Red Cross Blogs

Is it time to give up food aid in the Horn of Africa?

By Sarah Oughton
May 31, 2011 at 3:35 pm

This year, drought, rising food and fuel prices, and conflict are again driving at least 20 million people into hunger in east Africa. But launching an emergency appeal for food aid may not be the answer.

From 2008-2010, the Red Cross launched four international appeals to respond to hunger in the Horn of Africa.

However, an International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies review, completed last December, highlights how such repeated large-scale appeals and relief operations are not the answer to addressing people’s food needs in the region.

Droughts and hunger

Even though hunger can be predicted well in advance of rising needs, drought-related appeals are slow to get going and often deliver too little, too late.

Droughts have always occurred in east Africa and are predictable, but climate change has made the rains even less reliable. Many families have become more vulnerable and less able to cope with and recover from poor rains.

Hunger is a chronic and ongoing humanitarian issue in the Horn of Africa and so large-scale relief operations are often less relevant than addressing the long-term challenges of helping communities better cope with cycles of drought and food crises.

Food insecurity

Mary Atkinson, British Red Cross economic security adviser, says: “We have tended to respond by launching appeals in the wake of severe drought and when numbers of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition are already at their peak.

“In countries such as Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda, many people live in poverty and face a daily struggle to get enough food to eat and so hunger is an ongoing issue that is exacerbated by drought and higher food prices.

“Most people living in hunger, even farmers, rely on purchasing most of their food. Food is usually available in the market but they cannot afford it, particularly now that food prices are so high. If they had more reliable sources of income, they often wouldn’t need to rely on food aid.”

Protecting livelihoods

One of the key lessons from the Red Cross review is the importance of protecting people’s livelihoods, so that families can still afford to feed themselves in times of drought when food is scarce.

Distributing food aid, that is often purchased from abroad, is not usually the best option. Not only does this destabilise local markets, but is also costly and takes time to purchase and distribute.

Repeated distributions of food aid every year do not help families get out of poverty – instead they lock them into dependency. Cash is increasingly used as an alternative to food aid as it is easier and quicker to distribute and allows people to buy what they really need while supporting local markets.

Building resilience

Karen Peachey, British Red Cross east Africa representative, says: “Although the review rightly puts a spotlight on how to improve less effective ways of working, it also recognises there have been successes with timely distributions of seeds and livestock to protect fragile livelihoods.

“There have also been longer-term investments. The Djibouti Red Crescent, with support from the British Red Cross, set up an innovative programme providing small cash loans to help vulnerable families build up small businesses and their resilience to future crises.”

Engaging donors

For the most part, repeated large-scale emergency appeals have failed to generate significant funds and in the current global financial situation it’s unlikely this will change any time soon.

Karen says: “Food is a highly emotive subject and when we hear about people going hungry and see pictures of children with distended bellies, there is an instinctive reaction to want to help. But what we really need is to get people interested in supporting our ongoing work to make communities less vulnerable in times of drought and so prevent hunger.

“Distributing food remains an important option in extreme circumstances, but we should aim to invest more in supporting communities even when the rainfall is good. This will provide opportunities to engage in long-term solutions and that is really exciting.”

Find out more about the Red Cross’ programme in Djibouti

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Tags: disaster, Djibouti, drought, emergency aid, ethiopia, food aid, Horn of Africa, hunger, Kenya, poverty, Somalia, Uganda

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Emergencies, International, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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