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 | Country Director and Deputy Country Director's Office |
 The Ethiopia office became the center for a new cluster grouping which comprises Djibouti as of August 1998. In addition to the central WFP country office in Addis Ababa, there are six sub-offices located in: Jijiga, Mekele, Dire Dawa, Dessie, Gambele and Nazareth. Under the Country Director Office's management, relations with the government and the donor community have been improved and have been maintained at an excellent level of understanding and cooperation. The Country Director's Office provides leadership and guidance to prepare the Country Office Work Plan to ensure that WFP goals and priorities are addressed, and the rules, regulations, and procedures are strictly applied. In addition, the Country Director's Office ensures that financial and human resources and WFP Ethiopia assets are accounted for and are efficiently and cost-effectively utilized. Finally, policy guidance is provided by the Country Director's Office on means and ways to implement the transition from relief to rehabilitation and development.
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| | The Country Director meets regularly with Unit Managers and assesses reports from the units to determine their level of efficiency and effectiveness. Formal and informal contacts are established and institutional meetings with partners are attended by the Country Director and appropriate staff. Project documents, Letters of Understanding, Project Summaries, Plans of Operations and Studies are reviewed and finalized prior to their distribution outside the Country Office are evaluated by the Country Director. |
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| Refugees |
For more than a decade, Ethiopia has provided asylum to large numbers of refugees from Somalia, Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti. At the same time, Ethiopian refugees have crossed into northern Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti. WFP has provided emergency food assistance to refugees and to Ethiopian returnees through a number of emergency interventions and protracted refugee operations. The current refugee/returnee food assistance programme started on October 1, 1998. An emergency operation, specifically designed to meet the food needs of Ethiopian returnees and Somali repatriates, has also been functional since February 1998. Under this EMOP 14,400 MT cereals, 960 MT pulses and 444 MT edible oil is available to help resettle Ethiopians returning from neighbouring countries and to support Somalis repatriating from Ethiopia to northwest Somalia. |
| | Achievements |
| | At present, 193,000 Somalis, 58,000 Sudanese and 4,900 Kenyans are being fed under the current phase of the operation.
A Joint WFP/UNHCR/ARRA Food Aid Assessment Mission (JFAM) recommended the distribution system be revised to require each head of household be present for distributions. The new distribution system has been implemented in six of the eight Somali camps and there are plans to introduce this system in the remaining camps by March 1999.
Greater efforts have been made to involve women as distributors and to encourage women to collect rations on behalf of their families.
A successful programme of repatriating Somali refugees has assisted in returning some 60,000 Somalis to their places of origin during 1998.
WFP has strengthened its refugee programme monitoring capabilities by fielding additional staff at its Jijiga Sub Office for Somali camps and Gambella Sub Office for Sudanese camps.
A phasing-out of the Djiboutian caseload.
A successful registration and revalidation of two Sudanese refugee camps was conducted in December 1998.
A gender sensitization workshop was conducted for all WFP refugee unit staff in January 1999.
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| Gender Advisor |
Apart from specific actions already discussed with respect to particular development projects, relief and refugee operations, a number of general initiatives were undertaken in 1998 to reflect the Country Office's efforts to implement WFP's commitments to women. In May, the office organized a successful gender awareness workshop for all WFP G2-G5 staff members. An inter-agency working group on gender continues to meet regularly. In addition, a mid-term evaluation mission to review WFP's commitments to women was hosted in November 1998. |
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| Relief |
 Agriculture is the backbone of Ethiopia's economy, contributing 57% of GDP and employing 87% of the labor force. There are two agricultural seasons: the short belg, which lasts from February/March to May/June, and the meher, which lasts from June/July until September/October. The meher contributes on average over 90% of Ethiopia's agricultural production. Over 80% of Ethiopia's population inhabits the central highlands, in part due to a lower incidence of malaria and more reliable rainfall patterns. With such population pressure on scarce agricultural land, average landholding size has dropped (now averaging 0.5 ha/family of five), land degradation has accelerated and agricultural productivity has declined. Less than 1% of arable land is irrigated. Consequently, in any given year, a lack of rainfall can threaten the livelihoods of millions of people.
