Tigray region: Cash Assistance for displaced families in Ethiopia

Ten months of conflict has left 5.2 million people in Tigray region needing humanitarian assistance. Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, is now host to over 100,000 IDPs, who have fled fighting in rural areas.

Since June 2021, Ethiopia’sTigray Region is experiencing a shutdown of essential services such as mobile networks, fuel deliveries, and banking. This imposes enormous challenges both on the people living in the area and the humanitarian organizations trying to help them.

ACTED delivers cash assistance to displaced families in Tigray region

Over 400,000 people in Tigray are facing catastrophic hunger levels. Since the start of the crisis, food partners and the government of Ethiopia have been conducting rounds of food distributions. But these are delayed or suspended due to difficulty of access to Tigray, which is now reachable via the Afar Region, which is now also experiencing conflict. The lack of cash and operational banks is also driving increases in food prices in Mekelle markets, exacerbating an already serious situation.

ACTED’s activities started in May and aimed to provide much-needed cash support to 900 vulnerable families sheltering in two schools. After communications and banking services were suspended in June, these families could no longer receive cash as planned. ACTED responded to this new challenge with physical cash transport and hand-to-hand distributions. ACTED was able to deliver the first round of much-needed cash by 21 August, reaching 863 families which represents 4315 people in total.

The majority of displaced people in Mekelle have lost their livelihoods, and their lives have been further hampered by a lack of cash, market inflation, and delayed humanitarian assistance. In the midst of this chaotic situation, ACTED is proud to have provided 855 households with the means to cope thanks to the funding of the French Embassy in Ethiopia. Unconditional cash support will support families’ immediate recovery and will empower them in the short term by giving them choice and flexibility in how they use the cash assistance.

Source: ACTED