Ethiopia: The R4 Initiative as a Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Strategy to Build Rural Resilience in Tigray

The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative enables rural communities to build their resilience in the face of extreme climate events. R4, formerly known as HARITA, is designed to increase smallholders’ food and income security in drought-prone areas through a holistic risk management strategy. Operating in the northern Ethiopian region Tigray since 2009, R4 has reduced adverse impacts of climate shocks and stresses considerably. The initiative is currently implemented by Oxfam America (OA) and the World Food Program (WFP) in Ethiopia as well as in Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The initiative reflects the global effort to enable the most vulnerable communities to better prepare for, respond to and recover from climate shocks and stresses. Climate extremes – becoming more frequent and intense as the climate changes – particularly threaten the well-being of rural populations engaged in smallholder agriculture. Extreme events such as heavy rains and droughts have a long-term effect on their income and food security. As this desk study shows, in Tigray, R4 can be considered a good practice as it mitigates drought impacts on food and income security. It contributes to securing productive assets during droughts and increasing savings, loans as well as opportunities for income diversification during good seasons. Besides, R4 resulted to be particularly empowering for female farmers: They have become more food secure and managed to maintain and accumulate more productive assets than the control group. Moreover, female R4 farmers have been more prone to use credits and diversify their income sources. AVE Good Practice Reihe, vol. 2019, no. 22