The seeds were provided by FAO with funding from OCHA's Central Emergency Response Fund for anticipatory action to support people dealing with the region's longest drought in several decades. The humanitarian community acted earlier thanks to OCHA piloting an anticipatory action framework. The OCHA-managed Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) provided US$20 million to humanitarian partners to reduce the drought’s impact on more than 900,000 people. “The Ethiopia anticipatory action pilot demonstrated that if we act earlier, people’s lives will be better,” said Joyce Msuya, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator. “In 2024, drought is once again driving millions of people to suffer... we have the evidence, now we must scale.”

Source: Ethiopian News March 14, 2024 23:40 UTC