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| | Even in exceptionally good years of agricultural production, rural populations are vulnerable to food insecurity. For example, the 1996/97 harvest was the best ever, yet 1.9 million people needed food aid. The nomadic pastoralists in the east and southeast areas of the country are also dependent on rainfall to regenerate pasture and replenish watering points. |
| | Ethiopian Food Security Reserve Administration: An important partner of both WFP and the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission of the Government of Ethiopia (DPPC) in implementing EMOPs in Ethiopia is the Emergency Food Security Reserve Administration (EFSRA). The EFSRA maintains a rotating stock of 283,000 MT of cereal. Once pledges from Donors are confirmed, WFP borrows from the EFSRA and hands over to the DPPC for distribution. When the pledge arrives in the country, it is repaid to the EFSRA. This mechanism serves as an invaluable tool in reducing the time between Donor pledges and actual distribution. At the end of December 1998 the cereal stock level of the EFSRA stood at 112,150 MT. |
| | Employment Generation Schemes (EGS): The heart of the Government's food aid policy is that 'no able-bodied person should receive relief food assistance without working on a community project in return.' Thus, able-bodied people are given food only in return for work done on employment generation schemes, which provide a flexible safety net of employment and link relief resources with development. Free relief food is targeted to people unable to work. Currently, WFP supports pilot EGS initiatives (soil conservation, afforestation, water harvesting and infrastructure activities) in Belessa and Sasie Tsadeamba woredas, which benefit about 18,000 individuals. |
| | Achievements |
| | Over 1 million beneficiaries received WFP relief assistance in 1998.
WFP, through the DPPC, distributed 34,791MT of cereal, 702 MT of Famix and 343.85 MT of oil to victims of crop failure and to internally displaced persons in 1998.
WFP prepared and presented a paper at a seminar organised by DPPC for women's DPPB regional representatives in June 1998 to discuss incorporating women's issues in the DPPC five year strategic plan.
WFP conducted a training workshop on participatory gender analysis for community level disaster response planning in August 1998.
WFP reallocated 6,342.7 MT from existing EMOP resources to provide an immediate humanitarian response to victims displaced by the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The total number of displaced assisted was 145,330.
The 1998 DPPC/WFP meher needs assessment was a joint exercise with Donors and the DPPC. The assessment was conducted using a common methodology and made an effort to address only emergency relief needs.
WFP has staffed the Mekele field office.
Six Rubb Halls were procured in 1998 to be installed in 1999 and will reduce the time it takes for beneficiaries to walk to distribution centres in six vulnerable woredas in Tigray and Amhara.
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| Development |
The World Food Programme's Executive Board approved the 5-year Ethiopia Country Programme in May 1998, which provides food aid to approximately 900,000 beneficiaries annually until the year 2003. The programme calls for 216,000 tonnes of development food aid worth over US$100 million. WFP concluded an agreement for pilot development assistance in the Afar region in September 1998. WFP is providing 206 tonnes of food aid and non-food resources valued at US$45,000 for pilot food for work activities in two highly drought-affected woredas in Afar. Three proposals for pilot development assistance to the Somali region have also been solicited by WFP from UNHCR, SCF-UK and the South East Range Land project and are currently under consideration. |
| | WFP, with help from AusAID, is supporting capacity building initiatives to strengthen the Ethiopian Government's planning and implementation of employment generation schemes (EGS) through which all relief food is channeled to able-bodied beneficiaries. In two pilot woredas in Tigray and Amhara, WFP support enabled 125 staffers to receive training. These staff members were able to prepare 48 EGS plans for implementation. |
| | WFP actively participated in the World Bank led Multi-donor Food Security Pre-Appraisal Mission in November 1998. The food security investment programme, which is currently under development, acknowledges the positive role of WFP-Ethiopia development projects and addresses other necessary linkages which must be made to effectively tackle food insecurity problems in Ethiopia |
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| Monitoring and Evaluation |
The monitoring and evaluation adviser works with office colleagues, study consultants and mission experts to ensure that M and E issues are appropriately addressed. This includes developing for all programmes M and E systems which are more streamlined and gender sensitive and which place greater emphasis on documenting effects. |
| | Achievements |
| | In collaboration with end users, monitoring and reporting systems were reviewed in detail and new reporting formats were developed for all development projects.
Pilot testing of the new reporting formats was undertaken in selected zones for both projects 4929 and 2488, and by all NGOs involved with project 5403. Based on the testing, appropriate modifications are being made.
Comprehensive orientation training materials were developed for project 4929.
Two training courses were held in qualitative monitoring: in June for 25 government counterparts and 5 Country Office staff, and in October for 20 government/NGO counterparts and 2 Country Office staff.
A mid-term review was carried out for the urban food facility project in March 1998, and a technical appraisal for the land rehabilitation project in Oct - Nov 1998. Both specifically reviewed and made recommendations for improving the monitoring and reporting systems of these two projects.
A three-part pilot impact study (consisting of VAM satellite imagery, ground truthing of information and technical soil measurements) was undertaken in Chencha woreda in SNNPRS for project 2488.
