Dollo Ado and the newly established Boqolmayo weredas/districts/ are the two weredas of
Liben Zone of Ethiopian Somali regional state which are home to the five Somali refugee
camps, a reception center at Dollo Ado town and the coordination office now moved to
Melkadida town. The reception center, Buramino and Hilaweyn refugee camps are located in
the Dollo Ado district where as Kobe, Melkadida, Boqolmayo refugee camps and the Zonal
refugee coordination office are found in the newly established Boqolmayo wereda.The
weredas are located some 862-952 kms south East of Addis Ababa.
The area is characterized by low annual rainfall, often below 500mm per annum.Genale
River is the prominent source of fresh water in the area.

The Melkadida/Dollo Ado Branch Office is home to more than 200,000 Somali
refugees originating from Southern and Central Somalia. Current population stands at 214,
273 located in Boqolmayo, Melkadida, Kobe, Hilaweyn, and Buramino refugee camps.
It is the second largest operation to host huge number of refugee population in Ethiopia, next
to the Gambella operation. The coordination office is situated at Liben Zone in South-East
Ethiopia in the Somali regional state.
Since 2009 Somali refugees have been accepted on a prima facie basis. RRS has been
conducting screening at Dollo Ado Reception Centre to verify their nationality and establish
their eligibility as refugees and subsequently registered by UNHCR. All registered refugees
are then transferred to the camps with the support of IOM, for which RRS is responsible
for the delivery of basic and social services including safeguarding their wellbeing and
security, distribution of Core Relief Items (CRIs) & food , provision of prima.

3.1 General Food Distribution
RRS supports the refugee population through its General Food Distribution (GFD) and
School Feeding for primary school program in partnership with WFP, Nutrition programs in
partnership with different INGOs.

3.2 Health, Nutrition and WASH
Primary health care service is provided within health center, health post and as outreach
health services in all five camps .
Nutrition projects in Dollo Ado camps have been implemented by various partners including
RRS. In 2017, International Medical Corps (IMC) has been responsible in the five camps
and MSF-Spain at the reception center for nutrition projects. The clinical part of the nutrition
program is implemented by RRS.
Since January 2016, it is the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and International Rescue
Committee (IRC) which are responsible for WASH services.
Dollo Ado Woreda is considered a ground water scarcity area and water supply is largely
reliant on water from Ganele River – either through filtration or direct abstraction. All camps
are now served with a reliable permanent water systems that conform to safety standards.
Water supply across all refugee camps is relatively good.There still remains the challenge of
storage and water collection containers across all camps.

3.3 Sanitation
Latrine construction is progressing across all camps.Various modes of latrines are being
constructed. Kobe, Boqolmayo and Melkadida have a double pit composite latrine type while
Urine Diversion and Dry Toilet (UDDT) and dome shaped latrines are common in
Hilaweyne whereas Buramino has UDDT. Much of the latrines across all refugee camps are
part of the communal latrines project constructed in the past years by various implementing
partners.
3.4 Education
Building on the Ethiopian curriculum, the education program in Dollo Ado aims to equip
refugee and host community students with necessary literacy and numeracy skills, life skills,
under ECCE, ABE, Primary Education, YEP, and Secondary Education.
ECCE – Early Childhood Care and Education- combines education, healthcare and nutrition
with long-term positive benefits for children 3 -6 years old.
ABE – Alternative Basic Education- helps 11-14 years aged students to catch up the regular
schooling program who were denied of formal schooling opportunities.
Primary Education – targets children aged 7 – 14 years old.
YEP – Youth Education Program/Vocational Skills Training benefits youth between the age
of 15 and 25 years old. The programme is focused on enhancing the protection of the youth
and improving their livelihood.
Secondary Education – includes adolescents between the age of 15 – 18.
Adult Literacy – 18 years and above are given the opportunity to learn functional literacy and
numeracy according to their needs.

3.5 Livelihood
Financially supported by IKEA Foundation, livelihoods program are currently being
implemented by Relief Society of Tigrie(REST) where it is responsible in the construction of
irrigation canals, crop production and microfinance service for host communities and
refugees. Pastoralist Welfare Organization (PWO) is also another domestic partner engaged
in agricultural interventions.
Irrigation canals were constructed in Melkadida, Kobe, Kole (by REST in 2016), Hilaweyn
(by NRC in 2015) and Buramino (by DRC in 2015) aimed at the cultivation of 490 hectare of
land-50% for the host communities and 50% for refugees.

3.6 Services to People with Specific Needs
Services to people with specific needs are focused mainly at improving the quality of life of
People with Disabilities (PWDs) but also women, SGBV survivors, children and the youth
through addressing their medical, physical, psychosocial and mental problems.