Ethiopia

Allocation	$8,000,000
Emergency type	Flood
Window	Rapid Response
Recipient UN Agencies	UNICEF, WHO
Beneficiary types	Host communities, Internally displaced persons, Other affected persons
People reached	630,585
Status	Completed
Due dates	Interim update: 08 Dec 2020 | Final report: 08 Jun 2021
Allocation code	20-RR-ETH-44584
Title	Ethiopia RR Application Aug 2020 (Floods and cholera)

Overview of the humanitarian situation

In August 2020, vulnerable Ethiopians were facing multiple threats at once: a desert locust invasion, food insecurity, conflict, and displacement and the mounting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of these crises, heavy floods and widespread cholera outbreaks were exacerbating vulnerabilities. More than 10,000 cholera cases had been reported, representing twice the total number of all of 2019. The most recent cholera outbreaks were spreading in West Omo zone in the region of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) and West Guji zone of Oromia region, where only 39 per cent of the population have access to safe water and 15 per cent to sanitation. This left people to resort to unprotected water sources such as rivers, ponds and streams. Reports indicated that the excessive rainfall would peak at the end of August and continue until or beyond November. 470,000 people had been affected already by the floods including 300,000 who have been displaced, with forecasts that up to 2 million could become affected and another 400,000 could become displaced should heavy rainfall continue. Given the multiple crises, the huge unmet humanitarian needs and the low funding trend in 2020, the Government and the humanitarian community were struggling to meet the needs caused by the exceptionally heavy floods and the unusual cholera outbreaks without additional support.

CERF-funded assistance

The Emergency Relief Coordinator on 7 August allocated $7 million from CERF to quickly respond to the needs of cholera-affected people, control the further transmission of the disease, and strengthen hygiene measures to mitigate the impact of floods at a time when operational and financial capacities are highly limited. The CERF funding will enable UNICEF and WHO to provide assistance in the water and sanitation and health sectors, targeting 511,000 people, including 127,137 women and 126,738 girls as well as 69,700 people with disabilities. UNICEF and WHO will focus on the most affected districts in Afar, Oromia, Somali and SNNP regions, where Government capacity and the public health system are very weak and humanitarian presence low.

Projects included in this allocation

Organization	Project title	Code	Amount in US$
UNICEF	Provision of WASH services to Cholera and Flood affected communities in Ethiopia	20-RR-CEF-044	US$4,300,000	Read more
WHO	Health Sector response to the Ethiopia cholera and flood crisis	20-RR-WHO-028	US$3,700,000	Read more