ON THE BRINK
Food security crisis in Afghanistan,
Ethiopia and Yemen

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Aman
Soufi and Najmo Abukar for
their analysis and report
drafting with support from
Islamic Relief Afghanistan,
Islamic Relief Ethiopia andIslamic Relief Yemen.

2

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Table of Contents
Section 1: Introduction...............................................................................................................................................2
Section 2: Drivers of food insecurity.........................................................................................................................3
Section 3: Country profiles and food security programmes...................................................................................5
3.1 Ethiopia..........................................................................................................................................................5
3.1.1 Devastating impact in numbers............................................................................................................... 6
3.1.2 Supporting vulnerable families in Ethiopia........................................................................................... 6
Case study: Families on the brink: Aliya’s story............................................................................................. 7
3.2. Yemen...........................................................................................................................................................8
3.2.1 Devastating impact in numbers............................................................................................................... 8
3.2.2 Helping families cope with the crisis..................................................................................................... 8
3.3 Afghanistan...................................................................................................................................................93.3.1 Devastating impact in numbers............................................................................................................. 10
3.3.2 Helping families cope with the crisis................................................................................................... 10
Section 4: Effects of the humanitarian situation on food insecurity................................................................... 11
4.1 Humanitarian access issues: Hindering food delivery...................................................................................... 11
4.2 Girls disproportionately impacted by famine and food insecurity................................................................. 12
4.3 Extreme weather conditions resulting from climate change.......................................................................... 13
Section 5: Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 14
Section 6: Recommendations................................................................................................................................. 15
6.1 Donors should guarantee long-term flexible funding to tackle worsening food insecurity by:................ 15
6.2 Donors, governments and civil society organisations should address the impacts of climatechange on food systems and invest in long-term adaptation measures by:....................................................... 15
6.3 Donors, governments and civil society organisations should recognise and address the gendered impacts of food insecurity by:........................................................................................................................................... 15
6.4 Governments should provide full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access by:..................................... 16
References............................................................................................................................................................... 163

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Section 1: INTRODUCTION
The global hunger crisis has recently been deteriorating
at a rapid rate. In 2021, over 811 million people were
undernourished and food insecure - up 161 million from theprevious year.¹ Famine-like conditions remain a continued
threat in over 43 countries around the world. This upsurge
in food insecurity has been driven by a combination offactors including poverty, conflict and climate change, as
well as the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021,
overlapping and compounding drivers came together toform the perfect conditions for the deteriorating crisis.
Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen are some of theplaces where the food crisis is most acutely felt. A
considerable proportion of the populations is facing
acute food insecurity, with many unable to consume
adequate food to maintain their lives and livelihoods.
After repeated economic shocks, political crises, anda series of environmental disasters such as drought,
more than 24 million people in Afghanistan require
life-saving assistance to prevent famine. More thanhalf of the population are in Integrated Food Security
Phase 3 and above facing emergency food crises andfamine in extreme cases.
The food security situation in all three countries has
been made worse by humanitarian access barriers
that are complicating efforts to provide life-saving
humanitarian assistance to those most in need.
Climate change and protracted conflicts undercut
people’s resilience towards such crises. In addition,
the recent and ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is also
adding to the food security crisis, with huge spikes
in the price of fuel and food as markets respond toconflict.
The world made some considerable progress intackling global hunger in the first decade of the 21st
century, but the current food security crisis threatens
to reverse this. In addition to the above challenges,
increasing levels of inequality are pushing anotherhalf a billion people into poverty. The pandemic
has disrupted people’s livelihoods, adding to thedeteriorating food security crisis. In 2019 there were
27 million people on the brink of famine, by April 2021
this had increased to 34 million.

4

The global food crisis exacerbates existing inequalities
in society, with women and girls being hit hardest.
Women and girls account for 60 per cent of people
globally who are food insecure,² and make up thelargest proportion of people in poverty. Additionally,
there are underlying structural inequalities - such aslack of access of adequate employment, education
etc. - that expose economically vulnerable households
to significant risk, reducing their resilience andundercutting the ability to withstand food security
crisis. People living with disabilities also face hugechallenges accessing food and other necessities.
Episodes of food insecurity entrench societal
inequalities for succeeding generations. For example,
malnutrition affects young children’s physical growthand development for the rest of their lives. The crisis
is made worse by humanitarian access challenges
making it difficult to reach vulnerable people withemergency food distribution. Movement restrictions
such as roadblocks, unsafe humanitarian corridors
and blockades are presenting significant logistical andsecurity challenges to delivering humanitarian aid ina timely and coordinated manner. These humanitarianaccess barriers also make it challenging to gain
accurate data on the extent of food security needs.
Islamic Relief is working in many of the countries
that are worst affected by the food security crisis,such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen, providing
support to the most vulnerable and marginalisedcommunities. This report will highlight the extent of
the food security crisis in those three countries as wellas the work Islamic Relief is undertaking to provide
both immediate and long-term support to those mostin need.

