousands of drought victims during each occurrence of drought in this country. During the famine of 1970s and 1980s, ECC in partnership with the other faith based organizations had formed the Joint Relief Partnership (JRP) and played a significant role to reach the needy and save lives of people, particularly in the northern war-zone of the country. Since the year 1999/2000, ECC has entered into the emergency interventions in a more organized way by introducing Special Operation Appeal (SOA). The Caritas members had also supported ECC in raising funds for the realization and in a well coordinated way of implementing SOA in different parts of the country. The united effort of all Catholic Secretariats to present their appeals in one common approach and appeal through SOA has been found to be very useful in addressing the existing food insecurity problem in a coordinated way. In this regard, the SOA has achieved its objectives in saving lives and livelihood of the target community. The implementation of this program also created a fertile ground for the efforts of improving the food security situation of the targeted areas. However, there is a need for a program shift which will reduce the vulnerability and impact of recurrent drought and increase the shock absorbing capacity of the drought affected community, which through time can improve the food security of the community. The Ethiopian Catholic Church has embarked on a new approach indicated in its Five Years Strategic Plan. This approach intends to link emergency measures with rehabilitation and, eventually sustainable integrated development. To implement this approach, ECC-SADCO has established a “Food Security Unit” towards the end of 2002. Coordinating effort towards food security Ethiopian Catholic Church established the food security coordination unit with the following mandates v Develop the "ECC Food Security Guidelines", which provides a general framework and overall direction of the Catholic Church and also guide dioceses in formulating their respective food security proposals under a problem and area centered approach. v Facilitate the development of appropriate disaster preparedness/coping strategies, including early warning system prior to and during emergencies v Improve the technical capacity of the diocesan secretariats by providing and/or facilitating training on disaster management, early warning system and integrated food security v Engage in joint food insecurity assessment with DCSs to establish effective emergency response v In collaboration with the dioceses, prepare and coordinate Rehabilitation and/or Food Security programs/projects. v Organize and facilitate exposure visits for key staff of the diocesan secretariats v Arrange relevant workshops and training in the field of food security and related activities for ECS and Diocesan senior staff v Foster external funding of post emergency and integrated food security projects at diocesan level by establishing and/or consolidating contacts with potential donors, channeling project proposals from dioceses to potential donors Medium and long-term objectives v Conceptualize the "ECC Food Security Guidelines" to the church's traditional and new coming partners for their financial support v Ensure that the ECC Food Security Guidelines is well understood at ECS and DCSs v Enlarge partner/donor platform beyond Caritas Network v Organize and facilitate exposure visits for key staff of diocesan secretariats v Identify capacity gaps, in particular with regard to disaster preparedness and early warning at ECS and diocesan level and render respective training to capacitate the technical staff Highlights of the ECC food security strategy/guidelines 1. Working towards increasing crop and livestock production and productivity in the church's area of operation through training of male and female farmers and provision of agricultural inputs without creating dependency on aid 2. ECC will endeavor to increase household food availability through reducing pre-and post-harvest losses 3. Perceiving HIV/AIDS as development issue, ECC will address it in all sectoral development programs including food security program through applying various mainstreaming approaches 4. Employing all possible gender mainstreaming strategies to incorporate gender issues in all food security interventions to ensure that women have better access to and control over resources and to improve their status within the community 5. Working towards the empowerment of the local communities within the operational areas through promoting the establishment of community-based organizations (with members from both men and woman) and building their capacities to plan and implement food security interventions 6. Believing that people are also food insecure as a result of inadequate knowledge, poor hygiene practices, and influence of harmful traditional practices, the issue of food utilization and nutrition will be addressed 7. Taking the comparative advantage and neutrality of the church, ECC will firmly work towards promotion of peace and stability in the country along with other relevant and interested group. Address:
Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat Social Rehabilitation program focusing on Vulnerable Children Situation Analysis
Street children The problems of children, who live, work, recreate, sleep and spend most of their time in the street are a global one. However, the magnitude of the problem is much larger in Africa and Latin America. In Ethiopia, 56% of the population are children below 18 years of age. The number of street children seems to be increasing in Ethiopia in the past two decades. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA and UNICEF, 1993) and (MOLSA, 1995), Forum for Street Children (FSCE, 2003) and other studies indicate that there are at least 100,000 street children in Ethiopia (about 25% are girls). UNICEF’s and Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia projected estimate puts the figure to 185,000 in 2003 (GFDRE and UNICEF, 2001).
