Context and Implementation Plan

ACTION AGINST HUNGER has been working since 1985 in Ethiopia and since 1995 in the Warder and Korahai Zones of the Ogaden region (SNRS). SNRS, one of Ethiopia's federal states, is located in the eastern part of the country next to the Somali border. From a base in Kebri-Dehar, ACTION AGAINST HUNGER currently focuses on the provision of water to pastoralists in the Korahai Zone. ACTION AGAINST HUNGER was preparing to activate an additional project entitled Animal Health and Early Warning System for Korahai and Warder Zones, and has had to postpone this project due to the mounting food crisis prevailing in the Region. Being the only International NGO operating in this area, where an estimated 260,000 mainly pastoralist people live, ACTION AGAINST HUNGER is now changing its focus in order to address the current emergency. The following outline summarizes the intervention framework, including estimated beneficiaries and distribution plan.

I. Background of the intervention

The Somali National Regional State of Ethiopia (SNRS) is populated by Ethnic-Somalis 80% of whose survival depends on their livestock. Water and grazing are the two main components upon which the survival of the Somali pastoral society relies. The rains sustain a fragile ecosystem, and are the key element of pasture regeneration, as well as water supply for both humans and animals. The first rains of the year (Deyr) generally fall around Oct-November followed by a long dry season (Jilaal) from December to March/April. The main rains generally fall from Mid-March to Mid-April.

The rain patterns in the past three years have been very erratic and mainly insufficient. The coping threshold of the pastoralists in the SNRS has reached its limits in terms of capacity to sustain a drought situation. The current situation prevailing is critical and will turn into a large-scale humanitarian disaster if there is no rainfall. Even if there is irregular and insufficient rain during April or May, it will have arrivee too late and not in sufficient amounts for the herds to recover quickly, and the herders to regain sufficient income with which to sustain their whole families. The recent weather forecasts by Regional monitoring bodies announced an 80% probability of below-average rainfall levels throughout the Horn of Africa.

The SNRS has been a marginalized and underdeveloped region within Ethiopia. The food security situation remains highly precarious, and it is estimated that out of approximately 3,090,000 people living in the Ogaden State, 1.3 million are in need of urgent assistance. The fluctuating and unstable political environment seriously hampers the capacity of governmental and non-governmental bodies to operate on a sustainable level within most of the Region. ACTION AGAINST HUNGER, in fact, remains the only International NGO to conduct humanitarian activities in the central part of the SNRS, specifically within Korahai Zone. Although ACTION AGAINST HUNGER focuses on this large Zone, most of the other zones remain with neither assistance nor monitoring.

II. Identified Needs

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER staff have been moving around Korahai zone regularly, in addition to members of other international organizations, and have therefore had a first-hand analysis of the evolving situation. The ACTION AGAINST HUNGER teams have been moving primarily across the Southern area of Korahai Zone (Shilabo and Dobowein Districts), as the Northern part is the most politically unstable.

The water situation witnessed by the ACTION AGAINST HUNGER Water Engineer is critical. All birkads (traditional rain collection cisterns) and shallow wells, the only water structures apart from the deep-boreholes, are dry. People have started digging small holes in the ground, fitted with a piece of plastic sheeting in the hope of catching any drop of rain. On the 29 March 2000, an ACTION AGAINST HUNGER team traveled to Geladid (50 km North of Kebri-Dehar) to repair one of the few existing deep-boreholes that had recently broken down. Upon arrival in the village, a crowd of people was fighting for the few liters remaining in the reservoir. One man was stabbed. People can now be seen stopping cars on the roads to ask for some water. In Geladid, the team counted 913 rotting carcasses. It is estimated that 80% of cattle have died.

100 children were screened through MUAC (Middle Upper Arm Circumference) measurement in Geladid, and 80% of them were malnourished and should be treated immediately. ACTION AGAINST HUNGER was later informed by the elders, on March 31st 2000, that 6 out of the 100 children visited had died in the following two days. The ACTION AGAINST HUNGER water staff, national and international, have witnessed a situation were most of the children seen are in a state of advanced malnutrition. Most of the male adults have left their families to try to save their camels -- their most valuable asset.

