On 4th November 2020, hostilities broke out again between the Ethiopia Federal government and the northern regional state of Tigray. Military action resulted in general insecurity, internal and external displacements, and a disruption of livelihoods in the region. At least 1.3 million persons are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, including residents, internally displaced persons, returnees, and over 96,000 Eritrean refugees. ACT Alliance launched a joint appeal on 23rd December 2020 for the response in Ethiopia. ACT-member Lutheran World Federation gave an update on the highly difficult situation in February 2021.

Source: Situation Report – Ethiopia – Tigray Region Humanitarian Update – 28 Feb 2021.pdf (reliefweb.int)

Roles of Ethiopian implementing members

The ACT Ethiopia Forum from the beginning stood in solidarity with the people affected. It called for a peaceful resolution and an immediate stop to the fighting as well as for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to allow relief operations and the protection of all civilians and humanitarian aid workers.

To achieve the desired outcomes of the Ethiopian response, two of the meanwhile four implementing ACT members (Ethiopia Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus Development and Social Services Commission (EECMY – DASSC), Ethiopia Orthodox Church Development and Inter-Church Aid Commission (EOC-DICAC), and Lutheran World Federation Ethiopia (LWF-ETH)) are working in close cooperation with the refugee and host communities as well as with the targeted population at all levels. After the recent revision of the appeal ETH201, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) is planning to work through these national forum members as soon as possible. The existing structures (Refugee Council Committees (RCCs), Women’s Association, Youth Association, elders, and religious leaders) were consulted during project planning as their active involvement is paramount in realizing the projects’ goal and objectives during the project implementation.

Coordination and collaboration required

The third implementing member LWF is a direct implementer. The organization has been active in the Amhara region between Addis Ababa and Tigray for years and its regional coordination office (RCO) in Lalibela is equipped with the required staffing and resources to provide overall management and administrative support to the project. LWF coordinates all the activities closely with the government and other humanitarian actors as well as with various clusters at regional and national levels.

Additionally, for peaceful co-existence interventions, the Ethiopia Inter-Religious Council is engaged. After the withdrawal, it will continue to conduct peacebuilding programs at the local level with existing faith communities.

ACT Ethiopia Forum 2019

Committing the forum fee for the Tigray response

In January 2021, the ACT Ethiopia Forum’s eleven national and international ACT-members decided to contribute their annual fees to the Tigray appeal. We asked the Forum Convenor Christoph Schneider-Yattara (PADD-Bread for the World) and the Forum Coordinator Dawit Beza about the background of this decision.

Christoph and Dawit, who had the idea to contribute the Ehtiopia Forum’s annual fees 2021 to the Tigray appeal? 

The Convener brought this to the forum leadership team. We proposed it at the January monthly Forum meeting, and the members accepted it unanimously. In addition, we also re-designated a consultancy fee received from Act for Peace (AfP), Australia, to the appeal. We had received it for a monitoring and evaluation activity carried out on their behalf. AfP consented with our suggestion. 

Why did you think it was important to commit the forum fees to the appeal?

It is to be recalled that the forum in November 2020 had issued a statement regarding the Tigray crisis which called members to mobilize resources –  programmatic, financial, in-kind, and spiritual – to provide an appropriate humanitarian response as soon as access is secured. Committing the forum fees to the appeal can be considered a follow of action to the forum statement. We are grateful for the funding commitment so far from ACT members all over the world but looking at the dire situation in Tigray, our contribution is like a drop in the ocean.

The forum members authorized the forum leadership together with the implementing partners to designate all un-earmarked funds. You decided to evenly (50-50) split all those funds between DASSC and DICAC. What is the background of this decision?

All undesignated funds will be split between DASSC and DICAC until they reach the funding level received by LWF, then we will reassess. 

What are the most urgent needs of people in Tigray?

