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 work centres on smallholder farmers being able to access markets, having negotiating power, and getting enough income from their produce.

This is why we have scaled-up our work in agriculture with a target of reaching one million people over a 12 year-programme. This will be done through increasing agricultural productivity, improving local markets, people’s access to money, and improving gender relations in agriculture. Working in 18 districts in four regions, we have reached over 73,000 people directly though our activities, and over 380,000 indirectly within our first year.

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 creating a voice through strong and vibrant Community Based Organisations (CBOs), therefore allowing them to demand actions and their rights from the Government. The programme activities address policy and practice change, and access to basic services for pastoral communities. The programme has been very successful in a cross border peace-building programme taking place in South Omo (SNNPR), and advocacy work at a national level through the Ethiopian Pastoral Forum (PFE).

Education programme

Promoting alternative and non-formal basic education (ABE) is a major focus of the Education Programme. The basis of the programme is to engage with regional and national governments for improvements in the financing of basic education, particularly investing in girls' education. The programme also supports national and international campaigns such as the Global Campaign for Education, the Millennium Development Goals, and Education For All. This is to institutionalise, finance and support ABE for educationally marginalised groups.

The Education Programme is working towards the same timeline as the Millennium Development Goals - that is to achieve universal primary education, focusing on the most marginalised regions of Ethiopia, by 2015. There are successful pilot education programmes focusing on ABE, in the regions of Benshangul, Somali, Afar and Orimiya, and advocacy work at a national level through the Basis Education Association (BEA).

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. Their vulnerability has been exacerbated by recurrent droughts, floods and conflicts. 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 programme regularly addresses these recurrent issues.

The programme is currently responding to the Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) outbreak that entered the country nearly a year ago. All the humanitarian programmes address longer-term issues related to the recurrent emergencies, and also link into our Disaster Risk Reductions and Preparedness programmes.

Gender

Oxfam’s Gender programme firstly ensures that gender concerns are incorporated into every aspect of the Ethiopia Programme. It aims to transform the balance of power between women and men, and ensure that this is apparent at the programme and organisational level. Secondly the programme focuses on Gender Based Violence (GBV) that affects over 70 per cent of women, by addressing policy and advocacy issues through supporting the GBV Campaign, Domestic Violence Campaign, partners, networks, and associations. In addition to this, Oxfam supports the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association, which is among the leading local organisation that works for women’s rights.

Last updated: Oct 07