Relief & Rehabilitation

Balance Requested: 1,302,977

Irregular rain patterns and the recurrent drought are intrinsic features of arid and semi-arid lands in Eritrea and the Horn of Africa. During the past decade, the frequency of droughts has been increasing with shorter recovery periods, having more intense impact on vulnerable populations. Drought has become a chronic emergency with cycles of varying intensity so that it is no longer a slow-onset disaster but one that is ever present in this region of Africa.¹ The humanitarian situation in Eritrea has deteriorated over the recent years due to the delay in the border demarcation compounded by successive years of inadequate rainfall.

Eritrea has a chronic water shortage. Water tables have significantly dropped in many parts of the country partially as a result of recurrent droughts. The current lack of rain has further worsened the situation. The lack of water within acceptable distances forces many families to use insufficient and unsafe water fetched from un-protected sources.

The war caused large-scale displacement and the expulsion of thousands of Eritreans from Ethiopia, which placed many families in financial difficulty and increased the burden on cities already constrained with lack of basic infrastructure. Since the signing of the Algiers Peace Agreement in December 2000, over 180,000 internally displaced persons have returned home.

The IDPs were partly displaced in the villages that were safe from the effects of the war while some of the expellees were kept in refugee camps located in two of the affected Administrative Regions. During the past six years some of the refugees returned to their villages and at present there is a balance of 10,293 households or 40,398 individuals under emergency aid from government and international agencies. The main source of livelihood of the IDPs was agriculture. However, the war has destroyed the socio-economic infrastructure to the extent that the IDPs cannot simply return to their former villages to start a normal life. To this effect, they need support for returning and rehabilitation of the socio-economic infrastructure. The government has already started this process, with the assistance of the international agencies.

ACT members in Eritrea the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), Dutch Inter Church Aid (DIA) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are planning to assist vulnerable communities in both war and drought affected regions of the country. Activities that are planned in this appeal include: water supply and storage which represent a main focus of activities, and food security through diversified agriculture, micro credit, construction and rehabilitation of clinics, supply of Non food items and the provision of basic medical equipment to Traditional Birth Attendants.

Project Completion Date: 31 August 2007

Reporting Schedule:

Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested:

Signed by:

Jessie Kgoroeadira
Acting Director, ACT Co-ordinating Office