Ethiopia Anticipatory Action Drought 2021

Considering the recurrent nature of droughts in Ethiopia and their devastating and long-lasting consequences, the CERF Anticipatory Action against drought in Ethiopia presented a new strategy for the country when dealing with this type of hazard. By anticipating shocks and mitigating the effects before they can cause lasting damage to people’s lives and livelihoods, the multi-sector package of interventions under the CERF pilot allocation offered the humanitarian community a key opportunity to implement a new way of addressing needs, hoping it will show to be more effective and cost-efficient than regular response. The CERF $20 million allocation allowed assistance to reach more than 900,000 people before the full effects of the second consecutive drought could be felt, and gave them a dignified alternative to mitigating the anticipated impact on their overall protection, food security, health and nutritional status. At a time when humanitarian needs continue to increase while funding cannot accompany the same pace, managing to address needs before they escalate deserves further attention and investment and the lessons from the CERF AA implementation will help us understand how to fill this gap better.