Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The World Food Program (WFP) has stressed the importance of quickly prioritizing the needs of conflict and drought affected people in Ethiopia, and support them to build resilience and make sure that they do not stuck in long-term relief.
In an exclusive interview, WFP Representative and Country Director Claude Jibidar said most of the people who have been displaced due to conflicts have the possibility to cultivate and take care of their own food needs.
The one thing that I believe we should prioritize very quickly is enhancing peoples’ capacity to feed them, he added.
“We need to make sure that we do not stuck in long-term relief in humanitarian response.We can step up the other support that the community needs to build their own resilience so that they can face other shocks and continue their development.”
Regarding access to conflict affected areas, the country representative pointed out that now WFP has access to most of northern Ethiopia. And “we have managed to scale up the humanitarian response in many aspects.”
Highlighting drought affected areas as the other priorities of WFP, Jibidar said addressing the immediate and the long-term impact of climate change is crucial.
“This is a problem that is yet to stay here. It is not about to go. So we need to invest.”
Finding a way of helping affected communities to get back on their own feet is vital, the country representative noted, adding that the people who are pastoralist need to be able to have water and fodder for the cattle.
There is an emergency for development because the relief for humanitarian response cannot address the longer-term problems that people are facing.
“We are here to support the government in everything that the government is doing for its people. I know there is commitment from the government to work on addressing immediate needs,” Jibidar underlined.
He also urged donors to help the government, and help the communities to speed up recovery from climate change and from conflict.
By speeding up the resilience of communities, the country representative stressed that we can get rid of relief.
“We can get rid of relief food. I think it is top priority to help those communities in the years to come.”
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