Ethiopia
2023-04 Factsheet - Ethiopia
Highlights
In January and February, the Cluster revised and finalized its HRP 2023 PIN and Target to 5.4 million and 3.9 million respectively bringing the funding requirement to US$ 144.2 million. The main focuses are the Tigray conflict and drought response in Oromia and Somali regions. The Cluster also has set a target of reaching 700K drought-affected people as part of a joint government-humanitarian partners drought response plan for the first half of the year.
For the 1st quarter of 2023, the Cluster, with 25 active implementing partners, reached 15% of its target population along with 5% for committed activities and stocks, leaving a gap of 80%. This closely mirrors the funding secured so far, which is 21% of the required, leaving a funding gap of 79%. These 1st quarter gaps in response and funding are higher compared to the same period in 2022 when the response gap was 72%, and the funding gap was 73%. The drought response took on a layer of flood response due to high levels of rain during the 2023 Belg/Gui/Genna rainy season, especially for the southern and southeastern parts of the country. Drought-prone areas are also flood-prone areas since land that is parched during drought cannot absorb rain fast enough, causing rainfall to run over the land and flood the surrounding area.
NFI
Shelter
Coverage against targets
Need analysis
Despite the improvements in access and security conditions in Tigray, Rental Support feasibility assessments conducted in accessible areas of the Northwestern, Central, and Mekelle zones in Tigray show a shortage of rental facilities that could adequately provide shelter for the continuing spontaneous and planned returns of IDPs to their areas of origin but could not fully return to their own homes that were vandalized and destroyed during the conflict. A multi-sectoral rapid needs assessment of areas of the Northwestern zone in Tigray that has seen waves of new displacements from the Western zone indicates an urgent need for emergency shelters and NFIs for the newly arrived IDPs, most of whom found shelter in schools, open spaces, and within the host community. In the conflict-affected western zones of Oromia, a cluster-led rapid needs assessment shows a dire need for shelter and NFI for more than a million IDPs, protracted and new, most of whom are displaced in congested collective centers and in host communities.
Response
In the 1st quarter of 2023, distributions of in-kind NFI and ESNFI items account for 84% of the 541K people reached by the cluster, largely conflict-affected IDPs and returnees in Northern Ethiopia (Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions) but also in the SNNP region in the south and in Benishangul Gumz and in Gambella regions in the west. Emergency shelter repair kits (full, minor, and first line) were provided to 36K IDPs and returnees in Amhara, Tigray, and SNNP but some also in the regions of Afar, Oromia, Somali, and Benishangul Gumz, accounting for around 6% of people reached by the cluster in Q1.
Cash-based assistance in the form of cash-for-rent and emergency shelter assistance in cash were provided to conflict-affected IDPs and returnees in Amhara and Tigray. NFI in cash was provided to drought-affected IDPs in Somali and Oromia regions. These cash-based interventions account for only around 5% of the cluster’s Reached in Q1 but the cluster has led cash-for-rent feasibility assessments to explore more opportunities for cash-based shelter assistance. A small percentage (2%) of the people reached by the cluster received assistance in the form of emergency shelter construction, mostly conflict-affected IDPs and returnees in Tigray and Benishangul Gumz regions but also some drought-affected IDPs in the Somali region. A very small percentage (0.14%) of IDPs in the SNNP region received assistance in communal shelter construction.
Gaps / challenges
The cluster faces the challenge of securing funds and mobilizing partners to fill the gaps in funding and response, substantially higher as compared to the same period in 2022, underscored by also having only 25 active partners on the ground in this 1st quarter of 2023 compared to 41 in the same period in 2022. As of the end of March, stocks for in-kind assistance are low to non-existent across the regions affected. In Tigray, cash-for-rent assistance is constrained by a lack of rental facilities in accessible areas where IDPs can be relocated, and by limited withdrawal limits of existing financial institutions. While the cluster has set PINs and targets for the HRP, these numbers still have to be actively monitored against new waves of displacements, secondary displacements, and returns for the cluster to be able to adjust its targets and response accordingly. The overlapping layers of conflict- and climate-induced crises affecting large swaths of populations in many regions of Ethiopia require considerable coordination efforts at many levels.