Child sex workers A study made on child prostitution in 2003 in Addis Ababa identified major problems that have been faced by children engaged in prostitution include: rape, beating, hunger, etc. Among the child prostitutes, about 45% have been raped before they were engaged in the activity and among the 45% rape victims, 48% of them were raped by street boys, 31.9% by adults and 19.2% by other boys who are not street boys. According to the study, poverty, adult unemployment, lack of alternative employment, orphanage, parental death, socio economic vulnerability etc. are some of the reasons that pushed the children to become prostitutes
Child Labor A survey made by the central Statistical Authority (CSA) on child labor in Ethiopia revealed that 85% of the children are engaged in some kind of activity and 52% in productive activity. In the rural areas, 89% of the children are engaged in agriculture and related activities. The Ethiopian labor law prohibits children below the age of 14 not to be engaged as employed worker, but the practice is different from what is stated in the law
HIV/AIDS orphans Ethiopia is hard hit by the AIDS pandemic and close to three million people are living with HIV/AIDS and over 250,000 of these are children below 14 years old. It is also estimated that about one million children have become orphans by losing one or both of their parents. The estimates are that there will be over 1.8 million AIDS orphans by the year 2010 (GFDRE & UNICEF, 2001).
Children with Disabilities The Ethiopian 1994 Population and Housing Census indicates that there were 175,000 children below the age of 15 with some disabilities. But many argue that the number should be much higher than that. Perhaps due to definitional problems, reluctance of families to respond and other reasons, under - reporting may have taken place. WHO's benchmark for disabilities incidence, in developing countries, is 7-10 percent of the total population. This means at least about 4.9 million Ethiopians are with some kinds of impairment (i.e. in 2003, from the total of 70 million population). Hence, children with disabilities would be about 2.5 million.
Social Rehabilitation and Welfare Programs The involvement of the Ethiopian Catholic Church in Social Rehabilitation and Welfare program has a long history in the country. Some of the programs that have been implemented at the DCSs level include care, support and rehabilitation for street children, orphans and blind children. Provision of home for the sick and needy, vocational training for children of destitute families and arranging adoption services for orphan children are also some of the activities that are being under taken by the Catholic Church projects. Some institutions are still involved in feeding programs. Children whose health is chronically affected and malnourished benefit from this program. Although the ECC is contributing a lot to curb the plight of destitute people and children in particular, a lot of task is expected in the future to respond to the growing social and economic needs of the society. ECC strategy on Social rehabilitation focusing on vulnerable children The ECC has designed social rehabilitation strategy based on experiences that are gained from the work of the church and also from other organizations working in similar type of projects. In Ethiopia, children comprise about 50 percent of the total population. Hence, it would be appropriate and justifiable to give special attention and care for children issues. The general objective of the social rehabilitation strategy is to ensure that Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) social rehabilitation programs and projects are designed in such a way that they promote the integral human development, networking with local and international stakeholders and lobbying and advocacy on social rehabilitation policy and legislative issues that affect the rights of children and other socially marginalized groups. The focal areas of ECC social rehabilitation strategy focusing on vulnerable children: 1. To ensure that ECS social development and pastoral projects/programs are designed to address the issues of social rehabilitation; orphan and vulnerable children, and socially excluded or marginalized groups. 2. Study and asses social problems that affect children and mainly related to orphan and vulnerable and also other socially excluded groups. 3. Mainstream social rehabilitation activities in the implementation of social development by ECC. 4. Identify community based preventive and rehabilitation projects that will provide long lasting support for orphan and vulnerable children. 5. Develop strategic options for orphan and vulnerable children in particular for children that are affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. 6. Implement social rehabilitation projects and programs that address the problem of orphan and vulnerable children, and other socially excluded groups of the society. 7. Implement Child Rights Programming on the basis of UN –CRC and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. 8. Strengthen the Institutional and Organizational Capacity of ECC Social Rehabilitation Projects/Programs. 9. Carry out lobbying and advocacy works for the right of children and other socially excluded groups. 10. Network with organizations and institutions [such as, International donor agencies, local or private donors, NGOs, Civil societies, Government organizations, and other partners] and work together on issues and problems that affect the rights of children. 11. Design a Management Information System for Social Rehabilitation projects/programs. 12. Coordinate and facilitate for the Social Rehabilitation projects/programs. 13. Empower and strengthen Grass Root and Community Based Organizations working on social rehabilitation 14. Design, plan and implement social rehabilitation projects/ programs through Community Participation. 15. Establish a strong monitoring and evaluation system that would improve and strengthen ECC working methodology, implementation capacity and finally contribute to improved project implementation. The ECS social rehabilitation strategy is expected to bring significant changes in our projects/programs designed and implemented for OVC and also for the socially excluded groups of the society. Address:
Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
