Fact Sheet: USAID Response to the Drought in Ethiopia

• USAID’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) began warning of the pending crisis in the horn of Africa in August 2010.
• In response USAID began pre-positioning food stocks last year and USAID’s Food for Peace Program (FFP) made its first contribution to the World Food Programme (WFP) in October 2010 in response to drought early warnings. USAID emergency programs including water and life-saving therapeutic nutrition began ramping up in January 2011.
• On February 4, 2011 the US Embassy in Addis Ababa declared a disaster due to the effects of the regional drought.
• On July 6, 2011, USAID activated a regional Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in Nairobi, Kenya, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to monitor regional drought conditions and coordinate response activities with other donors. USAID also stood up a Response Management Team in Washington, D.C., to support the DART and coordinate USG humanitarian efforts.
• In response to the drought in Ethiopia, a total of $231,192,658 has been deployed, to date, targeting more than 1.2 million people, since the start of the year, including funding for 275,120 metric tons of food.

USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) Office of Disaster Assistance (OFDA) provides therapeutic feeding and non-food emergency assistance and the Food for Peace (FFP) Program provides emergency food relief.
USAID/OFDA has provided nearly $26.2 million to UN Agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in response to the regional drought affecting Ethiopia primarily in the sectors of Nutrition, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), livelihood protection and emergency coordination.

USAID OFDA Funding to UN Agencies includes: 
• UNICEF: primarily for purchase and distribution of therapeutic foods (Plumpy’ Nut) used to treat children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), as well as emergency water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)  interventions such as water trucking and rehabilitation of water schemes.
• UN humanitarian plane: for transport of UN and NGO aid workers to otherwise difficult to reach areas of the Somali Region
• UN OCHA: to collect information and coordinate the humanitarian community to help avoid gaps and overlaps in drought assistance.  
• UN Department of Safety and Security: for office and staff in the Somali Region in order to collect and disseminate security information especially related to the conflict zones of the Somali Region in order for aid workers to safely travel to drought affected areas.
• UN FAO: for improving food security through the introduction, multiplication and distribution of diversified root and tuber crops and drought-resistant seed varieties in four regions of Ethiopia.

USAID OFDA Funding to Non-governmental Organizations (NGO):
USAID/OFDA funds two rapid response mechanisms through the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and GOAL allowing them to immediately assess and respond through direct interventions or sub-grants for nutrition (GOAL) and WASH (IRC).   Since the start of 2011, IRC has responded to WASH emergencies, including water trucking, benefitting over 250,000.    Similarly, GOAL has provided life-saving therapeutic feeding to approximately 26,000 severely malnourished children under five years of age.
In addition to the Rapid Response Programs, USAID/OFDA provides nutrition sector funding to NGOs operating in drought-affected areas including: Adventists Relief Agency (ADRA) and Mercy Corps in the Somali Region, and International Medical Corps (IMC) and MERLIN in the Oromia Region, and water and sanitation activities in the remote areas of Warder in Somali Region.
USAID/OFDA has provided $2.1 million to USAID’s unique “crisis modifier” component of its Pastoral Livelihoods Initiative (PLI) intended to protect development gains made in times of shock. This support has allowed PLI to mitigate the shock of drought through emergency activities such as commercial/slaughter de-stocking, veterinary services, fodder provision and protection of breeding stock.

USAID’s Food for Peace (FFP) Program has provided, to date, emergency food aid through the UN World Food Program and non-governmental organizations to drought stricken populations:
• $64,901,200 for USAID’s Joint Emergency Operations Program (JEOP) implementation led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• $23,905,600 for the World Food Program Refugee Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO)
• $119,194,193 for the WFP Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (non-refugee general population in Ethiopia)