OCHA Situation Report
Ethiopia
19 September 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Joint humanitarian partners contingency planning workshop held to
elaborate planning suggestions for 2004

On Friday, 19 September a Joint Humanitarian Partners Contingency Planning
Workshop was held at the UN premises in Addis Ababa. The 20 participants
included Government Emergency Focal Points from the four Emergency Task
Forces, relevant staff from DPPC and United Nations Country Team Technical
Focal Points. The workshop was jointly organized by UN OCHA Ethiopia &
FEWSNET Ethiopia with the approval of Ato Berhane Gizaw, DPPC Deputy
Commissioner and Chairman of the National Crisis Management Committee.
This practical workshop aimed at moving the contingency planning and
scenario development process forward in a joint and coordinated manner
among a number of humanitarian partners. The workshop focused on three
objectives: (1) to provide organizational focal points for contingency
planning with a basic overview of contingency planning concepts; (2) to
define improved methodologies and techniques to enable the identification
of sectoral needs for 2004; and (3) to develop a practical list of tasks
and a calendar for the finalization of the contingency planning process.
The participants enjoyed intensive brainstorming sessions within their
respective sectoral working groups and presented their results in terms of
initial ideas for contingency and scenario building as well as in terms of
planning and programming of the next steps and the way forward towards
planning for the 2004 Annual Emergency Appeal. It has been decided that
Ato Berhane Gizaw, DPPC Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of the National
Crisis Management Committee is to be the focal point for all contingency
planning exercises and activities. It further was decided that there needs
to be a common and overall scenario and action plan for 2004 with specific
descriptions of eventual exceptional developments that will not
necessarily follow the overall action plan such as some anticipated
activities within the emergency health sector. Further development and
fine-tuning of sectoral scenarios will be elaborated within the sectoral
Emergency Task Forces.

Mid meher assessment starting

A mid-season assessment of the main cropping season (the meher season)
will be undertaken between 20 September and 5 October 2003. Assessment
teams will include the participation of the government's Disaster
Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), United Nations agencies
(WFP and OCHA), USAID/ Famine Early Warning System and CARE. The meher
season crops will be harvested between October and December and will be
the main source of food for 2004. This mid-season assessment will identify
possible additional relief food requirements for the remainder of 2003. It
will also help to develop contingency planning scenarios for next year,
which can assist the international community in responding to relief food
requirements early in 2004.

WFP deputy executive director and regional director visit Ethiopia

Mr Jean-Jacques Graisse, Deputy Executive Director of WFP, and Mr.
Holdbrook Arthur, Regional Director for East and Central Africa, have
completed a productive visit to Ethiopia from 14 -17 September 2003. While
in Ethiopia, the WFP officials travelled to the south to Southern Nations,
Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR) and Oromiya Region, visiting
therapeutic and supplementary feeding centers, a general ration
distribution centre and food-for-assets sites of the WFP development
programme. Mr. Graisse and Mr. Arthur also met with government officials,
the United Nations Country Team, donor representatives and NGOs.

GAA launches emergency relief & rehabilitation project in Fentale Woreda

German Agro Action (GAA) launched an emergency relief and rehabilitation
project in Fentale Woreda, Eastern Shoa Zone, Oromiya Region in
cooperation with Christian Children Fund (CCF). The project was proposed
in response to the victims of the drought in 2002. The total budget of the
project for the period of seven months (May - November, 2003) is Euro
255,500. The project is funded by the German Ministry of Development
Cooperation and from GAA resources. The beneficiaries of the food for
development project are 8,698 needy people living in eight kebeles of the
woreda, affected by crop failure and livestock deaths. In addition to the
distribution of seeds for 1,448 households supporting 3,400 persons, major
project activities such as implementation of resource protection and
infrastructure rehabilitation. The project links relief to development and
contributes to ensuring medium- term-food security. Presently the majority
of the population depends on relief distribution.


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
    Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@cidi.org