At the end of 2008, populations in large areas of Kenya and the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, were facing an exceptional humanitarian crisis requiring urgent food assistance. The combined effect of high worldwide food prices and a crippling drought was seriously jeopardising the lives, livelihoods, and dignity of up to 20 million people in both rural and urban communities. The affected populations were those who already live on the margins of survival due to conflict, displacement and chronic poverty.
©InfoGreg Jack, British Red Cross reporting delegate on assignment with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, was sent to Addis Ababa to work with the Ethiopian Red Cross, making sure that staff had the information needed to make informed decisions about how to help the affected communities.
In February 2009, Greg sent the following report.
“Food shortages in Ethiopia might be sparked by a particular event – in this case the failure of the rains in early 2008 and the loss of crops the year before due to flooding, but there are normally a variety of other factors that feed into the problems. This is why the Red Cross’ programme in Wolaita zone, southern Ethiopia doesn’t just include providing food, but a number of other activities – training hygiene promoters, rehabilitating wells, and providing seeds and livestock to farmers who have often had to eat or sell every last thing they had in reserve to get by. For me, that means there’s a wide variety of information to collect and present in a clear, usable form.
Monitoring malnutrition
©Info“A lot of the time we’re not just looking to see whether the programme is sticking to the planned schedule (though obviously that’s important), but what change it is making in the lives of the people that the Red Cross is helping.
"This is sometimes pretty difficult to do, but so far it has been going okay – we’re looking at the prices of staple crops, and the numbers of children being admitted to hospital because of malnutrition and both of these have dropped significantly since the programme began, which is good reason to think that the people are doing better on the whole.
“The field team also checks back with families that have received aid to see how they are doing, if there were any problems with the food, and to get an idea of whether their problems are continuing, improving, or even getting worse. Specialists from the Ethiopian Red Cross check on the condition of livestock and monitor progress of the crops that people are growing with the seeds that were distributed in August. So far everything is growing well. We keep track of these numbers to get a broad idea of how things are progressing, and to check that our work isn’t having any unintended negative effects on the communities. Getting a longer-term picture of how the programme has helped will be done when the programme is wrapping up – with an in-depth nutritional survey to assess to what extent the malnutrition that was rampant in April and May has been reversed.
Communicating clearly
“One of the best parts of my job is getting out of the office and seeing how the operation is actually taking place in the field. The main thing on these visits is to get a full understanding of the work that’s being done so that I can communicate it clearly. The other task is to sit down with the team in the field and clear up any areas where the information might be confusing or have gaps. There’s normally a very good reason for this, as communications in Ethiopia are very difficult – there is limited phone coverage and internet in the locations where we are operating, so a lot of the time we rely on text messages and faxes to communicate. A short face-to-face conversation clears up any discrepancies in the information we’ve shared.
“Getting out to the field is also an opportunity to meet the people the Red Cross is helping and hear their stories. It gives me perspective on the work and the difference we’re making. Often people are struggling against seemingly impossible odds – trying to feed large families off small plots of land and only just managing in a normal year – but they have the strength to get through, with a bit of assistance in the bad times. Being part of that helping hand, when it’s needed most, is great. And seeing it helps me communicate the importance of the work we do, and gives me the energy for making sure we have all the information needed to help us work as efficiently as possible, and carry on giving people the help they need.
Making a difference
“I am confident that our work in Wolaita is making a difference to the lives of the 76,000 people that we are helping. It’s a big job – imagine trying to put a community the size of Carlisle back on its feet, but the food problem in Ethiopia is much larger. As I am writing this, the Federation has just launched an emergency appeal aiming to help some 2.3 million hungry people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. More than a million of them are Ethiopians. That shows the scale of the problem that the Red Cross is tackling.
“For our help to be really effective we need about £64 million. I know, many people will freeze when they hear that amount, it sounds so large. That said, doing some simple arithmetic shows that with less than £30, we can save a life. Think about that – for the price of a dinner for two in a restaurant, a child will not go to bed hungry, a mother will deliver a healthy baby and a herder will be able to start providing for himself and his family again.”
The Federation launched an appeal on 11 December 2008 for £65 million for the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, to which the British Red Cross made a £250,000 donation. The British Red Cross also launched the Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal to support the Federation’s response to the crisis.
More about the Ethiopia Food Crisis Appeal
More delegate diaries