Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support local faith and church networks in Ethiopia in their efforts to assist people affected by the current drought.

DFID has not provided direct financial support to local faith and church networks responding to the drought in Ethiopia. However, DFID has contributed £70.1 million over three years (2014-16) to the Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF), a pooled donor fund responding to the most urgent drought needs. DFID is the largest donor to the HRF (74% of current funding), which is administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In 2016 alone, the HRF has granted £40 million to 48 projects run by organizations, including World Vision and Catholic Relief Services, to bring food, water and emergency healthcare to over half a million of the most drought affected men, women and children in Ethiopia.