Food, water, medical supplies are the most urgent needs at this moment. The requesting forum members are now closely working with the regional interim government finance and economic development bureau. The bureau has already signed an agreement and granted go ahead, and the actual implementation such as beneficiary targeting has already been started.

How does the COVID-pandemic affect the situation?

While the COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to millions of Ethiopians’ immediate health and socioeconomic well-being, the impact deepens for those already in need of humanitarian assistance, especially displaced persons. IDPs, who have been forced to flee their homes to due conflict and disaster, are at higher risk to suffer from immediate and longer-term health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a series of factors, including poor nutrition, insufficient water, overcrowded living conditions, fragmented social networks, and overstretched coping mechanisms. There is a looming disaster to happen in Tigray. No one except those arriving from Addis is wearing masks at all. People said that before the conflict this was very much in force but now, there is total complacency.

What does the Tigray conflict mean to you personally?

Every war is a human tragedy as it not only destroys lives but the social fabric of society. It will take decades to heal and overcome. 

Additional ACT responses

Meanwhile, the ACT Sudan Forum has ramped up efforts to support the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Tigray, launching an appeal targeting vulnerable refugees in the Tunaydbah camp. 

In other parts of the world, ACT members are engaging in advocacy with their own governments. ACT members in Canada came together and wrote a letter to the Canadian Foreign Minister calling for “unhindered, immediate, sustained and full access to the entire Tigray region for the delivery of humanitarian aid to all civilians affected by the fighting in the region, including Eritrean refugees”, as well as a cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of troops.

“Climate change is global, resilience is local.” Climate Dialogue in Asia & the Pacific Region takes place

The first session of the Regional Multi-stakeholder Dialogues for Asia and the Pacific took place online on Tuesday 23rd February. The session titled, “Updates on the Science of Climate Change”, is one of a series of dialogues bringing together scientists, faith based organizations, ACT Alliance members and government representatives in the region together to explore climate change issues.

The event was organized by ACT Alliance, the Asia Climate Change Consortium (ACCC) and in partnership with Christian Aid.

“Climate scientists have a role to play in the climate change discussion”, said Prof. Fredolin Tangang, Professor of Climatology and Physical Oceanography at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group on the 5th Assessment Report. “The information needs to be downscaled and refined to the local level”, he stated while sharing his findings on climate downscaling, scenarios and projections in South-East Asia. The scientist warned of more droughts and floods to come in the future, even in years without the “El Nino” phenomenon. Prof. Tangang called for stronger collaboration between scientists, civil society and decision-makers to make the shift towards green economies.

Concrete steps to take

Dr Rosa Perez, Research Fellow at the Manila Observatory, and a climate scientist specializing in hydro-meteorology, disaster risk reduction and adaptation policies on climate change, spoke about vulnerability impacts and the evolving adaptation approach. Dr Perez summarized the findings of the 6th IPCC assessment report, highlighting relevant data concerning climate change and also showing how socio-economic factors might change in the years to come. Dr Perez highlighted the importance of climate finance for vulnerable countries and communities and noted the significance of integrating climate risks into policy. Dr. Perez also called for the need to ensure that budget decisions and investments are made towards locally led adaptation. “Climate change is global, but resilience is local,” she stated.

Local solutions to global problems

Ms Debora Dian Ulami of ACT member YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU), winner of the 2019 ACT Alliance Resilience Award, shared YEU’s experiences building resilience in the Yogyakarta Province and confirmed Dr. Perez’ conclusion that resilience was local.

YEU’s project provided resources and support to strengthen grassroots women’s capacities by providing training, disaster simulation, peer-learning and dialogue with decision-makers and positioned women as experts in vulnerability mapping, empowering them to take the lead in determining resilient and sustainable practices. Community-based organizations were also presented with an opportunity for peer learning exchange and the chance to get involved in public forums at the national and global level.

This dialogue has been made possible through the support of ACT member, Brot für die Welt (BftW), through ACT’s Climate Justice project, “Faith actors enhancing inclusive, ambitious and sustainable climate policy and action in accordance with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.”

