Water trucking has eased access to water
Context
The Horn of Africa is in the grip of a second consecutive season of below-average rainfall in many areas. Emergency outcomes are expected in Somalia, while Crisis outcomes are expected in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Uganda. Although rainfall has increased in May, livestock and crop production is unlikely to recover to normal levels until the start of the next season in October. The preceding below-average October to December 2018 Deyr/short rains season slowed the recovery of food security conditions from the 2016/17 drought. Dry conditions persisted in 2019 and tropical cyclone Idai partially contributed to the current dry conditions. Over 14 and a half million people remain in food crisis.
Now, the very poor performance of the 2019 Gu/long rains season is driving a deterioration in food security outcomes across the region. Deterioration is expected in northern and central Somalia; deterioration is expected across southeastern Ethiopia, pastoral areas of Kenya, and parts of southern Somalia, with peak needs occurring between July and October. In the areas that have experienced severe rainfall deficits/dry spells during the March – May long rains, maize and sorghum prices have surpassed 2018 levels (with a 5-20% increase) and staple food prices are forecasted to keep rising for most of the year.
Humanitarian agencies, donors and governments are urged to immediately scale up emergency assistance planning, including food, water, and interventions to prevent expected high levels of acute malnutrition.
Somalia:
Key figures and needs:
- Food insecurity: Out of the 5,4 million people expected to be food insecure by mid-July, 2.2 million will face severe hunger during the July-September period (IPC3 and above). This is 40% more people expected to face severe hunger than what was expected in the beginning of 2019.
- 2,6 million people IDPs (climate and conflict-induced displacement) as the country enters the current crisis. The response capacity of Host Communities is increasingly overstretched.
- Poor rains since last October have also taken a heavy toll on herders and their livestock as vegetation has been drying up and water has been increasingly scarce. Many herders have not been able to replace livestock lost during the 2017 drought that plagued the country. Now they are facing a second crisis as food and water become more scarce and expensive.
- In 2017 famine was averted in Somalia in large part due to the decisive financial support by the international community and the collective effort of responders on the ground. The Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019 is funded at only 20% (out of the 1,08bn USD needed), significantly reducing assistance in critical WaSH and food security interventions in drought affected areas and urban centers hosting IDPs.
The situation remains dire. Communities are resorting to negative coping mechanisms and exhausting their livelihoods assets. Water-trucking requests are spiking. A lot of climate-related displacement and associated protection risks are emerging. An urgent scale up of humanitarian assistance is needed to mitigate the growing impact of the drought in Somalia.
Oxfam’s Response:
Oxfam and local partner organisations are responding in Sool, Sanaag and Awdal regions of Somaliland and Nugaal region in Puntland with WaSH, EFSVL and Protection assistance. The overall response ambition for this crisis as of May is USD 10 mln, of which USD 5,6 mln has been secured already. The remaining funding gap is USD 4,4 mln. Oxfam is targeting 175,000 drought-affected people.
Ethiopia:
Humanitarian needs in Ethiopia are also aggravated by recurrent drought crises (2016 El Nino, drought in 2017 and this years delayed rains). Consecutive years of drought have led to worsening food security and disrupted the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and herders.
Due to the worse than expected Gu/Gana rainy season in southern and southeastern pastoral areas of SNNPR, Oromia and Somali Region, food security outcomes have deteriorated. This is particularly true in the southeastern part of Somali region where rains did not start until the end of April. As a result, the entire region is expected to remain in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) through September this year. Belg rainfall performance has been mixed but overall below average throughout the country. Ethiopia’s Somali region is already in crisis level IPC 3, which is likely to expand to the entire Somali crescent by June.
Key figures and needs:
- 8,86 million people in need of humanitarian assistance
- Of these 8,13 million people need food assistance.
- As of March, 2019 the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019 was only 16% funded (20m USD out of 103 m USD required)
- In Ethiopia’s southern and southeastern pastoral areas, livestock prices are falling due to emaciated body conditions of the livestock. These areas have low livestock supplies as most households are yet to recover their herds from the 2017 drought.
- Agricultural labour opportunities are also very limited because of the climatic shocks.
Oxfam’s Response:
Oxfam is responding in Somali region with an OFDA project. As part of this project 800 households will receive cash assistance. Since April, Ethiopia started experiencing more rainfall, including in Somali region. if the situation deteriorates drastically, Oxfam is prepared to provide support to the most vulnerable households in Fafan and Jarar areas with cash based assistance. We would like to target 6000HHs (36,000 people) over 4 months with a budget of $2 million.
Kenya:
The 2017/18 drought has residual impact in North East and North West Kenya as the new drought is unfolding. According to the National Drought Management authority, 11 counties are currently at the alert drought level. These include Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Marsabit, Turkana, West Pokot, Tana River, Samburu, Kilifi and Baringo. The delayed onset of March to May long rains and the poor rainfall performance has aggravated shortage of water and pasture and also had an adverse effect on farming activities across these counties.
Maize harvests are expected to be significantly below average in Kenya’s marginal agricultural areas and harvests are also expected to be delayed by one to two months due to late planting and livestock livelihoods will be in distress until October. IPC level 3 is now likely in these pastoral areas.
The Government of Kenya has declared a drought emergency and asked external actors for support. It has allocated USD 80 mln for responding to the crisis and acknowledged that what is needed is in fact USD 160 mln.
Key figures and needs:
- Food assistance needs - 1,1 mln people in May, but this figure can go up to 2,5 mln as the drought crisis unfolds.
- Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up - The distance people have to walk to fetch water in the affected countries has increased on average by 29 – 35% above the long-term mean (people have to walk between 4.2 – 7.6 km to get to water).
- Low chances of recovery - crop production is expected to be at least 50 percent below average.
- Cholera outbreaks – 8 of the 11 drought affected counties are already experiencing or are at risk of experiencing new cholera outbreaks as people are forced to use poor quality water.
Oxfam’s Response:
Oxfam is rolling out a cash assistance and advocacy response through local partners. The immediate priority is to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most food insecure households. Some early action activities already took place through Oxfam’s Catastrophe Fund and Oxfam Kenya internal resources. The START fund also gave Oxfam a grant for an immediate response in CTA. The initial response is providing 1,384 households (8,304 people) with a universal cash transfer, valued at Kshs 3,000 ($30)/household/month for three months. To date, 858 households (5,148 people) have received two months of cash transfers and a total of $59,120 has been transferred directly to beneficiaries.
More funding (the current gap is USD 3,367,627) is urgently needed to continue the delivery of more cash assistance and mitigate the impact of the drought on the most affected families. Oxfam in Kenya is committed to reaching 5000 of the most vulnerable households (30,000 people) over the next 6 months.
Thank you to everyone who has donated, with your support Oxfam is able to help those who have been affected by the drought across East Africa, helping them beating poverty, now and forever.