III. Emergency Nutrition Intervention

Program Objective
To reduce mortality and morbidity caused by acute malnutrition among children and adults through therapeutic re-nutrition techniques

Program Activity
To treat severely and moderately malnourished patients

Size of targeted population: approx. 33,600 beneficiaries

• First Phase Emergency Supply

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER is organizing a humanitarian convoy to insure the delivery of the whole consignment to Kebri-Dehar by April 13th.

Implementation and Distribution Plan

The therapeutic feeding center will be set up near the hospital in Kebri-Dehar. This will be a large structure with a capacity to treat 300 patients per month. A contingency plan is being readied in case the number of severely malnourished people increases. Two extra therapeutic centers will be set up in Geladid (50 km North of Kebri-Dehar) and in Shilabo (80 km south of Kebri-Dehar), each of them able to receive 150 patients per month.

One Supplementary Feeding Center (SFC) will also be set up in Kebri-Dehar, targeting 2000 people per month.

A second SFC will be in place in Geladid (50 km North of Kebri-Dehar) next to the health center, with an initial target population of 1500. This will serve as a distribution point for dry rations as well as a screening center for the northern part of Korahai zone.

A third SFC will be set up in Shilabo (80 km South of Kebri-Dehar) next to the health center, also targeting 1500 people. This will also be a distribution point for dry rations as well as a screening center for the southern part of Korahai zone

IV. Emergency Water Supply Intervention

Implementation and Distribution Plan

Program Objective
To reduce human mortality caused by dehydration and water-related diseases

Program Activity
To supply clean, potable water through a relief intervention combining water distribution from outlying areas and maintenance / repair of the rural and urban mechanized boreholesSize of the targeted population: an estimated 33,000 beneficiaries throughout Korahai Zone every day.

Intended Results

• 24, 000 beneficiaries will be supplied with a minimum of 5 liters/day/person through water tankers.
• 9,000 beneficiaries will be supplied with a minimum of 5 liters/day/person through the pumping station

(a) Water Deliveries:

• Five water tankers will be rented by ACTION AGAINST HUNGER and will supply clean, potable water to 10 bladder tanks dispatched across the 4 districts of Korahai Zone (Kebri-Dehar, Shilabo, Dobowein, Sheikosh). Each distribution point will be equipped with 2 water fountains.
• The trucks will refill the borehole nearest the distribution area: Sheikosh or Geladid (Seikosh district), Kebri-Dehar ''sweet'' or ''salty'' water (Kebri-Dehar district), Jidhale (Dobowein district), Dawahale or Shilabo (Shilabo district). In case of major supply problems, the trucks will refill from surface water from neighboring wells with a motor-pump.
• Each water storage area will be fenced in, and regular water-chlorination will be conducted.
• The water distribution will be coordinated by a committee chosen by the clan elders, under the supervision of the ACTION AGAINST HUNGER water technician.
• Plastic jerrycans will be distributed to the beneficiaries at each distribution point.

This will be done with five 15 to 20 m3 water tankers each making 2 round trips per day. Based on a daily ration of 5 liters / day / person, 120,000 liters will supply at least 24,000 people

(b) Emergency Pumping Station

The water table of the Fafen River, which runs through Korahai Zone, will be pumped to a water station designated as a filling point in the case that one of the boreholes break down. When not refilling, the population will continue to have access to it.

The station will include a pumping unit, a sedimentation unit with aluminum sulfate (in one steel tank) and a treatment-storage unit with Chlorine-HTH (2^nd 45,000l tank). The distribution unit will be composed of 3 water fountains and a truck refilling system. Five ACTION AGAINST HUNGER staff will be necessary to run the station.

The estimated daily beneficiary population is 9,000. (at 5 liters/per/day).

(c) Maintenance Support to the Mechanized Boreholes

These boreholes are essential in times of drought (water trucking and direct consumption). They are used almost round the clock and often break down or need urgent maintenance.

The urgent development project designed to address chronic water shortages can not tackle the emergency situation arising from the overall drastic decrease of water availability.

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