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Section 2: DRIVERS OF FOOD INSECURITY
Food insecurity is the state of being unable toaccess safe, regular, and nutritious food thatenables normal growth, development, and ahealthy life. The severity of the food security
crisis can be characterised by five phases andcombines analysis from wide range of data
including data on food consumption levels,
livelihood change.

PHASE 1 (minimal)Households can meet essential food and non-foodneeds without engaging in a typical and unsustainablestrategies to access food and income.

PHASE 2 (stressed)
Households have minimally adequate food consumption but
are unable to afford some essential non-food expenditures
without engaging in stress-coping strategies.

PHASE 3 (crisis)
Households either:• Have food consumption gaps that are reflected by high or above-usual
acute malnutrition.
OR• Are marginally able to meet minimum food needs but only by depleting
essential livelihood assets or through crisis-coping strategies.

PHASE 4 (emergency)
Households either:• Have large food consumption gaps which are reflected in extremely high acute malnutritionand excess mortality.
OR• Can mitigate large food consumption gaps but only by employing emergency livelihood
strategies and asset liquidation.

PHASE 5 (famine)Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs even after full employment of coping
strategies. Starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident. (ForFamine Classification, the area needs to have extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality.)5

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

There are several factors that are driving the global
hunger crisis – particularly conflict, climate change,poverty, restrictions on humanitarian access, andgender inequality.
Conflict is a primary driver of acute food insecurity.
The impacts of conflict include displacement,
destruction of property and disruption of livelihoodthat hinders people’s ability to access and afford food.
Six out of 10 of the world’s most food insecure people
live in countries grappling with conflict and insecurity.
Conflict often involves competition over control ofgeographical areas that impact food production,such as land and water. Increased pressure on land
and water resources, a variable and unpredictableclimate, and greater price volatility tends to increasestress on food systems and increase the risk of
conflict. In many cases, conflict can also disrupt
and damage infrastructure for food production andstorage systems, causing a decline in the accessibility,
availability and affordability of food.
There is a vital relationship between nutritional status,
human capital, and economic status. Millions of people
across the globe have insufficient resources to meettheir daily nutritional intake and are consequently at
an increased risk of food insecurity. While there may
be some overlap between poverty and food insecurity,
it is important to note that food insecurity can beexperienced by people living both below and above
the poverty line. However, low-income households
are often also faced with multiple structural barriers
such as a lack of access to employment, health,education, and social safety nets. Poverty and foodinsecurities have the effect of mutual reinforcementthat produces a vicious cycle. For instance, the effects
of food insecurity such as malnutrition affect a
person’s physical and mental health and productivity
levels, thus reducing the overall economic stability ofhouseholds and making them vulnerable to poverty– while poverty increases malnutrition by increasing
food insecurity. The socio-economic fallout of theCovid-19 pandemic is putting additional pressure on
food systems, with a cascading effect on food security
and livelihoods that have exacerbated pre-existing
vulnerabilities and inequalities in food systems. The
pandemic has had a significant impact on low-income

6households that predominantly engage in physicallabour work, who have been impacted by lockdown
measures causing decline or loss of income thus
impacting the affordability of food. The pandemic
has impacted the accessibility, availability, utilisation(including food storage, processing, health andsanitation as they relate to nutrition) and affordabilityof food for both producers and consumers. However,this impact has been most felt by low-income
households that lack the economic capacity and safety
nets to compensate for a loss or decline in income.
Another factor that also influences food security is
climate change. Over the last few decades, there has
been an upward trend in global temperatures. In 2010,
the global average temperature was 0.88˚C (1.6˚F)above pre-industrial levels. Temperature increases in2019 were about 1.1 degrees ˚³. The past decade has
been marked by devastating extreme events, including
heatwaves, erratic rainfall and flooding, massive fires
and heat-charged hurricanes.
Climate change has several direct and indirect
impacts on food systems that limit the availability ofsafe, quality food, thus impacting the overall healthand wellbeing of individuals. Climate change has adirect impact on crop yields and an indirect impact
on water availability, pest management, productquality, and disease.⁴ Extreme climate events andatmospheric conditions have a significant impact onfood security and livelihoods. Climate variability canalso have widespread impacts such as those that
occurred during 2020 and 2021, when a multiyear La
Niña event, strengthened by climate change, helped
produce a three-season drought in East Africa. Thelong dry season saw the temperatures of the land’s
surface soar well-above normal, and vegetation
become desiccated. With the heightened probability of
another below-normal dry season in early 2022, theeastern Horn of Africa (HoA) region is at a heightenedrisk of experiencing four consecutive dry seasons —unprecedented since satellite record keeping began
in 1981.⁵ As the impacts of climate change continue
to grow, the direct and indirect impacts on foodproduction systems will produce economic and social
consequences that will have a devastating affect foodsecurity.

