Background Information.

Anyone who knows anything about Ethiopia knows that there was a serious famine in the country – “The Ethiopian Famine” – for a couple of years, roughly 1983-85. Those of us who are old enough may recall the heartbreaking images of starving women and children; perhaps we remember Live Aid and Band Aid and “We Are the World”. Western countries sent bajillions of dollars in aid – cash and commodities – to mitigate the crisis. In the end, despite the humanitarian response, it’s estimated that about eight million people were affected and one million people died as a result of the famine.

Along with the aid money, The Ethiopian Famine brought hundreds of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to Ethiopia to help deliver food and medical assistance to people in need. Food for the Hungry was one of the many organizations that came into Ethiopia to provide short-term humanitarian relief, and subsequently expanded their programs to include longer-term development work. By the time we arrived, ten years later, FH/E was operating at three locations (I am sure there were three, but I can only remember two of them – Cheha in the south, and Gondar in the north), providing a wide array of services including food-for-work, child sponsorship, health care and health education, agricultural assistance, reforestation, water access, and veterinary medicine to the communities where they worked.

I have to acknowledge that I do not know exactly where FH/E obtained all of the funding for its work. Some – a lot – came from USAID and other western governments as part of their foreign aid packages; some came from churches and individuals who sponsored children or supported specific programs. Some of it must have come from the international fundraising efforts of Food for the Hungry International.

At the time of The Ethiopian Famine, and for many years after, the need was so urgent and obvious that there wasn’t a lot of accountability for where and how aid money was spent – cash and commodities were sent to Ethiopia, feeding centers ministered to people in crisis, lots of people lived and some people died. Donors were just pleased to know that their funds were making a difference. There was minimal oversight from the Ethiopian government in the form of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), which directed the work of NGOs operating in the country. But nobody asked how much of every dollar was spent on overhead; nobody questioned the cost to purchase and transport food and supplies. With a population in turmoil, nobody could follow up to find out how malnutrition might influence the long-term health of individuals affected by the famine, even if they had wanted to.

But by 1995, the situation had changed. Other humanitarian crises had diverted Western attention, and a lot of aid money, away from Ethiopia. Individuals were developing “donor fatigue”, reluctant to give to the same cause over and over again with little indication of positive movement. Worst of all, it had become clear that a small number of charlatans were taking advantage of the crisis, lining their own pockets with contributions while their brothers and sisters suffered.

As a result, FH/E and other NGOs became responsible not only for developing and implementing programs, but also for demonstrating the effectiveness of these programs – to the Ethiopian government as well as to international and individual contributors. That’s the reason FH/E created the position of Research Officer, and that’s the reason they implemented an organization-wide training on monitoring and evaluation, shortly after we arrived in Ethiopia. More about that next week.