Save and Protect core breeding  animals of people affected by the drought in Dugda Dawa and Soru Berguda districts of West Guji zone The proposed action provides immediate humanitarian assistance to drought-affected communities in two districts of West Guji zone- Dugda Dawa and Suro Berguda. The action primarily focuses on protecting their livestock assets, which is crucial to avoid the adoption of irreversible coping strategies with the risk of becoming destitute and food assistance dependent.  
Dugda Dawa and Suroo Barguda districts of West Guji zone are experiencing prolonged droughts due to successive poor rainy seasons of both Genna and Hagaya Rains. The erratic distribution and below normal amount of the Ganna rain and the failure of the Hagya rain in 2021 coupled with volatile insecurity situation has deepened the impact of drought on the lives and livelihoods of the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in these two districts of the West Guji zone. The severity of the drought and external shocks has manifested itself in huge livestock mortality, acute food insecurity, displacement, and widespread nutrition related diseases among children under age of five and lactating mothers, and breakdown of the traditional coping mechanisms. The situation is expected to worsen due to predicted below normal distribution of the current Genna rain, high inflation and largely unabated insecurity situation. The livestock negative terms of trade due to deteriorating animal physical body condition has exposed drought affected households to soaring commodity prices. The poorest are the most affected by the prevailing high inflation. 
This action is needed to save lives and restore the livelihoods of drought-affected people by improving the nutrition of core breeding animals to support their survival and recovery from the impacts of drought. Through this project 3000 core breeding cattle will be provided with 3.5 KG grass hay and 2.5 KG of concentrates feed per day for a period of 60 days. Livestock feed supplementation will be supported in conjunction with targeted animal health intervention to improve the utilization of the feed.  In order to ensure core-breeding animals survive feeding centres will be established at selected locations with proximity to sources of water. Furthermore, the action provides curative treatment for sick core breading stock of 1000 households and supports will also be given to the 43 Community-based Animal health workers  (CAHWs) to provide emergency animal health services for 4000 HHs for the period of two months. The action builds on our similar experience of mobile livestock feeding implemented in Borana in 2017 with the financial support from UN OCHA EHF. The action will scale out this tested experience to the two target districts of West Guji zone for quicker and greater impact. 
The project will be implemented in close collaboration with subnational cluster, Zonal, and Woreda DRMOs, Kebele administrations directly involving the target drought affected households. The  direct participation of the beneficiary community and other key stakeholders from the outset is critical to achieve the project objective and ensure the sustainability and ultimate ownership of the project achievements and results. The different formal and informal institutions will also have a vital role in the project implementation process. The Customary Institutions (Gada systems) believed to play significant role in the whole project cycle management Process. 
Awareness raising sessions will be organized and vulnerability selection criteria will be established with local authorities and with community groups to identify the target households. SOS Sahel will conduct the post distribution assessment to assess beneficiary satisfaction, including meeting the needs, timeliness and equity of the intervention. The overall humanitarian intervention will be guided by the principles Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and the guideline specific to the livestock sector – the LEGs standards.