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Section 3: Country profiles andfood security programmes
3.1 Ethiopia

In Climate shocks, intensifying conflict, insecurity
and disease outbreaks coupled with a deteriorating
economy continue to exacerbate the humanitarianneeds of 25.9 million people.⁶ Since November 2020,
Ethiopia has been facing a humanitarian emergency
largely spurred by the ongoing conflict in the Tigray,Amhara and Afar regions. In 2021, further escalationsin the Tigray conflict led to 5.5 million people being atcrisis levels of acute food insecurity.⁷
As the war spreads to other regions such as Afar andAmhara, at least 5.5 million people now face foodshortages and around 400,000 people are facing‘catastrophic’ hunger – the most severe global level.
Eighty per cent of people in these regions depend on
agriculture, but the violence has forced millions toabandon their homes and farms and has prevented
farmers from harvesting crops during the peakharvest season.

The suffering in the north has overshadowed agrowing drought crisis in the south, and across
Ethiopia the UN estimates there are now 13.6 million
people in need of food aid. One of the worst-hit areas
is Borena, in the Oromia region on the southernborder with Kenya, where in 2021 more than 69,000
livestock – the main source of livelihoods – had died
due to a lack of fodder and water, plunging people into
destitution. Milk production has decreased by 80 per
cent. With few sources of income remaining, families
are chopping down trees to sell as firewood and buy
food, which is causing significant long-term damage tothe local environment.

7

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

3.1.1 Devastating impact in numbers

9.4 million people
are in need ofhumanitarianassistance inthe north of thecountry in the
Tigray, Afar andAmhara regions.⁸

8

4.4 million
people are insignificant acutefood insecurity
with 400,000 incatastrophe(Phase 5) inTigray⁹Over 4.2 million
internallydisplaced people(1.8 million in
Tigray, 2.1 million
in Amhara and334,264 in Afar)¹⁰

Across all
drought-affectedareas, more than
6.4 million people
will require foodassistance in
2022,

1M

2.4 MILLION

3 MILLION

6.4 MILLION

4.6 MILLION

4.4 MILLION

9.4 MILLION

2,204 reports of gender-based
violence (GBV) and sexual violence in
Tigray from November 2020-June 2021

including 3 million
people in Somali
Region, 2.4 million
in eastern Oromia
and 1 million
people in southern
OromiaON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

3.1.2 Supporting vulnerable families in Ethiopia

Islamic Relief is providing food and other relief todisplaced people in conflict affected Afar. We are also
working in the eastern Somali region – one of theareas worst affected by the drought – and are planningto scale up our response in Borena as soon as we havefunding. We are training health workers on how to treat
severely malnourished children and in best practices
for infant and young child feeding (IYCF). We areproviding regular cash transfers to help poor families
buy food and other essential items locally and bringing
in urgent water supplies by truck. We are also training
animal health workers and providing treatment andvaccinations for livestock.

During Ramadan 2021, Islamic Relief supported
44,293 people experiencing food insecurity in Ethiopia.
Of those supported, 12,029 were women, 9,751 weremen and 527 were people living with disabilities. We
distributed 6,920 food packs, each containing 25kg
wheat flour, 3kg rice, 2kg edible oil. We are continuing
to offer our support to the most vulnerable people
through emergency food distribution. In the first few
months of 2022, we have supported 19,388 people
who were displaced from Chifra and Ewa at Waki, Yalo
district seven kebeles (wards).

Islamic Relief teams are on the ground providing
thousands of the most vulnerable people with lifesaving food parcels containing flour, oil, pulses, rice,sugar and salt. We also run eight mobile health units,
which provide the only source of healthcare for many
people in remote rural areas and offer longer-term
support towards improving livelihoods by distributing
goats, providing seeds and agricultural training forfarmers, and fodder for livestock.

9ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Case study: Families on the brink: Aliya’s story

Aliya Yusuf (far left) and members of the savings group with their savings account books and the box for storing their savings.

Aliya is a 29-year-old mother who has been displacedby conflict and is unable to work or feed her twochildren. “I have been an internally displaced person(IDP) for five years now. I had my own convenience
store before I moved to this IDP site because ofviolence. Now, I cannot afford to feed myself andmy family. We rely on food assistance from thegovernment. We only get food assistance every fiveor six months. My husband has also been unable towork.”
Aliya’s family has been sheltering in an IDP campin the Oromia region but has been unable to findadequate access to healthcare and clothing to keep
warm during cold nights. “The IDP site where I amliving with my family is not favourable for living. We
have been sheltering in a house constructed from
corrugated iron. The inside of the house is very cold.
We do not have enough clothing to warm ourselves.
Regarding healthcare, there is a health centre nearby.”
Islamic Relief has been implementing projects toenhance the economic security and resilience of
impoverished families in Oromia. “Islamic Relief hasorganised us in a village saving and credit association.
After we saved money for a year, the organisation

10

bought five cattle for 21 members of the group. We
had some difficulties running the business of livestock
rearing. There is drought and a shortage of cattle
fodder. Because of the problems we faced, we were
obliged to sell four of the cattle and divide the money
among ourselves. Unfortunately, one of the cattle hassince died. Each member of the group has received
3,700 Birr (£55) each from the sale of the cattle. With
this money, I have bought a milk cow.”“We have a large number of members in our group.
The money allocated for the group is small comparedto the number of members it has. “We all havefinancially benefited from our small group business.
Above all, we have learned the advantages oforganising ourselves in village savings associations.
We have developed expertise in financial management.
We record any grievances in the book that was given to
us by Islamic Relief. We have also developed a cultureof working together for a better life.”
Through the project, Aliya hopes to continue to growby expanding and diversifying her business. “I wantto continue to save the money we earn no matter how
small or big and secure my family’s future.”

