Ethiopia
2023-06 Factsheet - Ethiopia
Highlights
In the 2nd quarter of 2023, educational activities resumed for 1,218 schools in 74 woredas in the Tigray region, including 100 schools where an estimated 300,000 IDPs have settled and needed to be relocated to other sites. However, there are not enough suitable sites to relocate these IDPs leading local authorities in the Tigray Region to evict IDPs from schools and to propose alternative sites. However, these sites require substantial investment from all clusters, and partners lack the resources to develop these sites. The ES/NFI Cluster has put forward Shelter solutions that are more efficient than the proposed sites.
The 2023 Belg/Gui/Genna rainy season that started in March and continued on through May brought a little relief to drought-afflicted areas of Somali, Oromia, SNNP, and Afar but has resulted in flash flooding causing secondary and new displacements for thousands of people.
Planned and spontaneous returns of thousands of IDPs continued mainly in Afar, Amhara, and Tigray but also to a lesser extent in SNNP, Oromia, Somali, and Benishangul Gumz. In mid-May, the Return Task Force (RTF) in Afar has completed facilitating the return of the final batch of 1,000 IDPs to their places of origin in Kilbati/Zone 2. However, in Tigray, planned returns are behind schedule.
NFI
Shelter
Coverage against targets
Need analysis
Prioritization for the 2nd quarter, based on the Cluster thresholds and subsequent analysis, has identified 32 woredas in Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, and Tigray regions as Extreme severity category, 165 woredas as Severe, and the rest of the woredas as Mildly severe.
Oromia showed the highest number of woredas under the "Extreme" severity categories, and this is due to multifactor shocks and conflicts in the Region. On the other hand, Oromia, Somali, and Tigray regions showed the highest number of woredas under "Severe". This is due to the low level of response in Oromia and the Somali regions.
While the priority group for the 2nd quarter were IDPs, the continuing flow of planned and spontaneous returns of IDPs to their areas of origin prompted the Cluster to lead three loss & damage assessments in areas of return in Afar and Tigray, accounting for a total of 584,811 households who have returned to these areas. Respondents identified Repair kits, Kitchen sets, and Cash for rent as the top three most needed shelter/NFI needs. Shelter repair particularly remains a top priority as a majority of the returnees are living with family and friends and in damaged homes.
Response
By the end of the first half of 2023, the cluster has reached a quarter (25%) of its 3.9M target population and committed to 6% more through ongoing activities, leaving a gap of 69% to fill for the second half of the year.
By activity, NFI and ESNFI assistance in kind and in cash account for two thirds of the population reached across the eight regions targeted by the cluster. The majority of the beneficiaries are IDPs in camp or camp-like settings as well as those living in host communities followed by a substantial number of returning IDPs living with family and friends or in their damaged homes. A small number of non-displaced members of communities hosting IDPs were also assisted. Further provision of NFIs are prioritized for the newly displaced or for those who have lost NFIs in flash floods and other events outside of their control.
The cluster is prioritizing Shelter Repair in areas of returns where homes are damaged and in IDP sites where existing shelters have started to deteriorate. So far, shelter repair kits (full and minor) were provided to more than a hundred thousand beneficiaries, largely to returning IDPs in six regions (Afar, Amhara, Benishangul Gumz, SNNP, Somali, and Tigray)
Emergency Shelter assistance account for 15% of the reached population mainly in the form of Emergency Shelter Kits and Emergency Shelter Construction in all the eight regions targeted except for Gambela. Cash for Rent has increased by 5% over the last quarter, provided mostly to IDPs living in host communities in Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray.
Gaps / challenges
With only 29% of the required funding secured by the end of the 2nd quarter, the cluster faces the challenge of mobilizing and prioritizing limited resources to reach the remaining 69% (2.7M) target population in the next two quarters of the year. The cluster has over 60 partners and 42 have so far contributed to the overall response. But many projects and activities are short-lived or one-off resulting in the number of partners actively reporting fluctuating month by month as partners struggle to secure new funds.
Added to the funding constraints are access constraints in some parts of Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, Afar, and Amhara leading to some targeted populations hard to reach.
Limited financial and technology infrastructure to support cash modalities for delivering shelter and NFI assistance are also a challenge but the cluster is coordinating with other clusters and the Cash Working Group to overcome these challenges.
