The SNF responds to the Severe Drought Crisis in Ethiopia with a €250,000 Emergency Relief Grant to Oxfam

The grant will support efforts on territories that are classified as “Priority One” hotspots by both the UN and the Ethiopian government, including the Sitti Zone of the Somali region, the Afar region and the West Arsi zone of the Oromia region.

The devastating drought, exacerbated by El Nino, has had a dramatic impact on the lives of over 10 million Ethiopians. Crops are failing, water sources are drying up and livestock are dying. The grant will help Oxfam provide emergency food and water, through water trucking and the rehabilitation of boreholes, to the most vulnerable families.

“Oxfam has been a long term partner of the Foundation and has consistently and effectively responded to multiple crises in this area,” said Sandra Tosello, a Social Welfare program officer of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. “Oxfam’s long-standing presence in Ethiopia and its work with vulnerable communities makes us confident that relief support will be expedited to populations who are in dire need.”  

During its 20 years of grant-making activity, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, in addition to its regular grant-making activity around the world, has provided numerous emergency relief grants responding to urgent and critical needs. Among other grants, the Foundation has provided emergency support to help with the refugee crisis in Greece, combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, support relief efforts in response to the devastating floods in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, provide emergency relief to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, respond to the earthquake that hit the island of Kefalonia in Greece, and assist a variety of relief and aid operations in New York, in response to Superstorm Sandy.