Horn of Africa Drought: One Year On

In July 2011 the Horn of
Africa region was affected
by one of the worst
droughts in decades
with an estimated 12.4
million people reported
to be in urgent
need of food. Plan International
(Plan) mobilised
its teams in
Ethiopia, Kenya and South
Sudan to respond to the drought in the three countries
where it is involved in long-term development work.
By June 3O, 2012 we had raised US$28, 8 million from
our donors to help those affected by the drought
and to date US$13,7 million has been spent helping
the affected people, in particular children,
recover and rebuild their communities. The balance
of the funds will continue to support affected families,
children and their communities over the coming
months as part of our post emergence interventions.
One year on, our emergency response interventions
have reached nearly 1.2 million people, mostly
children, in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Our
efforts will continue to touch the lives of many
more vulnerable communities in the months ahead.
In the aftermath of the drought, Plan partnered with
local organisations to help the affected communities,
especially children, recover from the calamity through a
variety of projects. Plan provided food to communities,
supplementary feeding in schools and health centres,
water as well as health and sanitation training and facilities.
In an emergency of this nature, displacement, sexual
violence and exploitation, disruptions in health services
and the loss of financial security within family units—
can lead to devastating, long-term effects, including
school drop-out, early and forced marriage, trauma, an
increased labour burden, increased rates of sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV, and teen pregnancy.
Such experiences compromise children, especially
girls’ ability to realize their own rights over the
long term, and immediately place them at higher risk for
reproductive health illnesses and related death.
Plan conducted child protection awareness programmes
to ameliorate the situation. In addition, Plan and local
partners set up child-friendly spaces where children can
play, share and talk freely. These helped them cope and
recover from the traumatic effects of drought.
In the post emergency phase, Plan is focusing on
longer-term water, health and sanitation as well as
livelihood projects to better prepare communities to
face possible drought situations in the future. Plan will
continue to work with the affected communities
helping them build new and rehabilitate existing
water sources, as well as providing them with shortseason
seed varieties and farming implements to shore
up their food production and enhance their resilience.