Country Spotlight: Ethiopia Achievements 2021

2021 Achievements | Reinforcing evidence-based response through robust needs assessment and analysis 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 women and children in conflict-affected areas. An increase in sexual and gender-based violence was reported repeatedly in 2021. The People in Need (PiN) increased by 11.4% from 2021 as the conflict escalates and spills over to neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara, increasing the number of IDPs and putting a strain on the available education resources in the host communities. The situation has been exacerbated by natural disasters including drought, desert locust infestation and the COVID-19 pandemic that has seen schools closed for over 6 months. This has resulted in the geographical shift as education needs extended to cover Tigray, Amhara, Afar, BG, SNNRP, Somali, Oromia and Gambella. More than 1.2 million children need emergency education services: while some refugee schools re-opened in early 2021, over 50% of school-age students in IDP camps still have no access to school.¹ This year was marked by schools’ occupation and damage, a high drop-out rate for girls and the COVID-19 pandemic induced drop-out of children from poorer families who went to work to supplement family income.   

Faced with a rapidly changing conflict situation and a lack of data and capacity for rapid emergency response, the Education Cluster strengthened its coordination mechanisms, data collection, and analysis with support from GEC.  With assistance from the ECW supported child participation thematic area, the Education Cluster led the consultation of 186 children and the report, shared with partners, shaped the Education in Emergencies Response Plan to scale up education in 2021, that targeted 2.3 million children and teachers. With the development of tools to improve monitoring of the response the Education Cluster also conducted a Secondary Data Review and a Joint Education Needs Assessment. Finally, the GEC supported the Education Cluster with the development of a concept note for a localization initiative through in-country deployment and remote support for 3 months. Through gap assessments, the development of a capacity-strengthening plan and its implementation and a newly set-up Localization Technical Working Group (TWG) to advise on the Cluster’s localization activities and monitor their implementation, the Education cluster aims to strengthen institutional capacities of selected local partners, therefore increasing the number of eligible local partners to the Humanitarian Pooled Funds (HPF).