ECHO-DEVCO Workshop on resilience in Ethiopia

The EC resilience building program in Ethiopia is an innovative initiative that brings together at operational level ECHO and the EU Delegation. The approach is based on the premise that chronic humanitarian needs caused by drought and recurrent food insecurity can be more efficiently addressed via a longer term resilience approach, linking humanitarian and development actions, than via short term reactive rapid response actions. The strategy consists of an integrated approach where different partners - working in close coordination - implement a multi-sectoral resilience program together with the local authorities.

The main target group is the most vulnerable part of the population living in areas that are prone to repetitive periods of drought.

Joint context and risks analysis, mapping, common logframes, joint planning and coordination frameworks within each of the clusters are essential parts of the concept.

Both parts of the EC finance humanitarian and development activities in the same areas, with a geographical focus (clusters) and following a multi-sectoral approach using nutrition and food insecurity as entry point.  Different financing tools are used: ECHO HIP, SHARE, 11^th EDF.

ECHO and the DEU in ETH believe that the approach in place in Ethiopia provides a concrete and operational solution to the concept of resilience building, which otherwise often stays at "philosophical" level. Now that both financing tools (HIP and SHARE) are contributing, it is urgent that the whole concept be consolidated and improved.

  For this reason, ECHO-Ethiopia and the EU Delegation would like to organise a two days workshop to discuss, at technical and strategic level, the ECHO-DEVCO approach in Ethiopia and the working modalities of the cluster working groups.