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

3.2. Yemen

The humanitarian situation in Yemen is one of theworld’s worst. Seven years of conflict have resulted
in dire economic shocks and food insecurity. Acutehunger and malnutrition remain widespread in Yemen,particularly in the north of the country. People fleeing
ongoing violence are also suffering as hostilities
continue along existing frontlines in densely populatedareas in Marib and Al Bayda governorates, along with
Hajjah, Al-Hodeidah, Ad Dali’ and adjacent areasthanhalf of the population faces food shortages and one inevery six people is now on the verge of a catastrophic
famine. Fifty-four per cent of the population has
inadequate food, with some areas living in faminelike conditions¹¹ Over half of the population is facing
crisis-levels of acute food insecurity, with 5 million
people facing Emergency IPC Phase 4. ¹² The country’s
economy is collapsing, and people cannot access theirmoney, plunging them even deeper into poverty.

Yemen continues to have one of the world’s highest
malnutrition rates among women and children, with
1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women and2.3 million children under the age of five requiring
treatment for acute malnutrition¹³. In Magjrabah,a remote district in Hajja governorate in northern
Yemen, people have resorted to eating leaves tosurvive¹⁴. With the economy in perpetual decline andclose to collapse, the cost of the essential food basket
has risen significantly, affecting food consumption,and pushing people to work more days to meet theminimum cost of food. “We depend solely on the
support of charitable organisations in order to feed ourfamilies,” says 65-year-old Ali from Maghreb, who is
one of millions of Yemenis facing dire living conditions
since an escalation in the conflict in 2015.

11

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

21 million
Yemenis arereliant on
humanitarian aid
to survive¹⁸1217.4 million
people are foodinsecure¹⁵

31,000 people areexperiencing famine-like
conditions¹⁶

3.5 MILLION

17.4 MILLION

21 MILLION

3.2.1 Devastating impact in numbers

3.5 million people
are acutely
malnourished¹⁷

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

3.2.2 Helping families cope with the crisis

During Ramadan 2021, Islamic Relief supported
161,015 people experiencing acute food crisis in
Yemen. Of those supported 36,008 were women,
33,647 were men and 24,162 were people living withdisabilities. We distributed 21,334 food packs, eachcontaining 25kg wheat flour, 5l vegetable oil, 10kg rice,
10kg sugar, 4.5kg white grain, 2.7kg dates, 2.4kg pasta,
0.9kg tomato sauce, and 0.5kg salt. We also provided
qurbani meat so families could celebrate Eid al-Adha,and essential items such as fuel to help families
cope during the harsh winter months. We continue
to provide support through cash transfers, cash-forwork opportunities in which young people are paid tocarry out projects that benefit the community such as
clearing roads, and vocational training to help young
people gain the skills to find paid work.

•

Over 2 million people rely on regular food aid
distributed by Islamic Relief.

•More than 5,000 children in Yemen have been
supported by our orphan sponsorship programme.

•

Islamic Relief supports 151 health and nutrition
centres across Yemen, helping them to treat
malnourished children and mothers in some of themost remote rural parts of the country.

•More than 150,000 people were provided withsupport through cash transfers and cash-for-workopportunities as of 2021.

13

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

3.3 Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been wracked by decades of conflict,and is currently grappling with economic collapse,
political turmoil, and the worst drought in 30 years.
Twenty-three million people - more than half the
population - are now facing hunger every day, andaround 9 million people are just one step away fromfamine, which puts their lives at risk. The numberof malnourished children is increasing every day.
Families are running out of food and are so desperatethat mothers are selling some of their children to buy
food for the others. Currently, our teams are observing
a rise in early child marriage and child labour, withchildren as young as five being sent out to work formore than 12 hours a day to earn just $1-2 so theirfamily can buy a meal. Areas where food consumption
is already the worst, such as the Central Highlands andthe North, have deteriorated further. There has also
been a significant increase in food insecurity in the
Kabul, North, and West regions¹⁹.

14

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

95 per centof people faceinsufficient foodconsumption²⁰

22.8 million
people – half ofthe population –are projected tobe acutely foodinsecure in 2022

All 34 provinces are facing
crisis or emergency levels of
acute food insecurity²³

8.7 MILLION

22.8 MILLION

43.3 MILLION

3.3.1 DEVASTATING IMPACT IN NUMBERS

including8.7
million at riskof famine-like
conditions²¹

4.7 MILLION
4.7 million
children andpregnant andlactating womenare at risk of acutemalnutrition in
2022²²15

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

3.3.2 Helping families cope with the crisis
Over the past 18 years, Islamic Relief has provided
emergency relief and implemented life-changing
development projects for some of Afghanistan’s
most vulnerable communities. Islamic Relief opened
its Afghanistan field office in 1999. Today, there arealmost 250 staff – nearly half of whom are women– working in the country, and 35 projects spreadthroughout. We have been involved in a variety of
sectors, including sustainable livelihoods, education,
health, child protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene(WASH), and emergency response.
In November 2021, our emergency response teamdelivered life-saving food packages, blankets andwinter clothes, and supported longer-term livelihoodsby distributing goats and sheep, providing seeds
and agricultural training for farmers, and fodder for
livestock. Additionally, we are running 10 mobile health
units, which provide the only medical and healthcare
services available to many people in remote rural
areas.

