Insecurity Insight Newsletter 7/26/2023

 

To support the humanitarian response in Ethiopia, Insecurity Insight is conducting ongoing social media monitoring to understand sentiments towards aid agencies and their programmes and risks for the aid sector resulting from misinformation and disinformation spread via social media. The aim is to contribute to the development of aid agencies’ communication strategies at a time when social media use is growing rapidly in many countries where such agencies operate.

USAID and WFP Decision to Suspend Food Aid Blamed on Ethiopian Government Social Media Monitoring July 2023 This research brief discusses the main reactions and sentiments on social media in Ethiopia following USAID’s and WFP’s decision to suspend humanitarian food support after allegations of widespread diversion. Based on an analysis of social data gathered from 1 to 30 June 2023, the findings suggest the following: Social media users writing in Amharic, including from the Addis Ababa area, appear to be laying the blame for the aid agencies’ decision to suspend food aid at the feet of the government and prominent institutions, including the army. Some social media users – mostly located in Ethiopia’s Somali region – have welcomed the decision to suspend aid, believing that Ethiopia should be independent from humanitarian and foreign support. No social media trends reflecting overt hostility towards USAID or the WFP were noted. Moreover, no signs of misinformation and disinformation targeting international humanitarian organisations were detected in the research period. The assessment is limited to social media users writing in Amharic or Somali who discussed the issue of food aid suspension and referred directly to the WFP and USAID. Read more Should you wish to provide us with any feedback or to get in touch, kindly write to: info@insecurityinsight.org. Help support our work by sharing this resource. Copy and paste this link:bit.ly/ETHWFPSMMJul2023 Related content Disinformation Campaign Targeting USAID and the WFP (October 2022) UN Targeted by Allegations of Complicity with the Assad Regime Sudan’s Doctors Falsely Accused of Siding with the RSF Attitudes to Türkiye Earthquake Response

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