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Borena – Emergency aid

Drought in Ethiopia: Emergency aid for pastoralist families

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Project Information

  • Activities:
    – Procurement of relief goods
    – Transport of the goods to the region of Borena
    – Distribution of relief goods to pastoralist families
    – Follow-up of the situation
  • Target group: 939 pastoralist families – a total of 4539 people
  • Region: Borena, region of Oromia
  • Partner: SSD
  • Duration: July to Dezember 2022
  • Contained SDGs:
    Sustainable Development Goal no. 1 Sustainable Development Goal no. 2

Project Goal

Project Description

PROJECT AIM

In Borena, in the southernmost part of Ethiopia, we are ensuring the survival of 4539 people through the drought month until end of 2022. The families have lost all their livestock and thus their source of income. In order to preserve the health and development of the youngest children, they urgently need basic food.

 

THE PROJECT

The Horn of Africa is experiencing the worst drought in forty years. For two years in a row, the rainy seasons were weak. In many communities in Borena in the very south of Ethiopia, there was no rainfall even in the spring of 2022, and the rainy season in September failed to arrive in many places. Many pastoralist families have come from the vastness of the savannah to villages and small towns in the hope of finding water and fodder for their livestock. But many families have lost their herds completely. For these families, Menschen für Menschen is organising the distribution of emergency aid in two rural districts. In coordination with the local communities and the authorities, the foundation brings maize flour and cooking oil to the disaster area. In addition, the pastoralist families receive washing soap and tent tarpaulins to build temporary shelters. The relief supplies will be delivered monthly between July and December 2022.

The Problem

Climate change is intensifying the droughts in East Africa. The Borena region in southern Ethiopia is particularly affected. It has hardly rained there for two years. Where lush grass used to grow, there is now only dust. That is the reason why the cattle of the pastoralist families are dying. In total, over 3.5 million farm animals had already died in Ethiopia by mid-2022.

This means hardship and hunger: the families are desperately dependent on the sale of their cattle in order to be able to buy grain and bake bread.

The emaciated cattle hardly bring in any revenue. Food prices in Ethiopia have risen drastically since the beginning of the Corona pandemic. The inflation rate in the whole country is 37 percent. The poor pastoralist families can no longer afford the little food available in the markets.

In every drought and famine, it is the youngest children who suffer the most. Their health and lives are the first to be threatened.

Project Information

  • Activities:
    – Procurement of relief goods
    – Transport of the goods to the region of Borena
    – Distribution of relief goods to pastoralist families
    – Follow-up of the situation
  • Target group: 939 pastoralist families – a total of 4539 people
  • Region: Borena, region of Oromia
  • Partner: SSD
  • Duration: July to Dezember 2022
  • Contained SDGs:
    Sustainable Development Goal no. 1 Sustainable Development Goal no. 2

Project Goal