Ireland will immediately provide an additional €30 million in humanitarian aid in response to the rapidly deteriorating food crisis in the Horn of Africa, the Department of Foreign Affairs has announced today (Tuesday, November 29).
This brings Ireland’s humanitarian and development funding for the Horn of Africa in 2022 to over €100 million, as the region is facing an unprecedented drought and severe food crisis.
At least 36 million people have been affected by a historic five-season drought centred on southern Ethiopia, northern Kenya and Somalia, compounded by conflict and the impact of the war in Ukraine on food supply.
At least 21 million people in these countries are currently facing high levels of acute food insecurity and rising malnutrition, which could increase to between 23 and 26 million by February 2023, according to the department.
The funding will support a range of United Nations (UN) and civil society partners active in the region, as well as seven Irish non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – Concern, Trócaire, GOAL, World Vision, Oxfam, Plan International, and Christian Aid.
A significant proportion of the funds will support the response in Somalia where the threat of famine is most severe, according to the department.
The funding will be allocated as follows:
- €17 million to target the worst-affected areas in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan; in Kenya; and in Ethiopia;
- €5 million will be provided to Irish NGO partners with a focus on life-saving health, nutrition, sanitation, cash, gender and protection;
- €5 million will support the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in the Horn of Africa;
- €2 million to support the protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia;
- €1 million to ensure funding targets the most vulnerable communities and that access is secured to deliver the assistance in a timely manner.
Announcing the additional €30 million funding, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney said: “The Horn of Africa is on the brink of disaster.
“The prospect of starvation and famine across swathes of the Horn is imminent. The combined effects of drought, conflict, ongoing political struggle and the global impact of the war in Ukraine have been devastating.
“Sadly this crisis looks set to worsen further in the months ahead. This €30 million package in additional funding will address immediate life-saving needs and begin to lay the groundwork for longer-term resilience and development.”
Minister for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy recently undertook a week-long visit to Kenya and South Sudan in August-September 2022, where he met Irish Aid partners and vulnerable communities affected by the crisis.
“The people of the Horn of Africa are facing a humanitarian catastrophe. I recently met with families in northern Kenya who have lost their animals, their livelihoods and all their means to provide for themselves. Those people told me that they feared they would starve in the months ahead.
“We urgently need the international community to step-up. The international response to this crisis remains drastically underfunded, with humanitarian funding gaps of over 50% evident across some of the affected countries,” Minister Brophy said.