There before, there after
Twenty years in Ethiopia have taught us that emergencies don’t come out of nowhere: they are part of the landscape. That is why we don’t arrive when a crisis hits and leave when it ends. We were already there.
Ethiopia lives in a permanent state of emergency
According to the latest official UN figures, from 2024, more than 21 million people in Ethiopia needed humanitarian aid, and 3.3 million were displaced within the country. Ethiopia also hosts more than one million refugees from neighbouring countries. Armed conflict, long droughts, floods, disease outbreaks and food crises pile up without a break. When an emergency hits an isolated rural area, being there beforehand is what makes it possible to arrive in time.
Fast response, because we are already there
In emergencies, our strength is not how fast we can mobilise from Europe. It is our continuous presence on the ground. When the Horn of Africa crisis hit Ethiopia in 2011, we already had a nutrition programme running in the Asayita Refugee Camp, and we scaled it up within days. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we refocused projects to support the most vulnerable communities in Oromia. In 2022, together with Bizkaia Provincial Council, we rolled out an emergency food aid programme in Muketuri. When emergencies strike, we are never far away.
Our ability to respond fast comes from years of work in water, health and farming. Our emergency response is the other side of our long-term presence.
Our emergency projects
