child sponsorship.   The rationale for

using schools was that children were

Map 2:  Uganda ~ Flood impacts in the East

defined as the target group from the

beginning, and by feeding them at

school Plan could be sure that the

food was eaten and not sold. Pre 

school age children from targeted

KUMI

!

(sponsored) families were also

!

KAPCHORWA

brought to the schools for meals.

!

Siroko

PALLISA

MBALE

!

!

!

MT Elgon

!

Bududa

KENYA

2.2.d. Focus area 2:  Mbale

District

TORORO

KEN Y

!

In Mbale, although some drought 

Primary Roads

relief food had been received earlier

in the year, the focus of the study

team was on targeting in response to

map by FEWS Uganda (Monthly Report January 1998)

the El Nino  floods in November/

December.  Map 2 shows the flood 

affected areas (as well as the

location of the neighboring Eastern Districts).   The impacts of flooding in Uganda were in fact

smaller than reported at first. A joint WFP / UNICEF / UNDP / FEWS / IFRC assessment in

November concluded that  it was an abrupt, medium intensity disaster that was localised and that

affected a low fraction of the community.  FEWS reported in December 1997 that  674 houses had

been washed away in Mbale, leaving 3,500 people homeless.

The targeting of food aid in this situation was different from drought response in a number of ways.

Firstly,  the disaster was sudden and short lived, so that a one off distribution of food (3kg maize

plus 1.5 kg CSB per person) was sufficient to help people over the initial period of dislocation.

Secondly, food was only one of several types of assistance needed, and probably not the most

urgent in most cases. Shelter, blankets, and utensils for cooking and carrying water were

immediate priorities (while in the longer term, at the time of the team's visit, iron roofing sheets for

re building houses were the most hotly contested aid commodity).  Thirdly, the identification of

people in need of assistance was much less problematic than in widespread drought. Selection

criteria could be clearly and simply stated as households in limited affected areas who had lost

homes, crops, stores etc.  In the initial period after the floods, the target group tended to gather for

shelter in schools and other public buildings, though those who dispersed to stay with neighbors

and relatives were somewhat harder to identify.

Flood relief was distributed by the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), which had much greater

resources for such an operation than the local government and could mobilize volunteers within

the affected communities to assess and register the needy and to distribute aid directly to them

(without the delays associated with going through each level of the government hierarchy).

Nevertheless, Red Cross officials considered that the targeting of the flood relief had been only

partly successful, and people in less accessible areas had probably been missed.  They also

commented that a detailed needs assessment takes time (two to three weeks in this case), while

the District authorities had been pressing them to distribute aid immediately without waiting for the

assessment report.

2.3.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED TARGETING

It has already been suggested above that a separate study is needed on the targeting of food aid

to refugee and conflict displaced populations in Uganda.  The following discussion focuses on the

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