Ethiopia

Back-to-back seasons of poor or non-existent rainfall in 2015, exacerbated by the strongest El Niño phenomenon on record in the same year, led to the worst drought in decades in Ethiopia in 2016. Together with the Government of Ethiopia, humanitarian partners assisted at least 10.2 million people with food, and the largest emergency seed response in the country was rolled out to at least 1.5 million households. International donors contributed close to US$1 billion over the course of the response, while the Government of Ethiopia contributed more than $700 million. The combined Government and partners’ effort helped save countless people’s lives and averted a major humanitarian catastrophe in Ethiopia.