Ethiopia continues to face severe humanitarian crises as needs emanating from conflict, climatic shocks, disease outbreaks, desert locust and the adverse effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continue to grow. Conflict has remained the main driver of humanitarian needs in the country in 2021. According to Ethiopian Humanitarian Needs Overview 2021, more than 23 million people nationwide were projected to have humanitarian needs in 2021, a majority of whom were in Oromia (6.7 million) followed by Somali (3.8 million). One of the biggest impacts from conflict and climate shocks in Ethiopia is population displacement. As per the Displacement Tracking Matrix, there are 2.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country, outside of Tigray. 67 per cent of the IDPs have been displaced due to conflict. Most IDPs live in under-standard conditions, with limited access to essential services.
As the agriculture dashboard (published in October 2021) shows, only 1.4 million peoples have been reached so far, which is only 15% of the cluster target (9 million) to enhance emergency food production. Multipurpose cash transfer and distribution of agricultural input reached only 170,000 (12.7%) and 126,000 (3.8%) respectively. In total 12.9 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity. Out of 12.9 million people, who require urgent action to save lives, reduce food gaps, restore livelihoods and reduce malnutrition, 15% in Somali. The Somali region reached only 105,000 (6.9%) people with a target of 1.53 million in the agriculture sector. The Fafan zone of Somali region targeted 218,000 people but reached none according to agriculture cluster Somali gap analysis (published in October 2021).
Tuliguled is one of the woredas found in the Fafan zone of the Somali region which is bordered by the Chinaksen woreda of the Oromia region. Gari and Jarso are two clans found in Tuliguled and the neighboring woredas who have a long history of rivalry. A conflict erupted in July 2021 between two communities/clans that was caused by a combination of disputes over the border separating the Oromia and Somali regions and disputes on resources and farming land. As a result, 1,840 households (11,040 individuals) were displaced according to the government-led joint assessment report released in late October 2021. The report indicates that the new IDPs live in dire conditions without any assistance other than host communities and Woreda administration whose efforts make little difference because of their limited capacity in Tuliguled woreda. The Woreda has experienced protracted conflict which has resulted in a huge number of IDPs and returnees who are struggling to survive in a difficult condition. According to Woreda DRMO, currently, there are 27,545 IDPs, both protracted and new, mostly sheltering in Tuliguled (town), Gabagabo, and Darimi IDP sites.
Therefore, OWDA proposes a six-month emergency project which will target to assist 3,000 vulnerable IDPs, returnees and and host communities (500 households) in Tuliguled district of the Somali region. The project will target 1500 IDPs, 498 host community people and 1002 returnee people. The project will assist 1,500 Tuliguled town IDPs (250 HHs) through provision of unconditional multipurpose cash support in two rounds in which each household will receive ETB 5,187 in each round. The project will also assist 1,500 people of the host communities and returnees (250 HHs) through provision of crop seeds consisting of cereals, legumes, and vegetables in which each household will receive a total of 25.125kg of seeds (15kg of Maize seed, 125 gram of onion seed and 10 kg of haricot bean seed). In addition, targeted host and returnee communities will get capacity strengthening trainings in order to improve agricultural production and productivity. During the implementation of this project at least 50% of the beneficiaries will be females or female headed households.