USAID had allocated an additional fund valued at US 3.28 million for an expanded education program in Ethiopia as of May 1 this year.

According to Save the Children US (SC/US), the fund would be implemented through SC/US with its partners CARE, World Learning and Goal to "mitigate the impact of the current drought."

Following several months of planning, SC/US, Care International and Beso Partner World Learning had agreed with USAID to implement a cost and activity amendment to their respective USAID funded education programs. "Through the program modification, SC/US and CARE will support thousands of students attending school in drought-affected communities through the provision and support for school-based feeding, support of a learning based summer school program and the provision of material inputs," SC/US said in a statement.

It further said that the cost and activity modification attached represented an increase in the original scope award of $3,278,073.

The total Federal share of the SC/US cooperative agreement award is now at $10,528,073. "SC/US maintains a match amount of $2,416,425, bringing the value of the project to $12,944,498," it said.

Meanwhile, SC/US Executive Vise President Ann A.Van Dusen paid an official visit to Ethiopia last week. Mrs. Dusen visited Shinile zone, the most drought-hit area in Somali national Regional State and other areas where SC/US funded educational programs are taking place.

She told Addis Tribune that during her visit, she had witnessed both the "most hopeful education projects and the most desperate situation" in the country.

Speaking about the most hopeful projects she had seen in Woliso area, 150 km south-west of Addis, Mrs. Dusen said the SC/US funded informal education programs were quite optimistic and motivating SC/US to carry out similar ongoing programs. The project mainly focuses on building community schools and training local manpower at the grass-roots level. "We are concentrating on building schools where we could also provide teachers from the community," she said.

The most desperate situation in Ethiopia, according to Mrs. Dusen, was the emergency need supply, which was falling far from achieved as the impact of the drought was exacerbating. "I don't think needs are met in Ethiopia. The only food drought affected people are receiving is wheat," she said, adding that food aids were both inadequate in quality and quantity.

She witnessed her experience with the people she had visited as the most desperate one, "It is a very disturbing situation," she said. "These people can't survive like this unless we do something better." Three areas that should be given priorities, according to her, were number of food aid beneficiaries were much more smaller than the people in need, people were not getting food provisions they deserve and there were a big shortage of supplementary feeding programs.

Recent reports revealed that malnutrition rates among children were as high as 18% GAM (Global Acute Malnutrition) in parts of the Shinile Zone.

Though rains had started in the last two months, there were no grazing lands available yet, according to Mrs. Dusen. "50% of the animals have died over the couple of past months," she said.

Using relief food provided by USAID/Food for Peace, SC alliance have been providing relief food to nearly 204,230 vulnerable rural communities on four districts namely Dambel, Erer, Shinile and Aysha in the Shinile Zone since December last year. Recovery, will, however, depend on this year's rains, expected on March/April and on the provision of relief and rehabilitation assistance, SC/US said.

During her visit to Ethiopia, Mrs. Dusen had also visited Addis Ababa. She also visited a charity for orphaned children in Addis Ababa. She said that such programs were well under way and she would be doing an advocacy campaign to raise more funds through SC/US for further expansion of such programs and for the drought-affected people.