Meeting immediate needs and protecting development gains

From April to October 2022, Mercy Corps’ Resilience in Pastoral Areas, North (RIPA-North) programme provided a humanitarian drought response in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. This response was designed to complement and build on the MSD approach which focuses on enhancing resilient, sustainable economic
opportunities in arid and semi-arid lands as a pathway to food security.

A humanitarian response that shifts away from market support and towards direct distributions would risk undermining the very market systems that RIPA-North,
and its predecessor programme, PRIME, have strengthened with nearly a decade of  resilience investments in dryland economies and production systems. A weakening of local markets would accelerate the deterioration of the local food system and its ability to provide safe and nutritious foods to pastoral communities already facing multiple crises, thus causing backsliding towards greater aid dependency. 

This paper provides an overview of how the Markets in Crises approach to this drought response leveraged existing relationships and built on RIPA-North’s development interventions to meet immediate humanitarian needs, helped households protect assets, livelihoods, and food security in light of compounding shocks, and simultaneously strengthened local markets that households rely on to cope and improve their food security and economic prospects in the future. 

Intervention description

Several interventions were implemented to address the severe drought conditions in the Somali region of Ethiopia. These interventions included Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA), vouchers for livestock inputs, commercial destocking, and water system repair.

The programme worked with local partners such as financial service providers, private veterinary pharmacies, and local contractors. The MPCA targeted households that lost most of their livestock assets, providing cash through financial service providers to meet critical needs such as food and healthcare. Vouchers for livestock inputs were provided to maintain the health of breeding stock, while commercial destocking offered financial incentives to traders to purchase livestock in drought-affected areas. Water system repairs were coordinated with regional water bureaus to increase water supply. Programme partners adopted the desired models and practices, with interventions leading to positive outcomes such as preventing negative coping strategies and maintaining household food supply.

Evidence methodology

The methodology for the drought response involved leveraging existing relationships and building on RIPA-North’s development interventions. Team members involved in the design and implementation of the response participated in interviews to discuss the design of interventions and early implementation. Data from Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) and market analysis were used to assess the response’s impact.

The study employed a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative data from interviews with quantitative data from surveys conducted post-intervention.