About FAO News Multimedia Main topics Statistics Members Publications

Drought portal - Knowledge resources on integrated drought management

Drought emergency response in Borena zone of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia (funded by UNOCHA)

Tags
Countries Ethiopia
Start date 04/04/2008
End date 22/06/2009
Status Completed
Recipient / Target Areas Ethiopia
Budget 699 999 USD
Project Code OSRO/ETH/803/CHA
Objective / Goal

To protect key livestock assets in drought-affected areas by addressing the emergency needs of the most vulnerable pastoralists.

The overall objective of the project was to protect the livestock assets of agropastoralists and pastoralists, thus reducing the negative impacts of the drought on their livelihoods.
Beneficiaries 170 535
Activities

The main outputs expected included:

  • increased "off-take" (i.e. commercial destocking) of animals from drought-affected areas through consultations with livestock traders, communities and relevant government offices, and provision of market information;
  • maintaining the lives and health of core morbidity and mortality through improved access to animal health services.

The main activities performed included:

  • selection of target sites and beneficiaries;
  • procurement and distribution of inputs;
  • skill enhancement trainings;
  • regular monitoring of the implementation progress of project activities; and
  • coordination and consultation meetings.
More on this topic

Lessons learned:

  • Integrating complementary interventions such as survival feeding, animal health assistance, and commercial destocking can increase the likelihood of protecting livestock assets. Since animals receiving survival feed are given priority treatment against parasites and infectious diseases, their chances of survival and recovery are much higher than non-targeted animals. Commercial destocking, carried out at the same time as the survival feed and animal health assistance, helped beneficiaries to generate cash to buy extra feed, pay veterinary service charges, and cover basic household expenses.
  • Establishing private pharmacies and strengthening the capacity of community-based animal health workers (CAHWs) helped to strengthen and revitalize the community-based animal health delivery system. The cost-sharing arrangement trialed in the animal health interventions reinforced the commercial viability of the animal health delivery system, reducing dependence on external assistance.
  • Holding joint, regular meetings with partners throughout project implementation helped in harmonizing the activities.