Addis Abeba – Four initiatives have been approved on 15 September by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Italian Cooperation for a total of 9 million euros to respond to “Ethiopia’s most urgent needs.”
To respond to the problem of drought, which has caused acute food insecurity for 50 million people in the Horn of Africa, the Italian Cooperation will provide 3 million euros to the civil society organizations to implement initiatives in the sectors of water and sanitation, agriculture and food security, protection, health and nutrition, in the southern regions of the country, according to a statement sent to Addis Standard.
Furthermore, 2 million euros will support the interventions of the World Food Program (WFP), to promote an effective response to the nutritional rehabilitation and to prevent infant mortality. The program will be implemented in the Tigray, “as soon as the situation allows”, in Amhara and Afar regions, classified as the most fragile in terms of needs. The crisis in the Northern part of the Country, in particular, has increased the vulnerability of the population, especially displaced people. The continuous fighting, insecurity, the collapse of social services, have created a high-risk environment and a forced movement of the population in which, in addition to malnutrition, gender-based violence is a widespread daily reality. To prevent this violence, to reduce inequalities and to combat sexual exploitation and abuse, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)will act in favor of the protection of nearly 50,000 women and girls, especially internally displaced persons and returnees in the north of Ethiopia, through a contribution of 2 million euros.
Finally, Ethiopia will benefit from another 2 million euros, for the regions of Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz, to counter the protracted crisis and to support people forced to flee the conflict.
“These new loans in the emergency sector reaffirm the commitment of our development cooperation in the most vulnerable areas of the country and in favor of people most in need. Furthermore, in the light of attaching the utmost attention to this situation, a high Level side-event on the margins of the 77th UNGA in New York, co-chaired by Italy, through the Vice Minister Marina Sereni, OCHA and other partners, was devoted yesterday 21 September to the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and broader Horn of Africa Region,” the statement adds. AS
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