16•

In partnership with UNDP Islamic Relief hasreceived £22 million to support food security
response in 2022. This money will provide people
with cash, repair irrigation systems to boost
agriculture, help local markets and support
women-led small businesses.

•

In 2021 alone, our work in Afghanistan supported
almost half a million - 484,777 - women, men andchildren.

•That year, we reached almost 285,000 people
directly through our interventions including in theareas of food, WASH, nutrition and healthcare,orphan and child welfare, survival items andlivelihoods.

•

During Ramadan 2021, Islamic Relief supported
40,702 people experiencing acute food crisis in
Afghanistan. Of those supported 14,059 were
women, 13,712 were men and 878 were people
living with disabilities. We distributed 5,940 foodpacks, each containing 30kg wheat flour, 5L
cooking oil, 5kg rice, 5kg beans, and 1kg salt. We
are continuing to support the most vulnerable
people through emergency food distribution.

•

Since the start of the humanitarian crisis in August
2021, Islamic Relief has distributed a total of
21,350 food packs in Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Bamyan,
Kapisa and Nangarhar provinces.

•

In February 2022, Islamic Relief distributed 7,472
food packages, 1,700 hygiene kits and 650 goats.

•

27,020 patients have been provided withhealth treatment by 10 health mobile teams in
Nangarhar and Balkh provinces and 1,300 families
have received livelihoods assistance.

•

In March 2022, Islamic Relief distributed a further
19,380 food packs (including Ramadan foodpacks), 2,450 hygiene kits, 4,750 NFI and water
storage kits, 1,000 new-born baby kits, 2,000
packs of recreational items, cash distribution
to 1,500 referral patients and 10,000 Covid-19
infection prevention kits. 10,000 patients received
health treatment and 889 goats distributed tovulnerable households.

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Section 4: EFFECTS OF THE HUMANITARIANSITUATION ON FOOD INSECURITY
4.1 Humanitarian access issues: Hindering food delivery
Access issues are one of the main drivers that hinder
humanitarian response, including delivering foodassistance. Humanitarian access continues to belimited in numerous conflict situations, preventing
affected populations from receiving adequate
assistance. People are dying needlessly while theaid they need waits in convoys. Some areas are
difficult to access due to the presence of roadblocks
or other movement restrictions. Bureaucratic andadministrative impediments rivals - including
complicated and opaque processes surrounding
NGO registration - imposed by host authorities andtheir, projects stuck in ministries for months awaiting
approval, visas and movement-related permissions,
are just some of the obstacles that can significantly
hamper humanitarian assistance. The movement
restrictions of those with limited mobility are ofparticular concern since they are unable to reach
distribution points for food or assistance. The limited
mobility of both people and goods impacts access to
hospitals and other basic services in areas in whichthese can be few and far between. It is also deeply
concerning that reliable and comprehensive data on
the food security of people in certain regions is notavailable due to access restrictions.
In Ethiopia, since November 2020, access has
been unpredictable, especially within Tigray, where
movement has been severely restricted. Humanitarian
responders have had to constantly change their plansin the operational environment. Telecommunications,electricity and banking services have been shut off in
the region, and access is severely restricted for aid
workers, seriously hindering humanitarian response
and exacerbating the crisis. In 2022, Islamic Relief
resumed its work in Afar, especially development
assistance projects, after a short period of suspension
due to security challenges in 2021.
The severe access restrictions in Yemen driven by
government authorities indicate significant distrustof NGOs. Movement complications exist mainly
between Aden and Sana’a where an entry/exit visa isrequired. Vulnerable people are struggling to accessassistance including reaching food distribution points.
More vulnerable people will suffer and even die frompreventable and treatable medical conditions without
sufficient access to care. Households are running out

