Ethiopia

Allocation	$23,000,000
Emergency type	Drought
Window	Underfunded Emergencies
Recipient UN Agencies	FAO, IOM, UNICEF, WFP, WHO
Group(s) of people targeted	Host communities, Refugees, Returnees, Internally displaced persons, Other affected persons
Number of people targeted	1,839,414
Status	Report Available
Allocation code	23-UF-ETH-58632
Title	Ethiopia UF Application Jun 2023 (drought)

Overview of the humanitarian situation

The humanitarian situation in the drought-affected southern and eastern regions of Ethiopia was rapidly deteriorating in 2023, outpacing the current response efforts. These regions have endured the effects of five consecutive sub-par rainy seasons over the past two years, resulting in an unprecedented impact on the residents. Of the 24 million people living in these drought-affected areas, 13 million were identified as requiring multi-sector lifesaving support, and 11 million faced extreme food insecurity. The hardest-hit regions included large parts of Oromia and the Somali region, sections of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR), the South-West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region (SWEPR), and the Afar region. The situation was further compounded by cholera outbreaks in several parts of the country.

CERF-funded assistance

The ERC on 1 March 2023 allocated $23 million from CERF’s Underfunded Emergency window for life-saving action, reaching over 2 million people, of whom 481,765 were women, 454,200 men, 1,080,313 children, and including 323,405 persons with disabilities. This allocation, supplemented a parallel $17 million allocation from the Ethiopian Humanitarian Fund, primarily focused on averting the escalating crisis exacerbated by food insecurity, malnutrition, and associated risks like cholera. Furthermore, this funding bolstered initial efforts to rebuild coping capacities and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. It provided an essential package of critical emergency life-saving assistance, thereby mitigating the risk of morbidity and mortality. The allocation also ensured that these communities are empowered to prioritize their pressing needs in a dignified manner.

CERFs Strategic Added Value

This CERF funding led to a fast delivery of assistance to people in need. For instance, the logistics component played a key role in ensuring the swift transportation of humanitarian supplies to areas where multiple overlapping crises, customs clearance delays, and high inflation had previously hampered procurement. The establishment of coordination fora at the zonal level further facilitated the timely scale-up of operations. Additionally, this CERF allocation addressed time-sensitive humanitarian needs, particularly in drought-affected areas where pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities were still recovering from previous droughts in 2017, 2020, and 2021. UN partner agencies highlighted its critical impact across various sectors, including cholera response, malnutrition, measles prevention, water supply, and multipurpose cash assistance, with a strong focus on reaching remote areas, women, and children. This CERF funding also improved coordination amongst the humanitarian community. For instance, the consultation process for the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund’s (EHF) parallel allocation strategy brought together Cluster Lead Agencies, the Humanitarian Country Team, the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group, the EHF Advisory Board, and OCHA sub-offices. It also engaged national and international NGOs as well as donor representatives, fostering a more inclusive and strategic response. Finally, CERF funding played a catalytic role in resource mobilization. UN agencies underscored its importance during a period of constrained funding, while the Logistics Cluster noted that CERF’s multisectoral and collective approach enhanced visibility and helped attract additional resources.

Projects included in this allocation

Organization	Project title	Code	Amount in US$
FAO	Support for Livelihoods Recovery for Drought-Affected Households in Somali, Oromia, and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia	23-UF-FAO-018	US$4,000,000	Read more
IOM	Multi-purpose Cash Response for Food Insecure Households impacted by Drought	23-UF-IOM-023	US$4,000,000	Read more
WFP	Targeted supplementary feeding and facilitating access to common logistics services in drought-affected regions of Ethiopia	23-UF-WFP-028	US$3,250,000	Read more
WHO	Scale up response against severe acute malnutrition and outbreaks, especially Cholera, in Somali, Oromia and SNNP regions	23-UF-WHO-026	US$5,750,000	Read more
UNICEF	Provision of lifesaving nutrition treatment services integrated with prevention in drought-affected regions	23-UF-CEF-033	US$6,000,000	Read more