Case Study - Food Security in Ethiopia Adunya's Story Adunya is 10 years old. She has three younger brothers and a younger sister who is 9 months old. Her family is fairly well off for Liben, Ethiopia, because her father has 8 cattle, 12 goats and sheep and some chickens. (Women in Liben don’t own livestock, except for poultry.) Her father has another wife and children, so his time and resources are divided between the two houses. Often it is just her mother, herself, and her little siblings at home. Now it is the driest season of the year, before the long rain starts in April. Usually Adunya’s family relies on milk for every meal, with porridge or vegetables added during the biannual harvest. But right now the cows are not producing much milk, and her father has sold two sheep to buy grain. He complained that he was not able to get a good price in the market because many other families are also selling animals to buy grain. In the past, especially during drought years when there has been no harvest, and the cows are sick or dying, Adunya’s family would have reduced their meals to two or one a day to make it through this long dry season. But for the last few years, Save the Children has provided some supplementary food to help families maintain a reasonable diet. Once a month for three months, Adunya helps her mother carry home 12.5 kg of wheat, 12.5 kg of corn-soy-blend, and 5 kg of oil. Her father is working on a Save the Children project to enlarge the nearest pond and install a hand pump to make the drinking and cooking water cleaner. For his work, he brings home another 5 kg of wheat per day, and some vegetable oil. He shares this amount among all his children, not just Adunya and her siblings, but it helps. With careful planning, Adunya’s mother can feed her children, her husband, and herself until the rainy season starts and the cows begin to give more milk. Adunya’s days are very busy. Every day she gathers fuel wood, takes the goats and sheep to water and pasture, and helps her mother look after her siblings, clean the compound, and cook their sparse meals. Twice a week, her mother is gone all day fetching water for drinking, cooking, and washing from the nearest pond and hand pump, which is several hours away. On these days, Adunya must take care of her baby sister, and give her cow milk or water until her mother can return to breastfeed her. Adunya doesn’t mind working so hard to help her family, and she is hopeful for the future. Recently, Save the Children has helped her village start a community school. Teachers from her own community hold classes in the evening, when children are finished with their daily chores. Before, her parents could not send Adunya to school, because they needed her help in the house, and because they feared what might happen to her going to and from the nearest school, an hour’s walk one way. Since the classes are held after her chores, in a compound just on the other side of the village, they encourage her to go, happy that she has an opportunity they did not have. Project Background The Food Security Unit has been working in Liben and Filtu Districts in Southern Ethiopia since 1998. The area is semi-arid, and most of the 265,000 people who live there are pastoralists or agro-pastoralists, which means that animal products are their primary source of food, income, and economic assets. During the two annual rainy seasons, some people grow grains and vegetables to sell or supplement their diet. Pastoralism as a livelihood is a proven, successful strategy in harsh environments with unpredictable rainfall. However, droughts are becoming more frequent and severe in this part of Ethiopia, and human and animal population growth is stressing the natural resources. There are few roads in Liben and Filtu, and only one small hospital for all 265,000 people. There are not enough schools and health centers, and it is not uncommon for parents to walk three or four hours to take a sick child for treatment. Project Description Save the Children’s efforts to improve food security work in Southern Ethiopia includes: • Targeting direct distribution of food and food for work to needy families during the harshest time of the year; • Training community health workers and veterinary workers; • Training women’s groups to make butter with new technology, and to pool their earnings from selling the butter in bank accounts; and • In partnership with communities, building new health and vet posts, and developing more water and grazing resources. Results These activities have begun to make significant and lasting improvements in the lives of Liben and Filtu pastoralists. For example, from 1998 to 2001: • The rate of stunting in under five children has declined from 53% to 28%, despite two years of severe drought in the impact area; • 9,972 households and 70,000 livestock benefited from ponds expanded through food for work activities; and • 14 communities and 225 individuals have opened savings accounts. On-going Activities Save the Children’s Food Security Unit will continue working with families in Liben and Filtu for at least the next five years. During this time, 19,080 families with children 2 years or younger will receive 12.5 kg of wheat, 12.5 kg of protein and vitamin fortified corn-soy-blend, and 5 kg of vegetable oil per month during the three driest months of the year. The average family size is 6, so that means that 114,800 people will have part of their food needs met during the harshest time of the year by Save the Children’s supplementary distribution. During the current project, Save the Children will also distribute food to community members in return for working on projects that build community assets like ponds, wells, hand pumps, and grazing pastures. Over the next five years, an average of 27,619 individuals, or 4,603 families per year will benefit from Food for Work programs. Each month of the three month long construction period they will receive 100 kgs of wheat and 4 kgs of oil. The construction of community food for work projects also happens during the three driest months of the year, so many families benefit from food for work and the direct targeted distribution of food.