US embassy cable - 03ROME3625

UNCLAS  ROME 003625 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
AIDAC 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME 
 
ADDIS FOR AMBASSADOR BRAZEL AND USAID DIRECTOR 
LEWELLEN 
USAID FOR ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS, DCHA/AA WINTER, 
DCHA/OFDA D/BMCCONNELL, DCHA/FFP/D LANDIS, AA/AFR, 
AA/EGAT 
STATE FOR A/S AF KANSTEINER, A/S IO HOLMES, A/S PRM 
DEWEY, AF/EA, IO/EDA 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, MCHAMBLISS, RTILSWORTH AND 
LPANASUK 
USUN FOR MLUTZ, LTAMLYN 
NAIROBI FOR REDSO, OFDA/ARO AND USDA/FAS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER 
NSC FOR JDWORKEN 
 
E.O.  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, AORC, PREF, EU, WFP, UN, FAO 
SUBJECT:  TUFTS UNIVERSITY DISCUSSIONS WITH WFP, FAO 
AND DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY IN ROME REGARDING ETHIOPIA, 
JULY 17-18 
 
REF: (A) Rome 2714, (B) Rome 1305 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  In March, U.S. Agency for International 
Development (USAID) Administrator Andrew S. Natsios 
dispatched a team from Tufts University's Feinstein 
International Famine Center to Ethiopia to review 
early warning systems related to food security 
issues.  On July 17 and 18, three team members 
briefed the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) and the 
Food and Agricultural Organization of the U.N. (FAO) 
headquarters staff in Rome on their findings. They 
focused on a range of food security and health issues 
that need to be addressed, as food aid alone will not 
end the cycle of food insecurity in Ethiopia, caused 
by drought and other factors.  Recommendations center 
around understanding better the state of current 
levels of destitution and how they relate to one's 
livelihood.  Traditional indigenous early warning 
systems should be incorporated into the formal ones, 
and artificial boundaries related to weather and 
livelihoods, which have become "stovepiped" in the 
current systems, are preventing them from looking 
across regions.  Agriculture, nutrition and health 
are key links in the equation, as well.  End Summary 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
2.  Faculty members from Tufts University's Feinstein 
International Famine Center spent four months in 
Ethiopia at the request of the USAID Administrator. 
Their scope of work was: a) to analyze the capacity 
of the early warning surveillance systems in 
Ethiopia, determining their effectiveness; and b) to 
develop potential scenarios that could take place in 
Ethiopia over the coming year.  Sue Lautze, Director 
of the Livelihoods Initiative Program at the Famine 
Center, served as the team leader and primary 
briefer.  She was accompanied by Angela Raven-Roberts 
and Helen Young, a nutritionist.  The team separately 
briefed staff of FAO, WFP, and a group of diplomatic 
permanent representatives to the UN Agencies in Rome. 
There were good turnouts for all briefings and 
substantive discussions followed. Note: The briefing 
to the Rome diplomatic corps reinforced US Mission 
efforts to convince other OECD donors of the severity 
of the on going crisis and of the need to respond 
generously (Refs A and B). End note. 
 
3.  The team provided recommendations for the two 
U.N. agencies, on which this report focuses. 
Although the recommendations were provided to each 
agency separately, some of the recommendations apply 
to both agencies.  The executive summary and full 
report (250 pages) can be found on the Tufts 
University website at www.famine.tufts.edu. 
AA/EGAT 
STATE FOR A/S AF KANSTEINER, A/S IO HOLMES, A/S PRM 
DEWEY, AF/EA, IO/EDA 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, MCHAMBLISS, RTILSWORTH AND 
LPANASUK 
USUN FOR MLUTZ, LTAMLYN 
NAIROBI FOR REDSO, OFDA/ARO AND USDA/FAS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
BRUSS 
 
4.  Overall, the team asked the international 
community to review the use of food aid in Ethiopia. 
They asked the questions, "Is food aid what is most 
needed in all cases?  Or rather, is it the tool that 
is most readily available?"  Lautze's team said the 
crisis in Ethiopia should be described as a 
livelihood crisis rather than a food crisis, adding 
that how one defines a crisis, defines how one 
responds. 
 
----------------------- 
Recommendations for WFP 
----------------------- 
 
5.  WFP should closely examine its targeting of food 
assistance.  Some beneficiaries are getting too 
little food, some in need are not getting anything, 
and some Ethiopians are probably getting more than 
they need.  Provision of food aid needs to be much 
more closely aligned to nutritional status. 
 
6.  WFP should review the current ration scale for 
its effectiveness and also re-consider whether all 
beneficiaries should be receiving the same ration, as 
is the case now.  Most are currently receiving 1,320 
kilocalories (kc) rather than the international 
standard ration of 2,100 kc, although some are not 
even receiving 1,320 kc due to non-availability of 
commodities.  WFP needs to exercise leadership in 
maintaining the international standards.  (Note: 
Food aid is also channeled through a consortium of 
non-governmental organizations [NGOs].  The ration 
the consortium is using also needs to be reviewed. 
End Note.) 
 
