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WFP Ethiopia Country Brief, November 2019

Countries
Ethiopia
Sources
WFP
Publication date

In Numbers

28,000 mt of food distributed

US$ 2.3 million of cash distributed

US$ 193 million (December 2019-May 2020) net funding requirements

2.3 million people assisted in November 2019

Operational Updates

• In November, WFP assisted 2.3 million beneficiaries (75 percent of the planning target); 80 percent of whom received food while 20 percent received cash.

• In collaboration with the Government, WFP began a pilot registration exercise which entails the digitization of the payroll and attendance sheet system and the Government’s beneficiary registration process, using SCOPE (WFP’s beneficiary information management system). WFP plans to register 66,000 beneficiaries in Somali and Amhara regions by the end of 2020. A Privacy Impact Assessment ensured adherence to personal data protection and privacy considerations.

• Under Activity One (relief): one million people received unconditional food transfers under “round four” (October to December), 70 percent of the planned target. This included food transfers in Somali Region and a food-cash combination to internally displaced persons in Oromia Region. Plans to assist Productive Safety Net Programme (PNSP) “transitory” beneficiaries were rescheduled due to the delay in the release of the belg/gu assessment that updated the people identified to be in need of food By the end of November, the assessments’ preliminary findings indicated an additional 0.7 million people require assistance in Somali region; they will be included in WFP’s relief assistance in December. US$ 44 million is required to meet the December 2019 to May 2020 requirements.

• WFP provided specialized nutritious food to approximately 506,000 malnourished pregnant and nursing women and children aged 6-59 months under Activity Two (Treatment of moderate acute malnutrition [MAM]), which was 74 percent of the prioritized planning figure. WFP strengthened the capacities of over 60 health workers as trainers in Somali Region, focusing on the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition. Treatment of MAM outcome monitoring findings showed cure rates of over 99 percent for children and pregnant and nursing women. Activity two requires US$ 69 million to meet the December 2019 to May 2020 requirements.

• Food and cash transfers were provided to 690,000 refugees in camps under Activity Three (refugees). Of these, 117,000 were young children and pregnant and nursing women, who received top-ups of fortified foods to treat and prevent moderate acute malnutrition, and 128,000 were school-aged children who received daily school meals. US$ 48 million is required to meet the December 2019 to May 2020 requirements.

• Under the complementary livelihood support component of Activity Three, over 71 voluntary saving and loan associations were established, with 1,500 members (40 percent from host communities and 60 percent refugees) with cumulative savings of US$ 16,000 by November. Five new rural saving and credit cooperatives were established, with 1,300 female participants. Of these, 655 women joined revolving funds (going up to 250) to be given as seed money for income-generating activities.

• Under Activity Five, weather-index insurance activities were completed in October, with approximately 172,000 people receiving pay-outs worth US$ 500,000 in aggregate. These activities will expand to reach 340,000 beneficiaries in 2020.
Government and community training and awareness-building activities intensified, creating a better understanding of indexbased livestock insurance and implementation processes ahead of the scale-up. WFP requires US$ 18 million for PSNP “core” transfers (re-commencing in January 2020) and climate solutions from December 2019 to May 2020.

• Under Activity Six (prevention of malnutrition), WFP reached 70,000 beneficiaries with Fresh Food Vouchers (FFV), which can be redeemed to buy fruit, vegetables, and animal protein. The vouchers help to diversify diets, especially for pregnant and lactating women and children under two.

• A “Fill-the-Nutrient Gap" analysis was conducted with local government officials to identify the most suitable cash-transfer value for FFV beneficiaries for 2020. The analysis was designed to revise and identify the most appropriate cash transfer values, reflecting the affordability of a nutritious diet accounting for expenditure capacity and nutrient requirements, and factoring-in locally available nutrient-dense foods.