Saving Animals from Life-Threatening Situations

Livestock crisis for pastoralists in Ethiopia

The target region is one of the hottest places on earth, home to the Danakil depression. Climate and its variability are very important in Afar pastoralists' livelihoods. The Afar pastoralists in Ethiopia raise mixed species of primary livestock, usually camels and cattle and keep supplementary herds of goats and sheep. The area and its population have long been neglected by national development efforts due to its pastoralist origin. The recent violence stemming from the situation between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian government resulted in a crisis of unimaginable proportions in Afar. A vast majority of the animals, the mainstay of the Afar pastoralist community's livelihood, were stolen or killed. Additionally, the region has been affected by long dry spells of heat, with no rain since October 2021. With pasture turning tinder-dry, animals weakening by the day, and many areas reporting animal thirst, we need to act now and support the surviving herds.

Background

The political unrest in the Afar region of Ethiopia has meant that extreme poverty in this region is now at an all-time high. People are displaced, hungry, and have had their homes and livestock destroyed in the conflict. Towns were looted, health centers were stripped of their equipment and medicines, and water pumps and ploughs for the fields were taken. Anything that was left behind was vandalized. The damage caused is to the tune of billions of Ethiopian Birr. In the central Afar region, access to government health services, protected drinking water, and local markets is in complete disarray for 300,000 people. In addition, over 60 schools are damaged. The situation is compounded by the severe impacts of climate change, thus affecting pasture in the area. Pastoralist communities now have no access to veterinary medicines and have appealed to us to provide veterinary care to save their surviving animals. The direct recipient group of this GOOD DEED will be the herds of the internally displaced people in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Our GOOD DEED directly contributes to reducing poverty: if people have their livelihoods addressed with thriving livestock, it means that they can start to address other important needs related to improved health, quality education, and clean water and sanitation.

The good deed

While the need on ground is extensive, some of the urgent emergency programing needs for the internally displaced population are veterinary care supplies, blankets, dates, ground barley, cooking pots, and sleeping mats. For example, 8,408 CA$ supports a team of 15 people to provide emergency veterinary care to sick animals. Our partner is actively working with the local government on coordinating logistics to help internally displaced people. The team is procuring supplementary food for pregnant and lactating mothers and weak children and updating the utilization of contributed funds on their website (www.apda-ethiopia.org). Their health teams are staying vigilant to ensure that diseases do not break out. The support of 24 GOOD DEEDS will contribute to this multi-pronged intervention. The net change would be improved health of hundreds of animals reared by the pastoralist community, leading to secure livelihoods among households that will result in enhanced economic and health outcomes.