East African Food Crisis

SCIAF pledged £50,000 to help communities facing starvation due to a devastating food crisis in East Africa.

The Ethiopian government warned that over 6 million of its people were in need of emergency help after years of recurrent and successive drought led to chronic food and water shortages.

Farming communities were among the worst hit as traditional water sources began to dry up, crops withered and animals started to die of hunger and thirst.

From our office in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, we sent help to three of the worst affected areas in the Borona region. The money was used to provide 5,000 people with emergency supplies of water over a 60 day period and ensure that 1,500 drought affected cattle had enough to drink.

To help communities in the long-term, families who lost their crops were given seeds so that they could grow more food and farmers were given animal feed so that they did not have to sell their cattle.

We also helped to roll out a ‘cash-for-work’ programme, employing local people to build earth dams which will help to trap precious water during the next rainy season. Families were able to use the money they earned for this work to buy food and water.