13 million people in northern Ethiopia need food assistance, with Afar being particularly affected by increasing malnutrition rates. Female and child-headed households, pregnant women, people with disabilities and older people are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity.

In Amhara and Afar, the expansion of the Tigray conflict resulted in displacement, rights violations and damage to community assets, livelihoods (LHs), institutional resources, and infrastructure. Communities in conflict-affected areas have been experiencing chronic vulnerability even before the conflict. Many households (HHs) rely on Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) transfers to cover their annual food gaps, which are a result of the regular occurrence of drought, periodic desert locust infestation, and limited agronomic practice and extension support.  

In the context of active conflict and displacement and due to patriarchal social norms and practices, women and girls are marginalized in community and household decision making and, likewise, in decisions about emergency and early recovery support. This results in the unique needs and experiences of women/girls generally being overlooked in community and the humanitarian response. 

The EU-funded project will implement a comprehensive intervention to strengthen the resilience of individuals, HHs, and communities in Amhara and Afar (bordering areas with Tigray), in particular women and girls, by strengthening their capacities and supporting them in the domains listed below which have been identified as key for peacebuilding (outcome). This Action will complement current relief operations and resilience-building programming with a comprehensive approach that addresses some of the underlying causes of conflict within and between communities and contributes to building positive peace. 

Objectives:  

• Ensuring that conflict affected individuals, especially women, and their families have equitable access to inputs and services to revive, adapt, and/or diversify their livelihoods; 
• Ensure that participatory, inclusive and gender responsive community mechanisms for natural resource management NRM exist in the four targeted woredas; 
• Launch or strengthen participatory, gender-responsive initiatives within or between communities and address the psycho-social needs of the population.

Main project activities:  

• Provide trainings on safeguarding, GEDI, and do-no-harm as well as peacebuilding; 
• Provide support to 20,000 livestock holders through livestock distribution and veterinary services; 
• Provide support to 6,500 farmers and their families;
• Provide support to 600 conflict-affected women and youth through VESAs (Village Economic and Social Associations); 
• Provide in-kind support to cooperatives/associations and private businesses engaged in key supply chains in Amhara; 
• Facilitate capacity development for local government to support sustainable farm and off-farm livelihood; 
• Rehabilitate/expand/upgrade basic water infrastructure impacted by the conflict; 
• Facilitate the reinstallation/establishment/strengthening of community-led WASH committees (WASH-Co) who manage water schemes; 
• Support community irrigation system rehabilitation and management; 
• Support community watershed development and management for four micro-watersheds, benefitting 3,721 HHs; 
• Support community rangeland management in Afar, benefitting 2,000 HHs; 
• Support community seedling production and nursery management; 
• Support indigenous processes and traditional structures that promote peace and stability; 
• CARE trains project staff, community women’s groups, CBOs, local government staff, and other relevant community stakeholders (i.e. religious or community leaders) on psychosocial support; 
• Provide support to women through CARE’s Women Lead in Emergencies approach. 

Target group: 

The Action works directly with a minimum of 156,430 individuals, of which 60% are expected to be women and girls. Project participants and beneficiaries include mostly local community members; where present, IDPs also benefit directly, e.g. through non-agricultural LH support and cash-for-work (CFW). Community members with access to land and experience in farming (predominantly in Amhara) as well as livestock herding (mainly in Afar) constitute the majority of project participants. All individuals currently living in the targeted woredas, 504,459 persons, and some residents of neighbouring woredas benefit indirectly from improved access, availability, and affordability of locally produced food items, improved WASH management and infrastructure, reduced risk of drought and flooding, strengthened capacity of government staff to provide technical support, participatory and gender-inclusive decision-making, and dialogues around peacebuilding. Key stakeholders include government representatives at the regional, zonal (Amhara), woreda, and kebele level, as well as religious institutions, private sector actors and micro-finance institutions (MFIs).