LWR Among NGO Contingent With Solution For Ethiopia

August 6, 2003 — Kathryn Wolford, President of Lutheran World Relief (LWR), joined the CEO's of seven major U.S. relief organizations in calling for more support for emergency assistance and long-term attention to the cycle of severe food shortages and poverty in Ethiopia. The eight agency heads, all with firsthand knowledge of the situation in the East African nation, spoke at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The agencies cited differences in the current crisis as compared to the 1984-85 famine which gripped the world's attention. Among the positive changes, they highlighted a more proactive and responsive Ethiopian government, experienced local relief and development organizations, and better strategies to save livelihoods as well as lives through the work of local and international aid groups. However, whereas 8 million people were at risk then, 12 million people are at risk in the current food crisis.

Wolford noted that several failed harvests, on top of chronic poverty (80 percent of Ethiopians live on less than $1 a day,) have exhausted many families' coping mechanisms. They have already sold their assets such as animals and seeds. She recalled visiting a small hut with literally nothing more than a mat on the dirt floor and an empty cooking pot. She added that the HIV/AIDS crisis presents an additional challenge. While one normally thinks of children and the elderly as the most vulnerable groups, HIV/AIDS creates another vulnerable group among those who would normally have been relied upon for agricultural and other productive, income-generating activities.

Wolford was joined by Mr. Fayessa Kayemo, Development and Relief Director of the Evangelical Ethiopian Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), to hear firsthand how LWR and other U.S. agencies are raising awareness and advocating for more and better-targeted aid to Ethiopia. EECMY is part of the Joint Relief Program, a Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox partnership supported by Lutheran World Relief. At the end of the conference Mr. Kayemo expressed appreciation for the commitment of the agencies to long-term development to break the grip of poverty and hunger in his country.

The agencies noted that there have been significant contributions of food aid, especially from the U.S. Government. Now the need is to dramatically increase resources for non-food interventions such as medicines, clean water, seeds and animals. Aid to Ethiopia has been chronically imbalanced in favor of food aid; for example, this year the U.S. government provided $500 million worth of food aid, but only $6 million for agricultural development. U.S. officials in Ethiopia agree with aid agency officials that more needs to be done within an integrated strategy that addresses poverty, environmental degradation and population growth, which, together with the impact of HIV/AIDS, have created a vicious cycle of poverty and recurrent food shortages. The aid agencies concluded, there is good knowledge and experience in how to tackle the long-term challenge, but the resources are lacking.

Joining at the press conference were representatives of Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Africare, CARE, Save the Children, Latter Day Saints Charities and World Vision.

For more information about the food crisis in Africa and LWR's response, please visit www.lwr.org.