of food, and children are increasingly malnourished,putting them at risk of developing other severe healthproblems.
Across Afghanistan, humanitarian services arehindered by poor infrastructure. Humanitarian accessis still considered possible if the government’s
instructions are adhered to. However, the collapse of
the country’s banking system in August 2021 means
access to cash remains one of the major challenges
humanitarian agencies face. The humanitarian crisisin the country has been exacerbated by internationalsanctions and banking restrictions. A significant
liquidity crisis has left people without pay or money tobuy food, and made it more difficult for relief agencies
to deliver essential aid. Many banks in Afghanistan are
at risk of closure. Fund transfers into Afghanistan are
another major issue. These factors have resulted inprice instability in the markets. The prices of food andnon-food items are exceeding families’ budgets. It isclear that Afghan civilians are bearing the brunt of thecrisis.
As pressure mounted on the United Nations
Security Council to alleviate the humanitarian crisis
in Afghanistan, Resolution 2615 was adopted in
December 2021, creating a humanitarian exception
to the 1988 Taliban sanctions regime. The Council inthis resolution clarified that humanitarian assistancein Afghanistan doesn’t violate the asset freeze against
listed individuals and entities associated with the
Taliban. While this is very welcome, the impact will
depend on how individual donor governments interpretand communicate this exception at the domestic
level and whether the banking sector is sufficiently
assured – assurances from the government are
now increasingly important to banks to ensure thatNGOs can transfer humanitarian funds into, andwithin, Afghanistan. These exceptions do not apply to
shopkeepers, farmers, small businesses and othercommercial activity that people’s livelihoods and thecountry’s economy depends on. As a humanitarianorganisation, Islamic Relief’s concern is with thedevastating impact these sanctions and restrictions
are having on the wider economy, and in pushing
Afghan women, men and children deeper into hunger
and destitution.

17

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

4.2 Girls disproportionately impacted byfamine and food insecurity
In most cases, where food insecurity is concerned, there is an
inherent issue of gender. The barriers faced by women andgirls when accessing humanitarian assistance, including food
response, can be immense. Yet, without an understanding of
the gendered socioeconomic barriers women and girls facein different areas of their lives, including restrictions on theirability to physically access food resources, humanitarianassistance responses may be unable to overcome - or eveninadvertently exacerbate - discrimination against women andgirls, and limit the potential of projects to improve the lives ofthese individuals in a sustainable manner.
Most marginalised and vulnerable communities in developing
nations are involved in agriculture. According to UN Foodand Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data, almost half ofagricultural workers in developing countries are women.
Due to the patriarchal system that disadvantages womenfarmers in many ways, they are the most impacted by foodinsecurity. Moreover, their weaker bargaining position pushes
women to adopt extreme strategies such as reducing theirown consumption to feed their family, collecting wild food,migrating, and selling assets.
In Ethiopia, based on the public health review conducted by
Ayenew Negesse and others in 2020, it was found that in times
of food insecurity, female-headed households experienced
twice as much hardship as male-headed households.
Labour market discrimination confines women to informal
and casual employment and wage inequity is pervasive.
Furthermore, female heads of household typically spend
a greater share of their family’s budget on food than male
household heads. Food insecurity would increase significantly
if gender discrimination for household heads is not addressedand solved. Therefore, the Ethiopian government needs toconsider how cultural and social restrictions affect women’s
involvement in all aspects of household life²⁴. It is crucial
to promote women’s participation in the labour market andto change social policies that affected women and girls
negatively throughout food security project cycles.
Vulnerabilities intersect when pre-existing gender inequalities
are exacerbated by climate change. Climate shocks have
impacted gender dynamics in the Horn of Africa, where
gender inequality was already very high. Loss of livestockand food shortages due to drought has resulted in men being
unable to provide income for their families, leading to conflict
and tension in households and domestic violence.
In Yemen, women, particularly mothers, are more vulnerable
to the hardships of war - and to hunger. They sacrifice foodin order to ensure that their children have enough to eat,18

putting themselves at risk of malnutrition in the process.
Early marriage rates in Yemen are increasing, with families
who can no longer cover their children’s needs forced toconsider marrying off their young daughters. Although earlymarriage is a common practice in Yemen, the number ofcases is increasing due to current circumstances, including
food insecurity. According to UNICEF report 2021, the rates ofchild marriage were highest among displaced populations,with one in five displaced girls aged 10 to 19 being married,compared to one in eight girls living in their host community.
Early marriage threatens the lives, it can have serious healthconsequences for girls and their children. One in 10 girls
who becomes pregnant before the age of 18 loses theirchild during childbirth²⁵. An estimated 6.1 million women in
Yemen are in acute need of protection and access to basic
services including food assistance. With a crumbling healthsystem, there are severe shortages of maternal and childhealth services. Some 1.7 million pregnant and breastfeeding
women have limited or no access to reproductive healthservices. Acute malnutrition affected more than 2.25 million
children in 2021, as well as more than 1 million pregnant
and breastfeeding women²⁶. Women and girls suffer
disproportionately from the humanitarian crisis, and the levelsof need they face are increasingly alarming.
In Afghanistan, the future for many women remains
precarious. Afghanistan’s women and girls are facing
increasing difficulties, discrimination, and restrictions inall parts of life. They have had their rights stripped away,
including access to education, control over their finances,and political participation. According to the Care report 2021,
there was an alarming finding that women and girls reported
having a less balanced diet than men, and that they consumed
less dairy and meat. Furthermore, GBV has also increased
since a drought began in early 2021 - especially instancesof violence against intimate partners and child, early, andforced marriages²⁷. The majority of aid distributions werecollected by men due to the cultural and social restrictions
on women. The greatest barriers women face in accessing
assistance are their limited freedom of movement (which
restricts their ability to access distribution points), the lack offemale humanitarian staff, and the lack of prioritisation of theneeds of women. Restricting female aid workers increases
the likelihood of many families, particularly female-headedhouseholds, facing starvation. As poverty increases, combinedwith drought conditions, we are seeing increased reports ofchild marriage, with teenage girls being married off and girls
as young as six months old being sold off for future marriage
in return for an immediate dowry. Such cases are likely toincrease as the economic crisis deteriorates even further andpeople become increasingly desperate.

