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USAID Information:
External Links:
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Ethiopia
The Development Challenge: The 2002-2003 drought fully demonstrated the fragility of Ethiopia's social and economic condition. With 21% of its 71 million people requiring food and other forms of emergency assistance, the country was on the verge of one of the worst famines in its history. The United States provided approximately one million metric tons of food, which together with nonfood relief assistance totaled about $550 million.
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The current emergency in Ethiopia is reflected in the severe malnutrition and excess mortality that exists due to prolonged drought conditions and the deteriorated health and livelihood status of the population that prevents communities from responding to previous and subsequent economic and climatic shocks. In 2004 and 2005, most of the vulnerable population, which is still recovering from cumulative shocks over the past three years, will require substantial and continued emergency food, health, agriculture, and cash assistance.
Despite the pressures of coping with chronic food insecurity and droughts in 1999/2000 and 2002/2003, the Government of Ethiopia (GFDRE) has pursued the development and implementation of its Sustainable Development Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP). In addition, the GFDRE has also established the National Coalition for Food Security (NCFS) program that incorporates lessons learned in famine prevention and provides a strategy to combat poverty and food insecurity while laying the foundations for sustainable development. This effort has provoked high-level interest among international donors. The G-8 Group of Industrialized Countries recognizes famine as an important issue and will pay particular attention to it at the USG-hosted G-8 meetings in July 2004. Donors have applauded the GFDRE's efforts and expressed an interest in and commitment to helping the GFDRE find solutions to the root causes of food security and famine. The USG must match the commitment of the GFDRE and other donors to address the problems of the most drought prone country in Africa, if not the world. This will require rural development, broad economic growth, a mobilized private sector, and improved health and other social services to increase economic and social resiliency.
USAID contributes directly to the achievement of U.S. Government objectives in Ethiopia as outlined in the State Department/USAID Joint Strategic Plan. U.S. national interests in Ethiopia include: counterterrorism; economic prosperity and security; democracy and human rights; and regional stability.
The USAID Program: USAID will revise its current strategy in response to the shortening cycle of crises and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The new strategy will seek to correct the imbalance between humanitarian assistance and development assistance. The strategy aims to build resiliency in Ethiopia to withstand and manage through shocks, while laying the foundation for sound economic growth. Resiliency is needed in all service sectors, health, education, water management, transport, and agricultural and pastoralist extension. A productive safety net will be designed and supported by the GFDRE, USAID, and other donors, and eventually replace the need for annual emergency appeals for humanitarian assistance. A policy reform agenda will be part of the new strategy, building on the Government's SDPRP and the new NCFS. Better policy implementation is essential to underpin an enabling environment for private sector led growth, for donor assistance alone will not be sufficient.
The Data Sheets that follow describe the five objectives and one special objective in the current portfolio for which USAID requests funds in FY 2004 and FY 2005. These programs improve family health, enhance quality and equity in education, improve rural household production and productivity, support development of a more effective civil society and governance system, including free and fair elections, mitigate the effects of disasters and improve livelihoods of pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. FY 2004 funds will continue to support these important ongoing interventions. Some of these funds will be used to begin to transition to the updated new strategy. FY 2005 funds will continue or expand efforts in many of these areas. With additional FY 2005 funds, the Mission will expand activities to help Ethiopia diversify its economy and strengthen the delivery of critical social services and improved governance.
Ethiopia is a focus country under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). All proposed HIV/AIDS activities are being integrated into PEPFAR and are subject to the approval of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. Additional funding from the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative account is anticipated for both FY 2004 and FY 2005.
Other Program Elements: USAID receives support from the Global Health Bureau's Flex Fund to increase family planning services and from the Improving the Performance of Primary Providers in Reproductive Health (PRIME II) initiative for post-partum hemorrhage, safe motherhood and abandonment of harmful traditional practices, including female genital cutting. USAID also received a combined $800,000 from the Global Development Alliance (GDA) and the Africa Bureau to support the Millennium Water Alliance, a public-private partnership to expand access to clean water and sanitation in rural Ethiopia. USAID has another public-private partnership partially funded by GDA with Opportunities Industrialization Centers International that has established alternative learning centers in Ethiopia.
The Department of Defense Civil Affairs program and the regional Conflict Early Warning System (CEWARN) complement activities undertaken in the Southern Tier Initiative (STI) and the Mitigation of the Effects of Disaster (MED) Strategic Objectives to prevent and mitigate conflict. Education programs receive funds from the State Department Ambassador's Girl Scholarship Program.
The U.S. Government provided a coordinated response to the drought. OFDA provided $31 million in non-food humanitarian assistance such as water, healthcare and crop inputs to drought stricken areas. This complemented the $498 million in Title II and Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust food resources provided by USAID/Food for Peace. The Department of State's Office for Population, Refugees and Migration provided $6.8 million to assist a substantial refugee population from neighboring countries.
Other Donors: The leading bilateral donors for Ethiopia over the period 1997-2003, in order of levels of assistance, are the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, the UK, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. The UK and Canada are planning to triple their assistance levels in coming years. The leading multilateral donors are the World Bank, the European Union (EU), the UN Agencies, and the African Development Bank. The World Bank is shifting more to grant assistance, as debt sustainability is a concern. The United States is the leading humanitarian assistance donor, followed by the EU and World Food Program.
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