7.  WFP is currently not conducting food-basket 
monitoring (done at the time of distribution), nor 
post-distribution monitoring.  It should begin doing 
both. 
 
8.  WFP's ability to conduct assessments should be 
strengthened. 
 
9.  WFP should focus greater effort on helping to 
build the capacity of the government in outlying 
areas.  Woreda (district/township-level) offices are 
without basic office supplies and transport capacity. 
 
10.  WFP should strive to better understand how 
pastoralists use food aid and make appropriate 
adjustments to its program in those areas. 
 
11.  WFP, as one of the most active U.N. agencies (if 
not the most active) working in Ethiopia, should 
advocate for more involvement from other U.N. 
agencies and the "line ministries" such as the 
Ministry of Health, to tackle food security and 
health issues. 
 
12.  WFP should examine ways in which food aid can be 
used to help in protecting the environment. 
UNCLAS SECTION 03 OF 04 ROME 003625 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME 
 
ADDIS FOR AMBASSADOR BRAZEL AND USAID DIRECTOR 
LEWELLEN 
USAID FOR ADMINISTRATOR NATSIOS, DCHA/AA WINTER, 
DCHA/OFDA D/BMCCONNELL, DCHA/FFP/D LANDIS, AA/AFR, 
AA/EGAT 
STATE FOR A/S AF KANSTEINER, A/S IO HOLMES, A/S PRM 
DEWEY, AF/EA, IO/EDA 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, MCHAMBLISS, RTILSWORTH AND 
LPANASUK 
USUN FOR MLUTZ, LTAMLYN 
NAIROBI FOR REDSO, OFDA/ARO AND USDA/FAS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
BRUSSELS 
 
13.  WFP should closely examine and better understand 
the connection between destitution and food aid. 
 
----------------------- 
Recommendations for FAO 
----------------------- 
 
14. A lot of data has been collected by various 
institutions, but the capacities to analyze the data 
are very weak.  FAO needs to greatly strengthen the 
links between the early warning systems and its 
responses, which require the analysis and 
understanding of what the data indicates. 
 
15.  Early warning systems should also incorporate 
traditional indigenous early warning systems rather 
than only focus on formal systems.  Artificial 
boundaries (i.e., "stovepiping") related to weather 
and livelihoods imposed on the current systems are 
preventing them from looking across regions. 
 
16.  FAO needs to take the lead in working with the 
Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) to strengthen its 
ability to respond to emergencies.  The emergency 
response capacity currently rests almost entirely 
with the national government's Disaster Prevention 
and Preparedness Commission (DPPC), which is not 
strongly focused on agriculture. 
 
17.  FAO needs to strengthen its assessment process 
in preparation for its appeal to respond to revolving 
emergencies in Ethiopia. 
 
18.  FAO needs to take the lead in linking food 
security downfalls to livelihoods and nutrition.  The 
links are not being made now.  This would call for a 
true understanding of the various livelihoods that 
exist in Ethiopia and the coping mechanisms that come 
into play in each livelihood.  Marketing, storage, 
crop diversity, and drought resistant crops each need 
attention. 
 
19.  FAO needs to contribute to the development of a 
recovery strategy, which requires an understanding of 
the level of destitution that currently exists. 
Destitution exists not only from the current drought 
or from 1999-2000, but some people told Lautze's team 
they were still recovering from the 1984 drought. 
 
20.  Pastoralists' concerns are divided among three 
government ministries and thus are not consistently 
or holistically addressed.  FAO needs to push the 
Ministry of Agriculture to actively address problems 
of pastoralists.  (Note:  The lack of milk in the 
diet due to the death of animals or low weight of 
animals is a primary cause of malnutrition among the 
population in the pastoralist areas.  End Note.) 
 
21.  The repeal of the Saudi Arabia ban on the import 
of animals, stemming from fear of Rift Valley Fever 
and other animal diseases, needs to be a UN priority. 
FAO should take the lead in working with donors on an 
action plan to resolve the present impasse. 
AA/EGAT 
STATE FOR A/S AF KANSTEINER, A/S IO HOLMES, A/S PRM 
DEWEY, AF/EA, IO/EDA 
USDA/FAS FOR U/S PENN, MCHAMBLISS, RTILSWORTH AND 
LPANASUK 
USUN FOR MLUTZ, LTAMLYN 
NAIROBI FOR REDSO, OFDA/ARO AND USDA/FAS 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
BRUSS 
 
22.  FAO should assist with environmental management, 
including water management. 
 
--------- 
Comment 
--------- 
 
23.  Lautze and her team have compiled a well- 
researched and targeted report.  To fully embrace the 
recommendations will take concerted and devoted 
efforts over months, if not years, in Ethiopia.  But 
the work will be well worth the effort and is crucial 
to getting out of the cycle of a continued, and ever- 
growing, stream of food aid into Ethiopia.  The 
Ethiopians, as well as the international community, 
will reap the benefits of our endeavors. 
 
24.  Minimize considered.  Hall 
 
 
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 2003ROME03625 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED