March 2019 – Drought and inter-communal conflict are expected to leave at least 8 million Ethiopians in need of humanitarian assistance, including nearly 2.9 million people displaced by violence and natural disasters. Internally displaced populations are amongst the most vulnerable in Ethiopia, living in nearly 1,200 informal settlements, often extremely remote and with almost no access to food or basic services. In addition, Ethiopia hosts more than 900,000 refugees reliant on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. With GAC’s support, the Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) is providing assistance to address the urgent needs of up 49,000 people displaced by conflict in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. This project focuses on improving water, sanitation and hygiene conditions and gender-sensitive infrastructures, improving the safety and quality of shelters, and increasing access to agricultural inputs. Project activities include: (1) rehabilitating 20 hand-dug wells, 9 shallow wells, and 6 ponds in the targeted communities; (2) distributing cooking and eating utensils benefiting up to 2,672 households; (3) distributing hand tools, and cereal and legume seeds to internally displaced people and host community households; and (4) constructing 4 gender-sensitive communal latrines for internally displaced people.
The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased access to gender-sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) items and infrastructure; (2) improved quality of gender-sensitive shelters for internally displaced people; (3) increased access to agricultural inputs for internally displaced people and host communities. The expected ultimate outcome is reduced suffering, increased and maintained dignity and lives saved among vulnerable conflict- and drought-affected IDPs and host community members, with a focus on the specific needs of women, girls, men, and boys in three woredas of East Hararghe zone, Ethiopia.
