Flood. Drought. Famine.
Disasters like these have become an all-too-common reality for the residents of Amhara.
This means that relief and safety net interventions have also become a predictable component of the Ethiopian development landscape.
Since 1999, ORDA has managed food administration in 72 needy districts of Amhara with 192 relief distribution centers. We use a range of intervention options to assure the food security of vulnerable populations while also providing programs that help them move toward food self-sufficiency, reduce hunger and eliminate poverty.
Our main objectives for our disaster prevention and food security programs are:
- Increased food availability through household production.
- Increased access to food by helping households to produce, purchase or exchange labor or raw materials.
- Improved food use to meet household and individual requirements.
- Ensuring the availability of food and medical supplies for disaster victims.
- Preventing loss of life and asset depletion due to the absence of food.
- Reducing vulnerability of disease and malnutrition.
- Reinforcing coping strategies that are economically and environmentally sustainable.
- Recovery measures such as infrastructure maintenance and rehabilitation (for example, from flooding or volcano eruption).
- Timely supply of seeds and tools.
- Preventing long-term consequences of short-term consumption gaps (for example, people selling their valuables to get food).
- Creating alternative, non-farm income generating activities.
- Building household and community disaster mitigation capacity.
- Strengthening early warning systems for flood, drought and other disasters.
Our Main Program Activities