Oxfam Shake Up Aid System

Oxfam has released a new report, Band Aids and Beyond: Tackling disasters in Ethiopia 25 years after the famine, which calls for a “radical shake-up” of the aid system in order to break the cycle of hunger that exists in Ethiopia.

Rather than simply waiting for disasters to strike and then responding, the report calls for the more sustainable and dignified approach of tackling the risk of those disasters, by employing Disaster Risk Management (DRM). According to the report, DRM works by:

• Identifying all potential threats to lives and livelihoods and people’s vulnerabilities to such threats,
• Building their resilience, i.e. their ability to withstand shocks without jeopardising their ways of working and living.

DRM can operate in many ways, such as by providing micro-insurance for farmers, giving communities cash in exchange for work (examples of which are documented in the report) and by establishing early warning systems to help ensure a timely response to impending food shortages and other disasters.

With regard to Ethiopia specifically, Oxfam points out that the US Government is the source of 70 per cent of humanitarian assistance but that last year, 92% of the amount spent went on in-kind food aid. Although it is without doubt required at times, food aid does not address the fundamental causes of disasters and therefore thus does not prevent them from happening again or even limit their severity. In addition, food aid supports industries within donor countries rather than local producers. A shift in approach is required.

Knee jerk reactions are never long term solutions and Oxfam’s latest report examines one potential solution. It’s well worth a read.