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

4.3 Extreme weather conditions resulting
from climate change
While climate change is one of the main drivers offood insecurity worldwide, it is essential to shedsome light on how it directly affects food insecurity in
Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan. According to the UN
Environment Programme, climate change adaptation
costs in developing countries are expected to reach
between $140bn and $300bn by 2030 - much of which
is attributed to agriculture. Farmers have alreadybegun to migrate as temperatures rise, according
to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Marginalised communities are likely to suffer the mostas food and water become more scarce, health risks
increase, and lives and livelihoods are put at risk.
In Ethiopia, the food security situation has deteriorated
rapidly. Prolonged drought and other hazards suchas epidemics, floods, and conflict have led to poor
harvests and livestock conditions. According to theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ICCP
report from 2021, the land surface is much hotter
than usual in the region. Vegetation conditions andwater levels decreased rapidly in mid and late 2021.
Crop and livestock production has also declined,
affecting food availability and access. Eighty per centof the population depends on rain-fed agriculture
for their food and income²⁸. In a December 2021 FAO
assessment, it was found that about 172 000 animals
had starved to death and another 2 million werein poor health as a result of fodder shortages anddrought.
Forecasts indicated that a La Niña-like climate wasnear peak strength early 2022 and continue in May
2022, and ICPAC’s most recent weather assessment
anticipates dry conditions in May 2022. Even if MarchMay rains were regular, the Horn of Africa area will
still experience long-term rainfall deficits. Forecasts
are in favour of a proper warm phase El Nino
developing in the second half of 2022. Communities

have built upcoping mechanisms to deal with one
to two seasons of poor rains, but four seasons is
unprecedented. This is eroding coping mechanisms for
those with fragile livelihoods reliant on livestock, asa worsening food crisis and lack of water are causing
livestock to die at an alarming rate. The numbers
reported as of January 2022 have greatly exceeded theestimates from 2021. Approximately 6.8 million people
are currently affected by the drought in Ethiopia.
Afghanistan has experienced periodic droughts overthe past 30 years, but none had occurred at the sametime as a global pandemic until now. More than 80
per cent of the country has been affected by the dryweather and in many areas livestock and crops havebeen destroyed by as much as 40 per cent. Food
security has further deteriorated, with streets full of
crowds of people selling anything they have of value.
Others are going into debt just to buy basic supplies.
Many more people are barely scraping by day-to-day– the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that
only two per cent of Afghans have enough to eat. As
a result of the significant increase in food prices, theavailability of food has been seriously compromised as
has people’s ability to purchase it²⁹.
Meanwhile, in Yemen, the political blockade is having aknock-on effect on the environment. With fuel scarce,
Yemen’s forests are fast becoming a casualty of war.
Deforestation practices are followed unwittingly,
putting the lives of humans and animals at risk,
and diminishing any hope of sustainable long-term
livelihoods for those reliant on agriculture for income.
More than 889,000 trees are felled annually to fuelbakeries and restaurants in the capital, Sana’a, alone
and both people and cattle are at risk of dying due to alack of fodder and water.

19

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Section 5: CONCLUSION

The food security crisis has reached unprecedented
levels and it is likely to get worse, affecting millions ofvulnerable people, many of whom are already facing
severe humanitarian crises. In Ethiopia, the food crisis
is largely fuelled by the conflict in Tigray, Afar andAmhara as well as the ongoing drought in the Hornof Africa which is likely to become the worst drought
the region has seen in four decades, affecting over 20
million people.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to present
challenges for global food security. The socioeconomic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic severely
impacts people’s livelihoods and their ability to accessand afford nutritious food. Humanitarian accessbarriers are also adding to the already worsening
crisis in some areas.
Market shocks, caused by ongoing global crises suchas the war in Ukraine, are also adding to the foodcrisis, causing dramatic increases in the price of fueland food, as well as supply and logistical disruptions.
This will have a huge impact on countries like Ethiopia,
Afghanistan and Yemen, which rely on wheat exports
from Ukraine, and will also suffer the effects of thehigh fuel prices. However, the subsequent food andfuel price increases will have the biggest impact onvulnerable populations that are already struggling
to meet their daily nutritional intakes.However, thesubsequent food and fuel price increases will havethe biggest impact on vulnerable populations thatare already struggling to meet their daily nutritional
intakes.

20

This spike in the food crisis is already creating
new vulnerabilities and negative coping strategies
such early child marriage, GBV and child labour asfamilies struggle to put food on the table. These
protection issues for women and children are adding
to the already mounting and complex humanitarianneeds. In Yemen, up to 19 million people (mostly
women and children) will need food assistance by
December 2022.³⁰ Similarly in Afghanistan, morethan half the population (55 per cent) are facing acutefood insecurity, including nearly 9 million people atemergency levels—one step before famine conditions.
Food insecurity is likely to deepen as Afghanistan faces
shortages of food, rapidly rising food prices and an
ongoing drought.
Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen are facing
deteriorating food security crises, with millions ofpeople on the brink of famine. Urgent action is needed
to avert further escalation and save lives.

