Emergency and Relief Program

Traditionally the majority of efforts in Ethiopia have been focused on relief work for droughts, with the formally approved policy on disaster prevention and management, the National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management (1993) (“the 1993 Policy”), paying little attention to prevention of natural disasters more generally. This approach has now changed, following a series of institutional changes begun in 2007 with the government’s Business Process Re-engineering program, which led to the establishment of a Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS) under Neath the Ministry of Agriculture. The DRMFSS has overseen a large shift in attitude and practice, moving towards an increasingly multi-hazard and multi-sectorial approach, and is overseeing the drafting of a new National Policy and Strategy on Disaster Risk Management (the NPSDRM) that contains a greater emphasis on the delegation of powers to the regional and local levels, as well as community involvement. In particular, it moves away from the 1993 policy’s focus on drought and aims to improve information on community vulnerability and flood preparedness.

The activities of the DRMFSS and the national policies on DRM are only one piece of a wider picture, As the legal framework applicable to DRR in Ethiopia extends far beyond current Ethiopian disaster law. Hence CVDA considering the gap in sector planned to intervene in this program believing that it contribute for sustainable development.