A joint WFP/Donor/DPPC study of the management, tracking and distribution of commodities for relief operations was carried out from mid-November to mid-December 1998. Follow-up discussions are being held to develop a common reporting system that DPPC can use to meet the reporting requirements of all Donors.
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| Logistics |
The Logistics Unit plays a crucial role in the implementation of all WFP programmes, as well as in supporting many of the food commodity related programmes of Donors and NGOs. Major responsibilities of the unit include fulfilling government import regulations, undertaking port operations, providing primary haulage and secondary transport, warehousing, Extended Delivery Point (EDP) monitoring, administering Land, Transport, Storage and Handling (LTSH) funds and commodity tracking. A major reorganization of logistics staff and functions led to increased efficiency and more streamlined operations. The success of this reorganization is already evident: the recently increased pace of operations and the shift of all Ethiopia bound cargo to the Djibouti port have not had any adverse effect on ongoing emergency, refugee and development programmes. |
| | Prior to May 1998, most WFP commodities were routed through the port of Assab in Eritrea, with minor operations taking place in Massawa and Djibouti. With the outbreak of hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Assab and Massawa are no longer available to cargo destined for Ethiopia. The conflict situation has also reduced the number of trucks available by 40%, destabilized transport prices and altered the primary transportation corridors and infrastructure used to deliver food from the port of entry to secondary distribution hubs. |
| | It is estimated that in the first quarter of 1999 an additional 80,000 MT of food commodities will be moved from the port of Djibouti to seven food distribution hubs in Ethiopia. The unit is also engaged in negotiations with the Ethiopian-Djiboutian Railways to better use their facilities from Djibouti to Dire Dawa, and is investigating the possibilities of building a port shed in Djibouti to increase storage capacity. |
| | Achievements |
| | Unit-wide reorganisation resulted in a more efficient use of personnel and sub-offices.
A new quarterly tendering process has drastically reduced paperwork for WFP and improved conditions under which contractors allocate resources.
WFP Food Aid Commodity Tracking System (FACTS) computer database was fully implemented.
Sub-offices are on-line for faster and less expensive communication.
The LTSH matrix was revised to more accurately reflect actual costs and the accounting system was upgraded.
Significant savings on storage and handling was achieved and port congestion was alleviated in Djibouti through revisions in customs procedures.
A bi-weekly reporting system, indicating commodities received, port off-take, deliveries to final delivery points (FDPs) and in country stocks, is being sent to all Donors, WFP programming sections and headquarters.
The total storage space available to WFP in Djibouti was increased to 26,000 MT through the contracting of additional warehousing outside the port.
A Food Aid Transport System (FATS) was developed: a fleet of 280 trucks dedicated to WFP transport operations has been leased from 10 trucking companies, with an option to bring the total up to as high as 340 trucks on 15 days notice.
WFP field staff were reassigned to new locations in order to administer and monitor the work of the fleet along the new transportation routes.
Patrol officers, stationed in Mekelle, Kombolcha and Nazareth, report on any incidents or situations affecting the transport infrastructure.
A bi-weekly coordination meeting with Donors and NGOs has been instituted to coordinate the receipt and delivery of aid commodities and to facilitate operations.
WFP has finalized an agreement with the Ethio-Djiboutian railway to move food to Nazareth and Dire Dawa. Since the fleet's inception in July 1997, 141,000 MT of food aid has been received and transported to seven primary storage and distribution hubs around the country. Major Donors, like the European Union, have utilized FATS for their own programmes. USAID is negotiating with WFP headquarters in Rome to finalize an agreement for the utilization of FATS.
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| IT and Telecommunications |
The Information Technology unit helps keep the Country Office connected via computers to the sub-offices and the other parts of the world. The link to the Country Office's e-mail system has been streamlined to a more cost effective solution, which involves a local telephone call to a local server. As a result, the field offices have significantly reduced their telephone expenses, and increased the speed of information exchange with the Country Office. The Country Office has been connected to the WFP Information System in Geneva. The Finance Unit started using this system in October 1998 and other units are being trained in the technology. The COMPAS server was reconfigured to enable nine WFP Ethiopia staffers to access the application. The IT unit also installed FIS and connected all Finance Unit users to that application. The old hub has been replaced with a new hub. Since the new installation, the network functionality has been considerably more stable. The IT unit also installed and configured Network Interface Cards (NICs), modems and various hardware components in the Country Office. Almost all computers are equipped with NICs. |
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| Admin and Human Resources |
WFP Human Resources and Administration work and responsibilities have expanded due to the increase of the Country Office operations. A new Human Resources and Administration Officer was recruited and began her assignment in January 1999. The unit will be responsible for the management, co-ordination and implementation of all administrative and personnel activities. The unit is working to strengthen the management and organization of the Country Office and sub-offices, including assessment of staffing needs and personnel, along with reporting responsibilities, Terms of Reference for positions at all levels, recruitment, performance evaluation procedures, training and procurement systems. |
| | Achievements |
| | Administration has taken responsibility for tasks previously handled outside the Country Office.
