Livestock-based Drought Response in Doolo Zone, Somali region Ethiopia The mid-November federal NDRMC ‘alert’ confirms late onset, erratic and poor autumn deyr rains in southern Somali region (also across the whole of southern Ethiopia). As these rains follow poor spring guu rains, the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) to the DRM ATF is describing southern Somali region as in the ‘alarm’ phase of the drought cycle with a high probability of moving to a full drought emergency in the coming months.

Working as a Consortium, Save the Children together with Mercy Corps (MC), Islamic Relief (IR), Action Against Hunger (ACF), and Veterinaries sans Frontiers – Swiss (VSF-S) are planning lifesaving and livelihood protection interventions in Somali Region. The interventions are presented under the HRD’s objective 2 and informed by field missions including the recent meher assessments and associated strategic documents that have been prepared to improve drought risk management outcomes.

Recognizing the forecast for intensifying drought conditions and the escalating threats to livestock the SAG issued a Livestock Contingency Plan (Oct 2016) that prioritized livestock feed supplementation of core breeding animals, destocking – commercial and slaughter and animal health in particular for those animals receiving supplementary livestock feed.

Following the delayed onset, erratic and poor autumn deyr rain and the poor regeneration of browse and pasture, livestock that were already in poor condition have continued to lose weight with the result that pastoral households have little or no access to milk and increasing numbers of households are reporting livestock deaths. The lack of adapted, indigenous, core breeding livestock when the drought eventually ends will leave the livelihoods of families throughout the region crippled. The inability to regenerate livestock assets will likely keep many pastoralist families in severe poverty, extending the humanitarian crisis long after the drought ends. Reproductive livestock assets can be protected through supplementary feeding. In addition, it may also be appropriate to promote parasite control through private sector-led, voucher-based treatment interventions that will help ensure that animals can utilise their feed intake fully. 

Proposed Intervention: Livestock feed supplementation and private sector-led, voucher-based curative, preventive or supportive veterinary treatments.
Project Target Area:  Warder and Geladin districts of Doolo zone of Somali region Ethiopia, 
Project Targets:  Supplemental feeding coupled with voucher-based treatment systems will benefit 3,600 households, and 18,000 breeding stock, for three months in Warder and Geladin districts of Doolo Zone of Somali region Ethiopia ( five sheep /goats -shoats per household).

Above and beyond, VSF Suisse will take in to account the specific gender roles in relation to livestock care and production when implementing the emergency livestock feed intervention.  Milking of dairy/dual-purpose animals and cleaning of animal kraals are often tasks that fall disproportionately upon female members of the household.  Therefore, since taking the core breed livestock to the feeding centres everyday may confer particularly onerous duties on women and girls, the project will require that men or a family member will bring animals to the feeding centres and that female-headed households send a family member (when possible) so as not to adversely affect the daily workload of women in the affected communities. 

Also in households led by ill, elderly people labor availability may be very low and in these cases, the project will consult the community to set criteria in order to identify the bed-ridden and those who have mobility issues.  Mechanisms of voluntary community labor will be put in place so that other community members may deliver livestock supplementary feed to such households.