Objectives

This integrated emergency Nutrition and IYCF-E, WASH and FSL response will address the life-saving needs of vulnerable households and communities affected by drought and high levels of acute malnutrition in Abergele, Gaz Gibla, Sekota, Tsagibiji, and Ziquala woredas of Wag Himra Zone, Amhara, and aims to build on the health and nutrition activities ongoing in the target locations. The targeted woredas have high levels of emergency need, with vulnerable women, men, girls and boys affected by acute malnutrition and poor access and availability of services. Drivers include natural disasters (drought, floods, increasing desertification and land degradation). Many crisis-affected people lack livelihood opportunities and often live in extreme poverty, while access to basic social services is often inadequate or absent. Wag Himra has been impacted by protracted and acute crises, affecting a significant and increasing number of people and resulting in widespread food and nutrition insecurity. Declining agricultural production, reductions in livestock sizes due to death or sale, and negative coping mechanisms are common. FEWSNET classification for Wag Himra is IPC 2 (stressed) through early 2020, with poor soil conditions and water access affecting crop production. The population of Wag Himra relies on consistent rainfall for agricultural production. An Oct 2019 survey found that late onset, early offset and intermittent and erratic rainfall have compounded the drought, with hail, flooding and moisture stress cited as most critical to harvest and production. The drought affected populations in all woredas are adding strain on the ability of government services to cope and provide the support needed. For each area of intervention, Action Against Hunger (ACF) will adapt the approach to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with under nutrition among children U5 (Under 5) and PLW (Pregnant amp Lactating Women). The project will strengthen and sustain the existing health system and provide support for vulnerable communities. Some of the services provided through this action include the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) treatment of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Community Mobilisation Support to the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) outreach clinics where needed Promotion of Care Practices and IYCF among children and their care-givers and psychosocial support for IDPs and host communities. MHCP support will be provided to the most vulnerable households through targeted psychosocial support services such as Mother-to-Mother Support Groups, and WASH activities will emphasise access to quality water and sanitation services while improving household behaviour change. FSL activities will emphasize reestablishment of basic levels of living, including animal fodder provision and animal health services. ACF will further consolidate and strengthen interventions and initiatives already started in ECHO and SIDA projects in Wag Himra zone to further maximize impact on nutrition, FSL and WASH.

Objectives

This emergency lifesaving Nutrition and IYCF-E response will address the needs of vulnerable households and communities affected by flood, drought and high levels of acute malnutrition in Adadele woreda of Shebelle zone, Somali region, and aims to build on the nutrition activities ongoing in the target location. The targeted woreda has high level of emergency need, with vulnerable women, men, girls and boys affected by acute malnutrition and poor access and availability of basic health care services. Drivers include natural disasters (drought, floods, increasing desertification and land degradation). Many crisis-affected people lack livelihood opportunities and often live in extreme poverty, while access to basic social services is often inadequate or absent. Adadele has been impacted by protracted and acute crises, affecting a significant and increasing number of people and resulting in widespread food and nutrition insecurity resulting in sustained malnutrition cases. Declining agricultural production, reductions in livestock sizes due to death or sale, and negative coping mechanisms are common. Therefore, in cognizant of the aforementioned issues, this emergency lifesaving Nutrition and IYCF-E, ACF (Action Against Hunger) will adapt the approach to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with under nutrition among children U5 (Under 5) and PLW (Pregnant amp Lactating Women). The project will further strengthen and sustain the existing health system and provide support for vulnerable communities through implementing an Adaptive Nutrition Services (ANS) approach where by seasonal calendar, capacity threshold and contingency planning tools will be applied to help woreda health offices and health professionals, including HEWs to know and anticipate when crises affect their community and plan for and mitigate the impact these crises may have. And also to enable the local staffs (health workers and HEWs) to assess their internal capacities and set thresholds that trigger a response such as asking for further support from the health centers or woreda / zonal officials and to start thinking about what actions they can take to mitigate against risk and crises. Moreover, some of the basic and essential services provided through this action include the treatment of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) treatment of Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and Community Mobilization provide direct support to target woreda and health facilities in active nutrition screening, detection, treatment and referral of SAM and MAM cases to TFP and TSFP sites Support to the woreda health offices and health centers in outreach clinics where needed and with a particular emphasis to flood affected and hard to reach pocket areas Promotion of Care Practices and IYCF among children and their care-givers and psychosocial support for IDPs and host communities. Mental Health and Care Practices (MHCP) support will be provided to the most vulnerable households through targeted psychosocial support services such as Mother-to-Mother Support Groups. Currently, ACF is implementing sanitation, hygiene promotion and IDP latrine construction project in Adadele woreda through ECHO fund lasting until April 2020, therefore this project will complement and capitalizes on the nutrition and WASH nexus to maximize synergy between the two projects and impact nutrition and health outcomes at household and community level.

Objectives

The purpose of this project is to address the numerous complex and overlapping issues related to housing, land, and property (HLP) in Gedeo and West Guji from a protection perspective. NRC’s assessments have found that conflict affected individuals in the region have had their land ownership documents and/or legal identity documents confiscated or destroyed, that it may be difficult to locate accurate land records at the kebele or woreda level, and that there are competing narratives about who owns what land. There are reports of secondary (illegal occupation), disputes over boundaries, and unlawful evictions. Given the above, as IDPs consider a return to their areas of origin, they will require legal advice about establishing ownership rights over their land. Likewise, humanitarian actors will require support in order to determine how best to assess competing ownership claims prior to providing assistance, particularly shelter assistance. This project aims to work closely with displacement affected communities (IDPs, returnees and host communities), providing information, counselling and legal assistance to beneficiaries seeking to demonstrate land use rights in the region, while also working with shelter actors already operating in Gedeo and Guji to ensure that a due diligence approach is adopted prior to any intervention. If HLP issues are not addressed from the outset of an emergency they can undermine the entire humanitarian response and exclude the most vulnerable.