Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis Toolkit

2011 was one of the driest years since 1950-51 in many pastoral zones in Ethiopia, leading to extreme food insecurity in the Somali region of the country.This assessment was conducted by Oxfam, Save the Children and Concern in order to determine the market systems' capacities to provide basic food products, including rice, pasta and sorghum, to the rural pastoralist communities during a severe drought and to judge what types of humanitarian responses might be required and feasible to ensure food security of these people during such a crisis situation. It found that all market systems studied seem to have the capacity to meet the respective needs of the population in Siti Zone – even during a severe drought. It suggests that cash based programming is a feasible alternative to in-kind distributions of food in Siti Zone. In this respect it would make sense to advocate for a policy change in the Somali region and try to motivate the responsible authorities to some pilot projects in which the government starts to distribute cash.

Annex to the EMMA report on the Water Market System in Harshin.

The Somali region in Ethiopia suffers from chronic drought and water shortages. Oxfam conducted this EMMA study on the water market system in Harshin woreda, comparing the system in a normal year (2009), a bad year (2011), and the current year (2012). The study found that private market actors in Harshin are able to supply sufficient water to meet the needs of the population, but there are issues with cost and access, especially for poor and isolated communities. The report recommends running a pilot project through community level trading entities; implementing public health promotion interventions appropriate for extreme water scarcity; providing support for the operation and maintenance of boreholes; and continuing advocacy efforts for the lifting of border restrictions to enable water to be transported from Somaliland.

Households in Moyale town in Ethiopia, located on the border with Kenya, have witnessed an influx of Kenyan migrants fleeing inter-clan violence, which has led to shortages of water and other basic resources. Oxfam Great Britain carried out an EMMA study to assess the functionality of Moyale’s water market system. This report recommends the implementation of flexible market-integrated relief that permits households to access water via their choice of the following mechanisms: water vouchers for public and private water stands, water vouchers for donkey carts, segregated access vouchers and monthly cash distributions.