Situation analysis Although Ethiopia has adequate water resources the majority of the population is subjected to inadequate and low level of access to water supply and sanitation services. The countrywide water supply service coverage is estimated to 24%. In the case of rural population, the water supply service coverage is about 15%. The rest of the population fetches water from unsafe sources such as streams, rivers, ponds and unprotected wells and springs. In some cases even this unsafe sources of water are not easily accessible to most of the people. Women and children, particularly in rural areas are highly affected by the drudgery of fetching water from far distances. The situation with respect to sanitation is in a much worse condition as compared to potable water supply coverage, with only a few percent of the population having access to some sort of sanitation facilities. It is thus apparent that a large majority of the Ethiopian Population is still subjected to water and sanitation related problems. The current situation is quite encouraging. The Ministry of Water Resources of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is taking efforts to improve the situation in the sector. The ministry has developed various guidelines and strategies for water resources development and environmental sanitation programs. All regional governments are engaged in implementing various WATSAN projects as long as financial and technical capacity allows. The role of non-governmental organizations in the water sector is being expanded. However, as the magnitude of the problem is enormous the involvement of all stakeholders is required for the years to come. ECC's Intervention in Water and Sanitation SectorECC-SADCO, the development wing of the Ethiopian Catholic Church is taking every effort to initiate and coordinate various development works including water and sanitation projects. The commission has launched WATSAN Program in year 2001 by preparing strategies and implementation guidelines for the program. The main purpose of ECC WATSAN program is to support the community and government in improving access to water and sanitation services. For this reason, the Commission has established separate unit that is responsible to provide technical assistances to DCSs and coordinate overall WATSAN activities of the Ethiopian Catholic Church. ECC-SADCO WATSAN Unit undertakes mainly the study and design of water and sanitation schemes, drilling and rehabilitation of water wells, construction of water and sanitation schemes, etc. Achievement and Impacts of ECC Interventions The formation of the national WATSAN unit also helped to enhance the implementation capacity of DCSs. The enhancement of the capacity of the DCSs helped to serve more and more beneficiaries. Future plan and Implementation Strategy Problems related to water supply and sanitation services are deep-rooted and, therefore, much effort is required from all concerned parties to change the situation. For this reasons ECC-SADCO wants to continue its involvement in the sector by capacitating its WATSAN Program in collaboration with partners/donors. The focal areas are as follow: 1) Strengthen the cooperation/relation between ECC-SADCO and partners/donors 2) Continue provision of technical assistance to DCSs in a coordinated manner 3) Design and Construct various water and sanitation schemes 4) Design and construct small-scale irrigation schemes 5) Conduct awareness creation trainings to beneficiary communities and DCSs staff The strategy to enhance the program in the near future will be: 1) Build implementation capacity at different levels2) Cooperation and partnership3) Integration of programs4) Participatory approach5) Gender balanced approach6) Commitment to work with communities at grass root levelAddress:
Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
Poverty alleviation through Micro-Financing Institution (MFI) ECC-SADCO has established the Micro-Finance Institution in a form of a company in April 2001. After securing its operational license from the National Bank of Ethiopia on 6 February 2002, it started its operation in Oromia National Regional State in Adama, Wonji, Alem Tena, Meki, Zeway and Derra towns and the surrounding areas in late April 2002. The MFI overall objective is to alleviate poverty by responding to the financial needs of active poor with emphasis on women. By the end of March 2005, Metemamen had 149 village banks in all its seven operational sites. These village banks comprise a total of 3,683 clients of which 2539 (69%) are women. In addition the institution extended its area of operation to Arsi Negele town as its 7th operational site. Arsi Negele is located some 225 kms South of Addis Ababa. The total amount of loan disbursed so far has reached Eth. Birr 4,436,932.00. The outstanding balance of loan (loan portfolio) was Birr 1,105,252.00 as of 31 March 2005. In comparison with the corresponding period last year, the loan portfolio had increased by over 50% due mainly to the increasing number of clients caused by improvements of the loan and savings products that were re-designed to meet the needs of the clients. Loan portfolio for the corresponding period (31 March 2004) was Birr 735,258.00). MFI has reached 30% operational self-sufficiency. Although the rate is low compared to the planned 55% for the period, the institution is slowly but surely moving towards self-sufficiency. Other Activities Metemamen’s loan and savings products were modified following a market research study carried out in all its operational sites. The products were made more flexible to fit into clients' need. Major improvements made among others include:
These changes have resulted in positive changes in outreach (growth in client number) and in the reduction of the number of clients leaving the programme (drop-outs). MAGI Assessment A CRS Micro Finance Alliance for Global (MAGI) team was in Ethiopia from 8-13 August 2004 to assess the organization strengths and weaknesses of Metemamen MFI. Based on the team’s findings an institutional strengthening plan (ISP) was drawn up and implementation of the plan is underway. In addition, Metemamen was recognized by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) as a quality program that demonstrates CRS’ poverty lending principles and commits through its institutional strengthening plan to continued improvement of the micro-finance program. In acknowledgment of this, Metemamen was certified as a member of CRS’MAGI. Being a member of MGI, Metemamen will receive priority consideration for CRS funds. Address:
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©2005 Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat |