Djibouti in east Africa has always been prone to drought, which affects the population’s access to food and significantly threatens lives and livelihoods.
One reason the situation isn’t improving is because climate change means weather-related disasters are happening more often and with greater intensity. And the number affected each time is rising dramatically because people don’t have time to recover between disasters.
In east Africa, rains used to fail around every ten years. Then it started happening every three to five years. Now, some people need aid every year as a result of the cumulative impacts of drought and increased poverty. In Djibouti, people are also struggling with high food prices.
Income-generating activities
Over the last decade, food aid for millions of people hasn’t reduced long-term vulnerability because it doesn’t address the root causes of problems. To tackle this the Red Cross is now focusing on longer-term livelihoods programmes in Djibouti that address immediate needs and also build resilience to future crises.
The British Red Cross is supporting the Red Crescent Society of Djibouti with one such programme, which provides one-off micro-loans. The programme supports around 1,000 vulnerable people living in Balbala, a slum on the outskirts of Djibouti City, who are primarily households with an income of less than £60 a month.
The loans enable people to strengthen small income-generating activities. These include expanding types of produce available in market stalls, improving the household’s quality of life and bolstering resistance to hardship.
Loans versus grants
In most situations the British Red Cross would prefer to give cash grants as opposed to loans as it gives recipients more choice in what to use the funds for, without the additional stress of needing to repay them. However, in Djibouti, there is already one micro-credit provider regulated by the Central Bank of Djibouti. They are doing good work in helping people who are struggling to cope and we didn’t want to undermine this.
Our programme focuses on the people who do not qualify for micro-credit through other channels due to their very low level of income. We prefer group to individual loans, so that group members can support one another and if one member fails to make a repayment the rest of the group takes on the responsibility to pay on their behalf. We hope that peer support and mutual responsibility will increase the level and speed of repayment.
See how we prepare for disasters in other countries