2022 Achievements: Ethiopia

2022 Achievements | Reinforcing evidence-based response through robust coordination in Ethiopia

 In the conflict-affected regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar, continued displacement, coupled with a lack of basic services and poor shelter and sanitation, have worsened vulnerabilities of affected populations. As the conflict escalated in several regions, increasing the number of IDPs and putting a strain on the available education resources in the host communities, the situation was further exacerbated by natural disasters including drought, floods, and desert locust infestation, and the COVID-19 pandemic, heightening education needs heightened in Tigray, Amhara, Afar, BG, SNNRP, Somali, Oromia and Gambella. 10.3 million children needed emergency education services, including 12% of children with disabilities: as of December 2022, 3,638,597 children were out of school, and 9,038 schools were damaged by conflict or natural disasters and will need to be rehabilitated to allow children to return to school in the next school year. In some areas of the Tigray region, up to 50% of schools were used as shelter by IDPs, and most of the learning facilities suffered some sort of damage.

Faced with a rapidly changing situation and multi-layered crises in many areas of the country, the Global Education Cluster leveraged its support from Education Cannot Wait to assist the Ethiopia Education Cluster strengthen its coordination mechanisms, data collection, and analysis.

Along with teams from South Sudan, Sudan and Kenya, Ethiopia Cluster coordinators attended a training organized by the Initiative for Strengthening Education in Emergencies Coordination to help improve coordination between the Cluster and its partners, and the UNHCR-led Refugee Coordination system. The GEC will keep supporting the Ethiopia Cluster team with further capacity strengthening in 2023, to ensure children in need are given the best response. This support was also provided through the deployment of a GEC cluster coordinator for 8 weeks, to assist with fundraising and the application for First Emergency Response funds from Education Cannot Wait. Thanks to these funds, Education Cluster partners will be able to implement the first Education response in Drought affected regions of Ethiopia since the beginning of the Drought in the Horn of Africa.

Moreover, Ethiopia Cluster partners are currently implementing year 2 of the ECW funded Multi Year Resilience Programme (MYRP- Seed funding), which is targeting 60,487 IDP children (including 49% girls, 10% children with disabilities) across the regions of Amhara, Oromia, and Somali. However, given the increasing needs these regions face (conflict, flood, landslides, and drought), and given the low level of funding currently dedicated to Education in Emergencies in Ethiopia (only 41% of the 2022 HRP was funded as of October 2022), the funding gap remains huge. Finally, the GEC and REACH supported with the review of rapid education response preparedness plan, which will allow Cluster partners to quickly respond to children’s needs following a shock, such as a sudden onset emergency.