Guidelines are being developed for vehicle management, recruitment and selection and procurement.
Local travel authorization and expense claims were created and circulated.
A reference compiling the joint guidelines and policies of UNDP/FAO/WFP is underway.
Staff profiles and job descriptions are being prepared.
Reclassification of posts were prepared and submitted for approval.
Ten training courses were sponsored by the office in 1998 to focus on meeting the needs of the Country Office or counterpart staff. In addition, secretaries have taken secretarial upgrading courses. A total of 295 participants benefited from these courses in monitoring, gender, reporting, solar cooker operation and work norms.
The unit organized a 'Team Building Exercise' in December for Managers and Unit Heads, the first ever in the Country Office's history.
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| Donor and NGO Liaison |
A new Donor NGO Liaison, under the direct supervision of the Representative and Country Director, began in early November 1998 with the primary responsibility of strengthening communication and relationships with the Donors and NGOs. Initial work has been done on the compilation of Donor profiles which will assist the Country Office in establishing a comprehensive resource mobilisation strategy. Information on commodities donations to Ethiopia from 1994-1998 has been organized and analyzed. Through the coordination efforts of the liaison office, matching funds proposals have been prepared by 12 WFP-sponsored NGOs. Proposals have been submitted to Donors with continued communication and encouragement from WFP. |
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| | The liaison office has had introductory meetings with the Belgian, Norwegian, German, and Japanese Embassies and representatives from Swedish SIDA, USAID, Canadian CIDA and the EC. Initial work has been done on the compilation of Donor profiles, which will assist the Country Office in establishing a comprehensive resource strategy. In coordination with programme units, the liaison office has assisted in addressing Donor concerns in the area of implementation and reporting on WFP projects. Coordination activities are underway with an Ethiopian-based NGO umbrella organization to compile information related to activities in Ethiopia.
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| Public Information |
As of November 30, 1998 a new public information post was inaugurated under the direct supervision of the Country Director. The new public information officer is developing a public information strategy to promote a better understanding of WFP's aims and activities in Ethiopia. Since the position has started, WFP has had a much more visible presence in the local media. The programme has been featured on local news broadcasts and the front pages of the newspaper. Press releases have also been picked up by the international wire services. In addition, the Country Office has fielded visits by international journalists based in Nairobi, resulting in international coverage for WFP Ethiopia. |
| | Achievements |
| | The Country Director and the Deputy Country Director have participated in local press conferences sponsored by various UN agencies. An exclusive WFP news conference on the recent Food and Crop Assessment resulted in news coverage on four separate television broadcasts over a week's period and in the press.
An emergency public information strategy has been developed to properly disseminate information regarding the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea and WFP Emergency Operations in the local and international media.
Promotion of WFP Ethiopia through alternative media has been planned. A consultant is working in conjunction with the Public Information unit to develop a WFP Ethiopia web site linked to the headquarters' site. Other projects include WFP placemats/school worksheets using student artwork selected through a contest to be sponsored by WFP Ethiopia and the Government's Ministry of Education. A comic-style book, with illustrations by a local artist, is being printed for use in WFP Ethiopia's School Feeding Programme to teach students about the importance of proper nutrition, while providing information on this and other WFP projects in Ethiopia.
European radio journalists have been contacted to promote WFP Ethiopia in the media, particularly development, farming and gender related stories.
A press packet is being developed. An Ethiopian fact sheet and chart on WFP has been completed. More general information on WFP has been solicited from Rome and been written up and printed for the Ethiopian office. Press releases or other topical information will be written and added as needed for visiting journalists. Particular attention is being given to promotion of the VAM unit to the media.
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| Finance |
The Finance unit is responsible for the management, coordination and implementation of all finance activities of both the Ethiopia and Djibouti Country Offices. In line with this recent cluster formation, and owing to exigencies brought about by the current border conflict, the overall responsibilities of the unit have increased. Consequently, it is currently restructuring with a focus on accountability and responsibility. |
| | Achievements |
| | Under WIS connectivity and following the decentralization of the Country Office's accounts, Finance has started processing the imprest account, Inter-Office Vouchers and all financial transactions of the cluster.
Sub-Office accounts are processed through the Country Office.
Financial reporting information is disseminated to Heads of Units.
Accounting Clerk trained on WFP FIS and WIS system.
Finance Assistant of Djibouti Country Office received training on Country Office reporting.
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