A recording of the session is available here.

This article previously appeared on the Lutheran World Federation website

LWF and partners to start humanitarian response

(LWI) – From everyday life into chaos: For the people affected by the recent conflict in Ethiopia, life as they knew it ended abruptly with the military offensive in the Tigray region. Even before, many had felt tensions between different factions.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) through its humanitarian arm LWF World Service, has been present in Ethiopia for 50 years. Its member church, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), also has a diaconal agency, the Development and Social Services Commission (DASSC), which is working with LWF World Service in supporting people in need.

Together, they assessed the needs of the internally displaced people (IDP) in Tigray in order to better support them. They met people affected by the conflict. Below, LWF Ethiopia country representative Sophia Gebreyes, shares the stories of four families.

After long delays due to lack of humanitarian access, LWF World Service and EECMY-DASSC started their response in Southern Tigray and Mekelle in early February. LWF will provide water and sanitation (WASH), and other relief items, as well as livelihood support, protection, and peacebuilding services. They will work through the local infrastructure of EECMY-DASSC.

Hawultie school, Mekelle

Amanuel Yemane*, 66, was born in in Hayk Mehsel. Following the famine in the mid 80s, he was forcibly resettled in the mid-eighties to Humera where he became a farmer.

After years of working on the fields, he bought land in Tirkani where he began to grow sesame and sorghum. He made good money as Humera sesame seeds are renowned worldwide for making tahini. Hadish was able to provide well for his seven children.

The Tigray conflict broke out in the middle of harvest time. Yemane had already harvested his sesame, but the traders in town refused to buy it and told him to leave instead. The sorghum, which was still in his field, was looted by militia. Yemane believes he was targeted because of his ethnicity.

Yemane lost a good harvest because of the conflict, which would have earned him more than a yearly farmer’s income. He also lost several oxen, 25 goats and his home. All the money the family owned had been invested on the fields and in the stables.

The war separated his family. Three of his older children were living in Mai Kadra, where militia committed a massacre on 12 November. They managed to flee to Sudan before it happened.

Yemane and his four younger children walked 560 kilometers to the provincial capital Mekelle. The journey took 18 days. They now live in the Hawultie School in Mekelle, an IDP site for people from Western Tigray. Here they depend on the generosity of the local people, who share what little they have. For weeks, humanitarian organizations were not allowed to enter the Tigray region. The refugees have received very little humanitarian assistance.

Yemane wonders what will happen to the displaced people who have been housed in eight schools in and around Mekelle, when those school open again for regular classes. The schools have been closed because of COVID-19, but were scheduled to open again in February. Nobody knows of arrangements, and the IDPs fear that they will have to leave again, adding anxiety to an already traumatic situation.

Ethio-China Friendship School, Mekelle

Saron Abraha*, 30, fled from Axum, the cradle of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and revered as the holiest site in Ethiopia. She and her husband Kiflom* have five children and the sixth is on the way. They fled Axum when they heard the first explosions two and a half months ago. Since then, they have been living at a refugee center which was set up in the Ethio-China Friendship School, Mekelle. The center is overcrowded, and lacks basic sanitation facilities and services.

Abraha fled from Axum, carrying her two-year old toddler on her back. Her husband carried the five-year-old. The remaining children, aged 7, 13 and 17, had to walk the 225 km journey on foot. Saron said the trek was difficult and there was no food and water to be had along the way. Sometimes they would come across soldiers who would take pity on them and share their rations with the children.

Abraha’s family lived with her mother and brother in-law in Axum, but was separated from them. “I don’t even know where they are, if they are dead or alive, or if our house is still standing. We have absolutely no news,” Abraha said: “We were lucky that we fled in the early days of the conflict. I thank God that we did not see bodies on the highway and witness heavy fighting.”

