Ethiopia
-
Photo: Joni Kabana for Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Address complex natural resource and climate change adaptation issues, with a focus on increasing resiliency in the face of drought and other external shocks.
The context
Poverty is widespread. Frequent drought, unpredictable harvests and sporadic conflicts put families and rural traditions at risk. Millions are still in urgent need of assistance after the worst drought the region has seen for 60 years.
Our work
- Emergency response: Treating malnourished children with mobile health units, distributing water, vaccinating livestock, and providing work rebuilding community assets
- Agriculture & Food: Improving crop yields and income generation of pastoral and farming households
- Water: Building reservoirs and improving wells in drought-prone communities
- Women & Gender: Providing scholarships for girls to continue in secondary school and vocational training to their mothers to generate more income
- Conflict & Governance: Increasing good governance and mitigating inter-ethnic conflict in three volatile regions
All stories about Ethiopia
-
Ethiopia: One year later, helping children survive in the Horn of Africa July 25, 2012
You might hear it called a “slow onset” emergency because, unlike the sudden strike of an earthquake, drought builds gradually. But don’t bother telling that to the mothers whose children are hanging on by a thread; slow isn’t the word they would choose. Grueling, they might say. Nerve-wracking.
-
Ethiopia: Women transform small loans into progress and purpose May 17, 2012
Like clockwork, every time I visit the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-based Women in Self Employment (WISE) organization, my very first impressions are of the wonderful hospitality of the Ethiopian people.
-
Ethiopia: Rebuilding a community water source May 8, 2012
Emergency response program manager Kaja Wislinska speaks to community members who are repairing a pond too damaged to hold water. It is now a working water source for the 400 households in Ada Olaa village.
-
Ethiopia: Dowries to degrees: An education for Ethiopia's young women March 8, 2012
Mercy Corps is helping girls in one of Ethiopia’s most remote regions explore a future full of new possibilities by providing them with scholarships to complete secondary school.
-
Ethiopia: Grain storage bags make a big impact for Ethiopia's farmers January 27, 2012
Our Ethiopia teams worked with local farmers to develop a simple solution to yield more from grain harvests: plastic coated bags to protect the grain from pests and mold during longterm storage underground.
-
Ethiopia: A simple solution makes a big impact for Ethiopia's farming families January 27, 2012
When drought hits and families are struggling to survive, the solutions don’t always have to be complicated or expensive. As I learnt from our team in Ethiopia last year, something as simple as a sack can mean the difference between hunger and happiness for a farming family.
-
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia: Horn of Africa crisis update January 26, 2012
Mercy Corps teams in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have already helped more than 1.5 million people caught in the grip of drought and hunger. But six months after this emergency first hit international headlines, there’s still much more to do.
-
Ethiopia: Just being women puts them at risk December 30, 2011
In many places around the world, women have less visibility, power and status in their communities than do men — an imbalance that makes women more vulnerable to threats, coercion and abuse. Violence against women can be sexual, physical, emotional or economic.
-
Ethiopia, Kenya: Responding to historic drought November 8, 2011
Here's a video report from my trip last month to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa. It focuses on Ethiopia, where Mercy Corps is providing medical care to malnourished children, restoring them to health using medicines, vitamins and food formulated especially for underfed infants.
-
Ethiopia: A mother's appeal October 17, 2011
We’re outside the Mercy Corps office in Gashamo, Ethiopia – a bone-crunching nine hour drive from Jijiga, the regional capital. It’s early in the morning, and the noisy generator is cranking out its last few minutes of power before we shut it down for the day.