Ethiopia
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Photo: Joni Kabana for Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Address complex natural resource and climate change adaptation issues, with a focus on increasing resiliency in the face of drought and other external shocks.
The context
Poverty is widespread. Frequent drought, unpredictable harvests and sporadic conflicts put families and rural traditions at risk. Millions are still in urgent need of assistance after the worst drought the region has seen for 60 years.
Our work
- Emergency response: Treating malnourished children with mobile health units, distributing water, vaccinating livestock, and providing work rebuilding community assets
- Agriculture & Food: Improving crop yields and income generation of pastoral and farming households
- Water: Building reservoirs and improving wells in drought-prone communities
- Women & Gender: Providing scholarships for girls to continue in secondary school and vocational training to their mothers to generate more income
- Conflict & Governance: Increasing good governance and mitigating inter-ethnic conflict in three volatile regions
All stories about Ethiopia
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Ethiopia: Rebuilding a community water source May 8, 2012
Emergency response programme manager Kaja Wislinska speaks to community members who are repairing a pond too damaged to hold water. It is now a working water source for the 400 households in Ada Olaa village.
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Ethiopia: Dowries to degrees: An education for Ethiopia's young women March 8, 2012
Mercy Corps is helping girls in one of Ethiopia’s most remote regions explore a future full of new possibilities by providing them with scholarships to complete secondary school.
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Ethiopia: Grain storage bags make a big impact for Ethiopia's farmers January 27, 2012
Our Ethiopia teams worked with local farmers to develop a simple solution to yield more from grain harvests: plastic coated bags to protect the grain from pests and mould during longterm storage underground.
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Ethiopia: A simple solution makes a big impact for Ethiopia's farming families January 27, 2012
When drought hits and families are struggling to survive, the solutions don’t always have to be complicated or expensive. As I learnt from our team in Ethiopia last year, something as simple as a sack can mean the difference between hunger and happiness for a farming family.
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Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia: Horn of Africa crisis update January 26, 2012
Mercy Corps teams in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have already helped more than 1.5 million people caught in the grip of drought and hunger. But six months after this emergency first hit international headlines, there’s still much more to do.
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Ethiopia: Just being women puts them at risk December 30, 2011
In many places around the world, women have less visibility, power and status in their communities than do men — an imbalance that makes women more vulnerable to threats, coercion and abuse. Violence against women can be sexual, physical, emotional or economic.
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Ethiopia: A mother's appeal October 17, 2011
We’re outside the Mercy Corps office in Gashamo, Ethiopia – a bone-crunching nine hour drive from Jijiga, the regional capital. It’s early in the morning, and the noisy generator is cranking out its last few minutes of power before we shut it down for the day.
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Ethiopia: Despite rains, drought is far from over October 14, 2011
On the road halfway between Gashamo and Jijiga, we spent the night with a local family. As we sat and talked on the front stoop, the evening was pleasant, the full moon bright. Then in a matter of an hour or so, I watched the clouds roll in and the stars wink out.
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Ethiopia: 'You gave my baby a second life' October 12, 2011
When Istohil Sheik Ahmed Abdi brought her 9-month-old son Sahane to the Mercy Corps mobile clinic in her area, she hoped to learn why he was so weak. The baby cried constantly, was vomiting and refused to nurse. He had a high fever.
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Ethiopia: When no tears come October 12, 2011
There was already a crowd at the mobile health site when we arrived. The veranda was a colourful swirl of fabric. Most of the women had a bulge at their side, belly or back that turned out, when unwrapped, to be a baby.