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

Section 6: RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Donors should guarantee
long-term flexible funding totackle worsening food insecurity
by:•Providing multi-year funding to better enablehumanitarian and development agencies to address theroot causes of food insecurity through a more strategic
and long-term approach•

Supporting stronger linkages between early warning
systems and early action, including prevention and theearly release of funds based on early warning and predefined indicators•

6.2 Donors, governments andcivil society organisations
should address the impactsof climate change on foodsystems and invest in long-term
adaptation measures by:•

Investing in forecasts tailored to meet information flows
in existing drought early warning systems that integrate
systematic approaches to trigger draught mitigation
actions

Addressing structural challenges that inhibit women’s
equitable access to and control of natural resources,
those relevant for agricultural outputs•

Ensuring that the rights of persons living with disabilities- such as equal access to services, information, andprotection in situations of risk - are respected, protected,
and fulfilled, and that key principles, such as nondiscrimination and inclusion, are maintained•

Engaging local communities, farmers’ associations, rural
women’s organisations and other civil society groups inthe design of policies and programme interventions onfood security

Adhering to their commitments under the Grand
Bargain and allocating a greater proportion of funding
to local and national humanitarian actors, in line withcommitments to promote and support localisation.

••

Renewing commitments to medium and long-term
initiatives to prevent the collapse of local agri-foodsystems and to protect fragile livelihoods in the context
of resilience-building humanitarian assistance•

6.3 Donors, governments andcivil society organisations
should recognise and address
the gendered impacts of foodinsecurity by:•

Sustaining and scaling up support for women’s
economic empowerment in agriculture.

6.4 Governments should provide
full, safe and unhindered
humanitarian access by:•

Adhering to international humanitarian law and ensuringthat humanitarian aid can be delivered safely, impartiallyand without obstruction, to all people in need•

Allowing humanitarian agencies to operate safely in all
geographical areas, and with all communities, based onneed and in accordance with humanitarian principles.

•

References

Increasing adaptation financing for countries withclimate vulnerable food systems•

Increasing investments in adaptation measures that
help reduce the negative impacts of climate change on
the food systems•

Supporting and developing climate smart food systems
by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and building
resilience thorough integrated systems and practices.

21

ON THE BRINK Food security crisis in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen

ENDNOTES

22¹

UNOCHA ‘Global humanitarian Overview (2022)
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Global%20Humanitarian%20Overview%202022.pdf

²

Id

³

https://www.wri.org/insights/6-ways-climate-changed-over-past-decade

⁴

IPCC report (2021) - https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/

⁵https://www.climatelinks.org/blog/la-nina-and-climate-change-cause-exceptional-drought-east-africa

⁶

Global Humanitarian Overview 2022 https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Global%20Humanitarian%20Overview%202022%20%5BEN%20Abridged%5D.pdf

⁷

Id

⁸

OCHA Situation Report:Northern Ethiopia – Humanitarian Update, 3 March 2022 https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia/

⁹

Ethiopia: Acute Food Insecurity Situation May - June 2021 and Projection for July - September 2021
https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1154897/¹⁰

FAO Situation Overview Nov 2021 https://www.fao.org/3/cb7966en/cb7966en.pdf

¹¹

id

¹²

id

¹³

id

¹⁴

Famine-like conditions in Yemen force families to eat tree leaves. WFP 20 Sep 2021.

¹⁵Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Acute Food Insecurity (IPC AFI) analysis, January – May 2022.

¹⁶

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Acute Food Insecurity (IPC AFI) analysis, January – May 2022.

¹⁷

UN Population Task Force, February 2022.

¹⁸

OCHA, October 2021

¹⁹

WFP, 31 Jan 2022

²⁰

WFP, 21 March 2022²¹

WFP, 21 March 2022²²

WFP, 21 March 2022²³

WFP, 21 March 2022

²⁴

Negesse, A., Jara, D., Habtamu Temesgen et al. The impact of being of the female gender for household head on the prevalence of foodinsecurity in Ethiopia: a systematic-review and meta-analysis. Public Health Rev 41, 15 (2020).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-020-00131-8)²⁵

UNFPA at 16, November 2021: Married at 12 a single mother²⁶

WFP, Jan 2022 Hunger Hotspots: 4 countries face famine, UN report warns²⁷

Care July 2021: Rapid Gender Analysis, Drought in Afghanistan.

²⁸

GCR2P 9 Dec 2021: Atrocity Alert No.281: Ethiopia, Sudan and Myanmar²⁹IFRC, 12 Jul 2021

³⁰

WFP Yemen emergency (2022) https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/yemen-emergency

Islamic Relief Worldwide
19 Rea Street South
Birmingham
B5 6LB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 121 605 5555
Fax: +44 121 622 5003
irw@irworldwide.org
www.islamic-relief.org
Registered Charity No. 328158
Registered Company No. 02365572

23