ReliefWeb

In Numbers

• 2.3 million people in need assisted by WFP operations in August 2020.

• 11.8 million vulnerable people face acute food insecurity in 2020.

• USD 213 million (October 2020 - March 2021) net funding requirements, representing 66% of total

Operational Updates

• WFP Ethiopia is currently assisting 2.3 million people each month with relief food or cash for drought and flood-affected people, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, and treatment of malnourished children and women.

• According to the Humanitarian Response Plan Mid-Year Review (31 August) the estimated number of acutely food-insecure people in need of food assistance in in 2020, originally projected as 5.9 million, now stands at11.8 million. COVID-19-related restrictions, flooding, conflict-related displacement, and desert locusts are the key drivers of food insecurity in Ethiopia.

• As of mid-August, 160,000 people were affected by flooding in Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), and Somali. Of these 134,000 were displaced. The Floods have resulted in loss of livelihoods and livestock. Road inaccessibility due to flooding caused challenges to food movement in low-lying areas, mainly in Afar, Oromia,
Somali and SNNPR.

• The desert locust infestations are likely to worsen food insecurity. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that desert locust swarms have worsened in the Afar region. Active movement of immature desert locust swarms have also been identified between Somalia and eastern Ethiopia in August.

• WFP is using revised protocols for food distributions and other operations to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection to beneficiaries, partners and WFP staff. These include physical distancing, hand washing, temperature testing and double distributions to people at distribution sites and refugee camps.
Additional storage facilities have been constructed to facilitate the double distributions and allow buffer stocks as a contingency. In accordance with the COVID-19 preparedness and response contingency plan, WFP has supported over 693,000 refugees in 26 refugee camps with food and cash assistance.

• The leading relief food operators - the Joint Emergency Operation Program (JEOP – a consortium of NGOs), the National Disaster Management Commission (NDRMC) and WFP - continued dispatching food and cash assistance for drought and floodaffected people and IDPs under the third and fourth rounds of 2020, covering June to August.

• WFP Ethiopia’s current approach can be summarised as:

o Continuity of life-saving food assistance: for (i) relief (drought/flood affected people and IDPs); (ii) targeted supplementary feeding (malnourished mothers & children); and (iii) refugees in camps.

o New assistance: (i) supply chain support for the Humanitarian Air Hub and Logistics Cluster; (ii) support to scale-up the urban productive safety net programme; and (iii) food assistance for returnees and deportees in quarantine centres at border areas.

o Adaptation: school feeding, resilience and livelihood interventions (Activity 4 and 5) have been adapted or reduced.

• As part of WFP's “last-mile” solutions to improve the traceability of WFP food commodities, 1,400 mt of food items were tagged with a unique code and delivered to 108 distribution sites in the month of August.

• WFP is leading the augmentation of logistics services on behalf of the humanitarian community, contributing to the overall COVID-19 logistics response:

o Cargo services at the Addis Ababa Humanitarian Hub have begun distribution of the 4th round Jack Ma donation. The Hub facilitates the onward transport of COVID-19 emergency items on behalf of governments, humanitarian organizations and philanthropic groups. As of August, the Hub had transported 5,400 cubic meters of cargo to 54 countries.

o On behalf of National Disaster Risk Management Committee, the Logistics Cluster have assessed and planned the rehabilitation of warehouses to commence in September. The warehouses will be available for common storage at the request of partners.

o The Logistics Cluster, WFP logistics, and partners have coordinated to improve the reporting and accuracy of the weekly Physical Road Access Constraint Map.

o Co-led by UNHAS, the Logistics Cluster has supported the movement of essential cargo to increase COVID-19 testing capacities in the Somali region, on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO).

o To respond to the potential future distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to those in need, WHO and the Logistics Cluster have been developing a preparedness strategy, outlining the requirements for the delivery of cold-chain cargo.

o The delivery and construction of a mobile storage unit at Dewelle point of entry has been begun. The mobile storage unit will be used by the Shelter Cluster and NDRMC in the assistance of returnees from Djibouti. The construction is set to complete in September.