Download NRC Eastern Africa and Yemen Annual report.
The 2016 Annual Report for NRC in the Eastern Africa and Yemen mission shows that despite challenging conditions, NRC was able to double its reach in aid of people displaced due to conflict and natural disasters in the region.
This outreach was particularly successful in Yemen where NRC reached more than one million displaced people with food aid. Our strategic objective for the Eastern Africa & Yemen is that more vulnerable people in hard-to-reach areas get access to humanitarian assistance, become resilient to future disasters and find durable solutions.
“Focusing on longer lasting solutions allowed displaced people to return to countries of origin, reintegrate within host countries and resettle into third countries. Refugee camps remained temporary solutions, while efforts continued to find options more permanent,” says Gabriella Waaijman, Regional Director for NRC in the Eastern Africa region.
In 2016, we expanded into Tanzania, where more than 300,000 Burundian refugees sought refuge in five camps along the Tanzania-Burundi border. The latest reports have indicated that the three camps of Mtendeli, Nduta and Nyarugusu are severely over-stretched. Access to water continues to remain a big challenge in all camps of Tanzania. For example, out of over 20 boreholes sunk in Nduta and Mtendeli camps, only six produced limited quantities of potable water.
Ethiopia has been facing drought since 2015, one of the most prolonged cycles of drought to hit the country in recent history. Somali region in the east is the most severely affected. In Fafan and Siti zones, NRC witnessed communities that did not plant crops for over two years and lost all their remaining livestock.
Conflict drove the food insecurity crises in South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Lack of access to vulnerable communities in South Sudan resulted in dire situations where many families turned to wild fruits and leaves as sources of nutrition. In Yemen, blockades and neglect by decision makers created a food scarcity across the country.