1. The development of EWS in Ethiopia The impact of disasters on the lives and livelihoods of the farmer community in different parts of the country has initiated the need to develop EWS, The Ethiopian EWS was the first to be set-up in Africa- in 1976 (Buchannan-Smith, 1993). But it was poorly resourced The Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) backed by the RRC took a leading role in the evolution of the EWS – Disaster area assessment. Under RRC the EW and planning service have been engaged in data collection and monitoring. During the transitional Government 1991 Relief Rehabilitation bureaus have been set-up around the country and EW staff are being appointed and regular monitoring data were dispatched to the center (A.A)

2. Cntd. The EWS monitors most conventional EW indicators based on a three phase monitoring sequence, 1 st food supply indicators; 2 nd social stress indicators and 3 rd individual stress indicators. The EW Department in DPPC/A have been dependent on other Government offices for information – CSA, NMA, In general the EWS have been driven by a concern to prevent large-scxale famine ever happening again (Buchannan-Smith, 1993).

3. Other agencies active in EWS Some NGO’s – SC-UK, CARE- have been involved in data collection particularly on nutrition situation, CRDA (Informal EW reporting), FOA’s harvest assessment and WFP’s need assessments are also take part of the EWS, In general, the distrust between donors and the government created the involvement of several NGO’s and UN agencies and other stackholders to undertake food security monitoring by themselves alone,

4. EWS after DPPA One of the reasons for the directional change in disaster management by the Government of Ethiopia is for improving the EWS,  The Government needs to implement a system that can help to forecast the impending situation before becoming a disaster, and also  EWS that monitors all disasters that have adverse effect on the livelihoods of the community,

5. The EWS now monitors the food security situation: With regular monitoring, Seasonal assessments (both meher and belg assessments) and Verification assessments, and Use of remote sensing data,

6. Index-based insurance Climate has always presented a challenge to those whose livelihood depend on it, in other words risk is inherent in agriculture, The lack of access to credit critically restricts access to agricultural inputs and technologies (improved seeds and fertilizers). Risk transfer approaches such as insurance have played a role in integrating climate risk in different countries. Although there have been some attempts this does not practically exist in the country.

7. Index insurance is insurance that is linked to an index, such as rainfall, temperature, humidity or crop yields, rather than actual loss and it is believed to offer new opportunities for managing climate risk in developing countries, One key advantage is that the transaction costs are lower,  Index insurance needs timely and accurate ground, meteorological and remote sensing information,

8. Use of Remote Sensing The EW Department of DPPC/A have been trying to use remote sensing data (NDVI) to get actual and timely information on vegetation.  Guideline was developed to be used to train EW experts on how to obtain data and its interpretation. But this was not much used, RISK FINANCING It is a different version of Risk Transfer which is developed to expand PSNP, The purpose of risk financing is to prevent the falling of people outside PSNP into chronic food insecurity situation by providing assistance in advance of the impending disaster. It aimed large graduates from PSNP,

9. Development of LEAP software The EW component in Fisk Financing Mechanism is designed to utilize and integrate a number of data sources. One of these is Livelihood Early Assessment Project (LEAP) software. LEAP is a weather-based index based on remote and actual rainfall data, soil and crop data to calculate a Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI), This index will help to forecast the yield of crops, and then to estimate those farmers affected by shortage of moisture and need of assistance, This will be based on historical beneficiary data and estimation of the cost of protecting livelihoods through the PSNP,

10. Contd. So far, three versions of LEAP software are developed, experts trained and now the software is in use both in NMA and DRMFSS (not in large scale), Trainings for EW experts in 6 Regional States have been given twice, The LEAP software is intended to be used to trigger Risk Financing budget by analyzing the data together with Livelihood impact Assessment Sheet (LIAS) and data from regular monitoring,

11. Global Monitoring for Food security (GMFS) DRMFSS is also working with GMFS to obtain remote sensing data on crop situation to improve the livelihood of food insecure population in the country, GMFS have been providing 10 days remote sensing indicators for the last three years, Historical archive of these indicators can be used to compare production years in the past and this can be used with a special software called “SPRITS” to analyze the data, It is expected that the support provided by GMFS will further improve the EWS. In the area of capacity building GMFS has given 2 training sessions for around 30 experts in DRMFSS, NMA, EMA, MoA and for 1 expert from 1 Regional State,

12. Thank you for your attention!