Prolonged drought and renewed inter and intra-communal conflict have been severely affecting the already-strained living conditions and access to services for people living in Somali region.

According to the June 2018 report from the Ethiopia food security outlook, most pastoral and agro pastoral areas of south-eastern Ethiopia will continue to be in crisis between June and December 2018, as households continue to face food consumption gaps without resorting to unsustainable strategies. Children under five are at increased risk of malnutrition in emergencies due to disrupted food supplies, poor water and sanitation, and a lack of support and knowledge regarding appropriate and safe child feeding practices. In this regard, malnutrition has gone up in highly affected areas including in the three woredas of the Ethiopia – Somali region the project will target. Over the past six months, the admissions of children to the Therapeutic Feeding Programme in the targeted woredas increased by an average of 6% every month.

Water is extremely scarce in the region and existing sources are depleting as a result of over-consumption. According to CARE’s recent assessment in the woredas, women have to travel for at least one hour every day to fetch unsafe water from the main pond. There is no access to basic hygiene and sanitation for IDPs in these sites contributing to poor hygiene conditions, and increasing the possibility of waterborne diseases such as Acute Watery Diarrhea. Around 77% of the Oromia-Somali conflict-affected in Liben and Fafan do not have access to safe drinking water nor latrines (IOM DTM, June, 2018).

The Displacement Tracking Matrix, recorded approximately 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in the region in 2018. A large share of these IDPs are displaced in areas near the Oromia-Somali regional border including the three woredas CARE is implementing this emergency nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project. It is anticipated that the IDPs will remain in this region over the next two years.

Expected Results

ER1. Rehabilitation of 10,211 children under five and pregnant and lactating women affected by moderate or severe acute malnutrition through establishing and/or strengthening therapeutic and supplementary feeding centers.
ER2. Increased access to safe water supply, sanitation facilities, and hygienic practices for 30,000 women, men, boys and girls living in IDP camps and host communities.

Participants

The project will target approximately 60% IDP and 40% host community.

Direct participants:

• 10,211 individuals for Nutrition with 1,840 children 0 to 59 months with SAM (Severe Acute Malnutrition), 5,820 children 6 to 59 months with MAM (Moderate Acute Malnutrition) and 2,551 PLW with MAM
• 30,000 individuals benefiting from WASH

There is an overlap of 10,211 individuals, who benefit from both nutrition and WASH intervention.