Gebre Michael Seyoum* 28, is a newly-married man. He lived with his wife Asqual Tewolde, 24, his younger brother and his parents in Endaga Arbi, near Adwa, a town with an old and proud history. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Science but worked as a truck driver as there were no other jobs in his town.

When the war broke out, his elderly parents could not flee with him, so he made the difficult decision to seek safety with his wife and his younger brother. During the chaos, he was separated from his wife and his brother. Recently he received the news that his brother was shot but still has no news whether he survived his injuries. He also has no news about his wife’s whereabouts and whether or not his parents are safe.

Seyoum was visibly distressed when he recounted their ordeal. He recalled that he left Adwa in a group of 20 people. Only eight of them made it to Mekelle. They trekked for four days, sleeping in trees, hiding from wild animals and armed groups. On his way to Mekelle, Siye saw many dead people.

Once in Mekelle, they were received in the Kesanet School collective center. When the center became crowded, he was moved to Ethio-China Friendship School, where the government had set up a center for people displaced from Central Tigray.

Seyoum arrived in the school about two and a half months ago. The refugee accommodation in the school is well organized, but there are immense gaps: lack of mattresses, beddings, linens, water and relief goods. There is not enough space. More than 1,606 IDPs live in eight rooms, sharing four wash basins. More people arrive every day.

Refugees for a second time

Kidusan Tekle*, 32 and her husband Mebratu Haile* left Eritrea to seek asylum in Ethiopia six years ago. Since their arrival they have been living in Hitsas Refugee Camp where their children Surab 5, Berhane, 5, and Mariam 3 months old were born.

During the Tigray conflict, the refugee camps in Hitsas and Shimelba were shot at with grenades. Those who did not die, fled the camps, becoming refugees for a second time. The continuous shelling, seeing dead bodies and losing 12 of their friends is a trauma that they still live with today.

After escaping from the camp, they first went to the UNHCR office in Shire where they had to sleep on the ground, in the open with no support whatsoever. The family decided to continue to Mekelle on foot, some 245 km. On arrival in Mekelle they were welcomed by EECMY-DASSC, which has been hosting the family in a church until now.

The family has neither been registered with UNHCR nor the Ethiopian refugee administration ARRA, and they depend entirely on the support they receive from the church. Kidusan said that they are so traumatized by what they saw and lived through that they do not want to return to a refugee camp as some refugees have. If they can they would like to continue and live in Addis Ababa.

The church had taken in a total of 11 Eritrean refugee families and 19 people without family, but all have left apart from the Kidusans family. Some went on to make a life in Addis Ababa, others relocated to the Mai Aïyni refugee camp, and some have disappeared. The refugees have no reliable sources for news. Kidusan estimates that thousands fled the camps when the conflict started.

Water, sanitation and peacebuilding

LWF has started to provide WASH and other relief items, as well as livelihood support, protection, and peacebuilding services. Part of the LWF response is coordinated through the ACT Alliance Ethiopia Forum, in strong partnership with other faith-based and ecumenical partners.

Together, all partners aim to support over 250,000 people affected by the conflict in Tigray and the surrounding provinces of Amhara, Afar, and Konso. The response will last for a year.

LWF/ S. Gebreyes. Edited by LWF/ C. Kästner

*All Names have been changed to protect the people concerned

This blog post was written by Rebecca Venuto, Development Policy and Practice Research Policy Intern at ACT Alliance EU

On 25^th November 2020, ACT Alliance EU and VOICE engaged with EU-based civil society and global partners in a workshop to raise awareness on the scope, the scale and impacts of approaches supporting survivor and community-led response (SCLR), an autonomous collective self-help provided by and for populations in disaster contexts. Thanks to the insights of Local to Global Protection and Oxfam facilitators and practitioners worldwide, this was the occasion to dive into the development of these approaches from a theoretical and practical perspective and identify both opportunities and challenges.

