The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative (R4) is a strategic partnership between the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Oxfam America. Its aim is to enable vulnerable rural households to improve their food and income security in the face of increasing climate risks. R4 applies an innovative model that combines four risk management strategies: risk reduction, risk transfer, prudent risk taking, and the establishment of risk reserves. In 2013, R4 reached 20,365 farmers in Ethiopia, building on the successful Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation (HARITA) initiative started in 2009 by Oxfam America, the Ethiopian non-governmental organization Relief Society of Tigray, Ethiopian farmers and other partners. R4 was also piloted with 500 households in Senegal, with plans for scale-up in 2014 and 2015. The program is implemented in close collaboration with local partners in Ethiopia and Senegal.
