East Africa Drought (Eritrea) - Development and Peace 2012

December 2011 - Eritrea is a relatively poor nation of nearly 6 million people in the drought-affected Horn of Africa region. An estimated 80% of the population are engaged in subsistance agriculture and recent harvests have been insufficient to meet the food requirements of the country. With CIDA support Development and Peace and its local partners are helping to address the health and nutrition needs of 50 000 people (10 000 households) in Eritrea by improving household food security. Project activities include: general food distributions cash grants the provision of livestock (goats and chickens) the provision of seeds and the establishment of home gardens. Development and Peace and Eritrean Catholic Services are also improving access to knowledge of good hygiene and nutrition practices through the distribution of appropriate information in targeted communities.

Expected outputs include: provision of various food security inputs to 10 000 households to maintain or improve their nutritional status preventing a slide into severe malnutrition; and dissemination of proper nutrition knowledge amongst targeted communities to help prevent potential nutrition crises in the future. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.