Ethiopia’s ministry of finance andeconomic cooperation (MoFEC) has requested that the WorldBank and the United Kingdom (UK) Department forInternational Development (DfID) provide technicalassistance to MoFEC to develop a comprehensive disaster riskfinancing framework for Ethiopia, in support of Governmentof Ethiopia (GoE’s) interest in continuing to strengthen itssystem for delivery of post-disaster aid. MoFEC hasrequested that the analysis identify sources of funding forpast humanitarian response and include a forward-lookinganalysis using statistical simulation techniques, takinginto account historical changes in population andvulnerability. This document represents an effort toquantify the historical needs and expenditures associatedwith drought risks, with a view to supporting the dialogueabout ways to strengthen Ethiopia’s existing risk financingframework by improving the cost-effectiveness of riskmanagement instruments used, and timeliness of response. Thereport is structured as follows: section one provides ananalysis of the historic needs and expenditures associatedwith droughts in Ethiopia. Section two provides aforward-looking statistical analysis of disaster risks,identifying the annual financial needs associated withdisasters, as well as a probabilistic analysis of the costsassociated with disasters of different frequency andseverity. Section three presents a way to view the financialgap between the current sources of financing for droughtrisks and expected annual losses related to droughts.Section four concludes.