Ethiopia - OCHANet

earlier programmes. Nevertheless those with the smallest herds, and mostly marginal living, may
have been hit hardest.Allowing refugees sanctuary in Ethiopia also saved lives, although the refugee
assistance operation was not initially as successful. Mortality and malnutrition remained high
for some months and whilst these are now under control the situation remains fragile.
Needs assessment and early warning.
The needs assessment system in Ethiopia is highly efficient, having evolved over many years into
one of the world’s most sophisticated. It uses well practised methods and has a significant amount
of data that allows detailed comparison with previous years. It is carried out twice yearly and is
multi-agency.
Whilst the technical process yields accurate answers, the results are not immediately released,
needing to go through a political process of approval first. This both delays the response and usually
reduces the numbers to unrealistically low levels. In 2011 this resulted in the numbers of people
affected having to be revised upwards twice, losing valuable response time (the peak of malnutrition
from the hunger gap in SNNP for instance was in June, but their appeal was not revised until
July). This is counter-productive as the needs assessment method used allows for prediction –
theoretically meaning that responses can prevent malnutrition, rather than reacting to it (when
arguably it is already too late). Such an approach also reduces costs.
If the assessment process for food needs is highly sophisticated, it is less so for other sectors.
The water supply operation in the worst affected areas of Somali region and Borena reached some
four million people, and yet it relied almost entirely on emergency trucking. This was hostage to
commercial firms and consequently was expensive and at times unreliable. Given that water supply
is in many ways like food security – a chronic as well as acute problem – a more predictable and
sophisticated solution appears to be the way forward.
The refugee influx from Somalia into southern Ethiopia could have, and should have, been better
anticipated. Despite the obviously deepening crisis in that country there was little urgency in
the preparation for their arrival in southern Ethiopia, meaning the death rate and acute hunger
remained high for weeks after their arrival. The emergency response mobilised did eventually
stabilise the situation, although arguably this could have happened faster.
n Main finding:
The needs assessment and early warning system is technically good but the political approval
process slows the system down.
n Main recommendation:
Ensure the early warning and needs assessments are released early with figures accurately
matching the technical findings.
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