Oxfam's work in Ethiopia in depth

Oxfam has been working in Ethiopia since 1971, and was one of the first non–governmental organisations (NGOs) to work in the country. Ethiopia is one of Africa's poorest nations with half of the 77 million-population living below the poverty line. Child malnutrition is reported to be the highest in the world.

Suffering from over three decades of civil war and external aggression, Ethiopia has been drained of its scarce resources, been interrupted in its agricultural production and seen sizeable internal displacements. Drought, environmental degradation, and conflict has been some of the major characteristics of the country since the mid-eighties, and it is currently estimated that more than eight million people are chronically food insecure and dependant upon external assistance every year.

Oxfam's programme in Ethiopia focuses on five main areas:

Agriculture scale-up

Of a total population of 77 million, three-quarters of Ethiopians depend on agriculture for a living. The challenges are enormous – most struggle to survive on less than $2 a day.

Oxfam’s agriculture work centres on smallholder farmers being able to access markets, having negotiating power, and getting enough income from their produce. We aim to help improve conditions for up to 1 million smallholder farmers in Amhara, Oromiya, and Benishangul Gumez regions. Oxfam is currently working with over 100,000 direct, and 200,000 indirect, beneficiaries, focusing especially on crops such as soybean, sesame, coffee, bee products and malt barley.

Pastoral programme

Ethiopian pastoralists’ represent nine to ten million (12-13 per cent) of the population and occupy in 60-65 per cent of the land. Marginalisation, harsh climatic conditions, poor basic services, conflict over pasture and water resources, coupled with recurrent droughts means that these communities are particularly vulnerable. To help address the situation, Oxfam has a 15-year pastoral programme in place.

Working in four pastoral regions (Afar, Somali, SNNPR and Oromia), the programme focuses on education, health, market development, and supporting small business co-operatives. Our work also includes helping communities be better prepared for, and able to cope with, drought.

Humanitarian programme

About 85 per cent of the population in Ethiopia live in the rural areas and are dependent on crop and livestock agriculture to produce enough food to survive. Recurrent droughts, floods and conflicts have exacerbated their vulnerability. Drought has been recurring in Ethiopia, affecting large numbers of people each year. During the last two decades, an average of five to six million rural people were in need of relief for three to nine months each year.

Oxfam’s humanitarian programme regularly addresses these recurrent issues. In the first half of 2009 we carried out four major emergency response projects in Amhara, Afar and Somali regions, providing support to over 444,684 beneficiaries. Our emergency work has included containing and preventing the spread of Acute Watery Diarrhoea and helping communities deal with drought.

Last updated: August 2009