System failure ? Revisiting the problems of timely response to crises in the Horn of Africa

Investments in early warning over a number of years has brought significant improvements in humanitarian response in pastoral areas in the Horn of Africa. However, evaluations have shown that interventions to protect and support people’s livelihoods have consistently arrived too late to achieve their intended impact. The fact that response has most consistently been late in pastoral areas should be striking for two reasons: first, because food security crises in the pastoral areas of the Horn are so regular., and second, because droughts in pastoral areas are very slow-onset crises. This Network Paper grows out of work done under the Pastoral Areas Coordination, Analysis and Policy Support (PACAPS) project, a component of USAID's Regional Enhanced Livelihoods in Pastoral Areas (RELPA) programme The lessons documented in the paper grow out of work in pastoral areas in the Horn of Africa, but none of them relates specifically to pastoral areas, nor do they apply only to the Horn of Africa. They have wide applicability wherever people are thinking about how to support fragile livelihoods during crises.

Humanitarian Practice Network - November 2011