Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

To enhance the social and economic stability of 21,811 drought-affected target beneficiaries in the areas of Gode districts, Shebelle zone, of Somali region through improved access to nutrition and water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) as well as enhanced agricultural productivity.

Expected results

Result 1. 21,811 drought-affected people will have improved access to WASH services to enhance their access to life-saving drinking water and reduce children's prevalence to waterborne diseases.

Result 2. 12,558 children and pregnant and breast feeding women will have improved nutritional status, preventing stunting, wasting and infant (<1 year olds) and child mortality (<5 year olds).

Result 3. 6,390 drought-affected pastoral and agro-pastoral households have improved access to agricultural inputs and strengthened their capacity to restore their income and asset base, enabling them to sustainably secure food for their families.

Target group / Beneficiaries

a) Target group: Direct beneficiaries: 21,811 people; indirect beneficiaries: more than 10,000 people

b) Implementing Partners:

SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia (SOS Ethiopia). In addition, SOS-Kinderdorf Österreich (SOS Austria) will provide the required matching fund of 6% and support SOS-KDI in a number of tasks related to contract management, monitoring and donor reporting.

The project will be implemented in Gode district of Shabelle Zone in Somali region, Ethiopia.

Activities

The above mentioned responses will be provided through the following activities: WASH services will be granted through the (re-)establishment access to drinking water and latrines to the population, training and capacity building activities and special care for young girls and schoolchildren. The nutritional situation will be improved through the distribution of supplementary nutritional food items to beneficiaries as well as training on infant and children feeding. Finally, the drought-affected pastoral and agro-pastoral households will be supported through provision of livestock, input and equipment, trainings and capacity building activities and awareness raising sessions.

Context

Previous droughts across the Horn of Africa brought already devastating effects on the population in Somali region. Additionally since November 2016 Shabelle zone of Eastern Ethiopia has experienced the worst drought in more than 50 years. As a result of the failure of the weak Gu (spring) and Dyer (fall) rains, attributable to and exacerbated by the El Nino event, more than 10% (10.2 million) of the population are in need of emergency support. In the Shabelle zone the livelihoods of 85% of the population are linked to livestock production and management. Harvests of food and livestock fodder in the agro-pastoralist areas will be far below the expected. Food prices are on the steep increase and many families are gathering around the few available water sources and food distribution points. The lack of water in combination with the escalating impoverishment of large part of the population has triggered a serious acute water diarrhoea epidemic and admission of severely malnourished children and women is constantly rising.