VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDS #0978/01 1000605
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 090605Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0223
INFO RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 2476
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 8969
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 3450
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 3132
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 4227
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3064
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 6422
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 7328
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 000978 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPARTMENT FOR A/S FRAZER, DAS AF JSWAN, AF/E, AF/PDPA, OES, 
A/S PRM SAUERBREY, AND PRM/AFR 
AFR/AA KALMQUIST, WWARREN, LKELLEY, KNELSON, CTHOMPSON, BDUMFORD 
DCHA/AA MHESS, GGOTTLIEB 
DCHA/OFDA KLUU, ACONVERY, CCHAN, PMORRIS, KCHANNELL 
DCHA/FFP JBORNS, PMOHAN, SANTHONY, PBERTOLIN 
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
CJTF-HOA AND USCENTCOM FOR POLAD 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, RTILSWORTH, AND LPANASUK 
NAIROBI FOR OFDA/ECARO JMYER, GPLATT, RFFPO NCOX, USAID/EA 
ROME FOR AMBASSADOR, OHA, HSPANOS 
BRUSSELS FOR USEU PBROWN 
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH, RMA 
USUN FOR TMALY 
NSC FOR PMARCHAN 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PHUM SENV EAGR PGOV ET
SUBJECT: USAID/OFDA STRATEGY CONSULTATIONS 
 
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SUMMARY 
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Begin summary.  An initial series of consultations have been held in 
Addis Ababa Ethiopia between USAID/Ethiopia Mission and USAID Office 
of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) staff as part of a joint 
effort to promote a disaster risk reduction agenda.  The OFDA 
Director Ky Luu visited Ethiopia at the end of the period, from 
March 29 - April 2, 2008 to solidify some initial steps towards 
putting the agenda into motion.   This cable summarizes the 
justification and logic behind the initiative.  End summary. 
 
¶1. Ethiopia is a country of 77 million people and growing by 3 
percent per year.  Despite healthy growth in the macro economy and 
an aggressive pro-poor agenda supported by the World Bank and major 
donors, including USAID, millions of Ethiopians rely every year on a 
safety net food program to complete their subsistence existence. 
Ethiopia is a country of multiple hazards.  An OFDA-funded study to 
document the frequency and spread of hazards has revealed that in 
any one year, 44 percent of the country or over 200 woredas declare 
a drought.  A similar percentage of the country is affected yearly 
by flooding.  In conjunction with these disasters, Ethiopia 
experiences correlating rises in human and animal disease.  The 
repeated disaster events erode lives and livelihoods and makes 
populations less and less able to resist the next shock. 
 
¶2. Cumulatively since 1991, USAID has provided more than $2.6 
billion in humanitarian assistance (including food aid) of which 
$161.2 million constitute emergency assistance programs implemented 
by OFDA partners.  OFDA supported Disaster Assistance Response Teams 
(DART) have been deployed to coordinate the response to drought and 
flood emergencies in 2000, 2003, 2005, and 2006.  In 2007-2008 a 
Humanitarian Assistance Team (HAT) is focusing exclusively on the 
crisis in the Somali region. 
 
¶3. With this as background, OFDA embarked on a review of the current 
funding strategy in Ethiopia with a view towards making emergency 
interventions more sustainable specifically by linking with USAID 
Mission development programming.  The strategy will have three broad 
objectives evolving from OFDA's core mandate as follows: 
(a) saving lives: responding to emergencies 
(b) reducing suffering: protecting livelihoods 
(c) reducing the economic impact of disasters: protecting 
development gains 
¶4. Within these objectives, a disaster risk reduction approach will 
be developed, so that program focus will be on: 
-- building capacity at government, regional, local and community 
levels to improve early warning, planning and response to 
disasters; 
-- enhancing preparedness and response to malnutrition, and early 
response in the area of water and sanitation; 
-- funding 'crisis modifiers' within USAID mission programs.  OFDA 
will initiate this process with funding for the Pastoral Livelihoods 
Initiative (PLI I) emergency response fund.  The OFDA funded crisis 
modifier within the USAID PLI program will buffer the project 
against the shock to livestock emanating from the current drought in 
the pastoral areas of the Oromiya Region.  Future 'crisis modifiers' 
need to be examined but are particularly relevant for the USAID 
health program and PSNP safety net interventions. 
 
¶5. Further discussions and field work is needed to refine all of 
these key points and to begin a process of adjusting both OFDA and 
Mission programming but the initial pilot to be implemented 
immediately with the pastoral livelihood program will be a good 
indication for how such collaboration can be managed throughout OFDA 
and Mission programming in the months and years to come. 
 
YAMAMOTO