We first worked in Eritrea in 1983 during a severe drought. The government asked Oxfam to help distribute food to thousands of starving people and to provide clean drinking and washing water. Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 1993 and since then we have supported the government in its move towards democracy.

In 2003 a terrible famine threatened hundreds of thousands of people with starvation. We are providing clean drinking and washing water, and distributing food to help the worst affected people to survive. We are providing seeds and seedlings so that poor farmers who have lost their crops can start growing food again. We are also helping people to protect their livestock against disease, so that the animals survive the drought.

We try to help communities to plan the improvements they want to make, such as building a primary school or experimenting with new drought-resistant crops, and then we help them to make it happen.

We have worked with the Ministry of Agriculture on a soil conservation project to help people to improve the quality of their land. We have also worked with Christian Aid, a British development agency, on a very successful project to help 25,000 families to buy livestock to replace the herds they had lost when they fled from the 1997 conflict with Ethiopia. We advise them about keeping their animals healthy, breeding techniques, and raising the quality of the milk and other produce. This gives them a better chance to make a decent living and to build a more secure future for themselves and their families.

We also provide support and advice to community groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) so that they are better able to tackle the problems facing poor families in their area. We help them to lobby government for improvements to social services such as health and education. Our partner NGOs are involved in a variety of projects such as building rural health clinics and schools and providing training for health workers and primary school teachers.

Supporting people during crisis

In May 1997, conflict with Ethiopia forced about 170,000 refugees to seek shelter in makeshift camps and with families living in border villages. They were desperately in need of clean water, health care, toilets, and food. Oxfam and a handful of other international NGOs divided up the work between them, according to their various expertise. Our job was to ensure that refugees had a ready supply of clean water and basic sanitation facilities, such as pit latrines. There was a serious threat of life-threatening disease and we gave people advice about keeping their environment clean and their families healthy.

Last updated: July 03