BY YANET FANTAYE WOGAYEHU – The UN World Food Program (WFP) said its operations in Ethiopia is being challenged by funding gap and insecurity that resulted in the killings of 8 humanitarian workers and 20 abductions last year.
“…Growing insecurity particularly in Amhara Region is hindering our activities. Our operations face sever insecurity. This year eight lives of humanitarian staff have been lost and another twenty have been abducted,” said Country Director of WFP, Mr. Zlatan Milišić, who briefed journalists this morning at Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Security of humanitarian workers is paramount and we are working with our partners to reduce these security risk,” he said.
He noted that as a result of the upcoming Meher season of Ethiopia, which is expected to cut the number of people who need food assistance by half, the total number of people who need food assistance is estimated to be around 4.3 million in the coming three months. Meanwhile, he said WFP has only the capacity to help only 1.3 million people because of the funding gap. “WFP needs 341 million USD to sustain our operations and provide the food assistance needed. But we are still struggling with major funding shortage,” he said.
“…While we face enormous challenges with right funding and an enabling safe environment, there are also opportunities to engage and… to achieve zero hunger in Ethiopia,” he said, indicating that despite the challenges WFP has reached 90 percent of the intended beneficiaries.
Mr. Zlatan Milišić noted that with over 10 million people already facing food insecurity in Ethiopia, the looming Melania drought may affect 8.6 million in Southern and Southern Eastern part of the country are at risk.
He also noted that to improve its operations in Ethiopia, WFP is also planning to introduce a new five years strategy that has the potential to transform its current operations to be geared into more resilience building activities such as supporting the agriculture sector and the smallholder farmers, among others.