Survivor and community-led crisis response seeks to support the existing capacities of first responders in crisis situations and provide financial and operational ownership. This approach intends to complement existing emergency response programming, but under a different narrative. It centres on enhancing immediate survival and recovery in a holistic and inclusive manner as well as strengthening the sense of dignity and empowerment of communities. Practitioners also argue SCLR helps to tackle the root causes of vulnerability to crises by shaping long-term processes and visions led by and for communities.

SCLR approach is characterised by some common elements. First, it is based on a participatory action learning (PAL): after a rapid evaluation of existing capacities and resources of communities, the process explores local systems of “do no harm” as a starting point to identify local power dynamics and mechanisms. Second, it counts on a funding mechanism based on micro-grants to allow scale, speed and accountability for collective action in response to a given crisis. Finally, it is grounded on demand-led skills upgrading and both horizontal and vertical coordination between local groups, NGOs and governments.

SCLR approaches in practice

The workshop provided us with insights into blended practices of SCLR approaches worldwide, whose benefits are multiple. In Sudan, for instance, the scale of community-led practices was extremely successful. In just six months, 5 NGOs provided support to 150 initiatives, a majority led by women and youth. In response to the natural disaster caused by the Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines in 2018, micro-grants awarded by ECOWEB allowed livelihood recovery through the implementation of water system and seedling production-related projects that were led by the affected communities.

Empowering women and other marginalised categories is another positive outcome of this practice. In northern Kenya, IREMO collaborated with VOICE to facilitate access to training, and ensured coordination with local groups and the government. This inclusive approach increased knowledge-sharing and solidarity. Similarly, in the Oicha region of the DRC, the COPI, a platform for local organisations dedicated to humanitarian response, empowered local groups to effectively deliver disaster risk reduction (DRR) early warning and protection mechanisms and contributed to the development of women’s fora that were crucial to providing legal and psychological support to victims of sexual violence.

Challenges facing locally-led responses

Despite the successes of community-led approaches, many difficulties still exist. One of the most pressing problems is the lack of adequate financial resources and the rigidity of funding systems, which shrink the availability and chances to transfer grants to local communities. Coordination with the formal humanitarian system and between agencies remains a significant challenge. Moreover, as emphasised in the case of Philippines, Sudan and northern Kenya, another pressing issue is the lack of adequate knowledge of SCLR approaches by local and global organisations and the recurring and sometimes firm opposition to transferring power to local groups.

Lessons for first responder approaches

This learning exchange stresses the need for rethinking the role given to first responders in the current humanitarian system and paves the way for a more comprehensive and inclusive approach. The challenge is to maximise understanding among the humanitarian community of the potential of this approach for delivering on “the triple nexus”, empowering local and national actors, and strengthening communal self-help. To ensure the success of this approach, coordinated and scaled up funding and capacity support are also required. Thanks to this approach, as emphasised by the words of the CEO of IREMO, Eva Darare, “people will be empowered to take their own response and shape the future with their hands”.

ACT Alliance EU members will continue raising awareness on survivor and community-led approach and reaching future and concrete EU engagement on these issues directly linked to the implementation of the triple nexus.

Find the summary of the webinar with the video interventions here

ACT joins with the ACT Guatemala Forum in affirming the good work of CEDEPCA and its staff, the Reverend Delia Leal Mollinedo, whose tireless work in promoting gender justice has been disrupted by her unjust arrest. We regret the action taken in arresting her, and hope justice will prevail and she will be immediately released. CEDEPCA is a champion of human rights, particularly for migrants. Read the full statement by the forum in English and Spanish.

ACT Alliance, along with a number of faith-based groups and UN agencies, is hosting the 7th annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organisations in International Affairs on January 26, 2021 from 8:00am-12:30pm (EST). This year’s theme will be “2021: A Defining Year for Accelerating Gender Equality, Equity and Justice.” 

Registration for the virtual event is now open here.

This article originally appeared on the HQAI website.