BY YOHANES JEMANEH
As a nation that passed through testing times originating from conflicts and natural disasters, Ethiopia has a considerable number of people who faced physical, psychological, and economic injuries. These people need immediate humanitarian support to resist the impact of the conflicts.
In relation to this, the government has been trying to reach affected people with the needed amount of humanitarian support in collaboration with local and international partners. Recently, the government has unveiled a rehabilitation project to provide service and support to affected communities consistently.
The government is working ardently for the success of the rehabilitation programs that are intended to restore life in war-torn areas, said Finance Minister Ahmed Shide while announcing the rehabilitation project in a program held in the presence of government bodies, stakeholders, and international partners among others.
He said that the government has been providing immediate humanitarian support to communities affected by the Tigray conflict. The government once announced that it has spent 100 billion Birr for restoration activities in Tigray. It has also disbursed an additional five billion Birr in 2021/22 for rehabilitation programs.
On the occasion, Ahmed also expressed that the government has spent a 20 Billion Birr budget for similar rehabilitation works in the upcoming Ethiopian fiscal year. The restoration project has two focusing areas such as providing multifaceted support and services to gender-based violence victims, and reconstructing and improving public infrastructures damaged due to the conflict, he said.
The rehabilitation project will be implemented in Tigray, Amhara, Afar, Beninshangul Gumuz and some parts of Oromia states. Various international organizations including WB, UNIOPS, and UNICEF are providing active support to the project.
UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell, recently expressed the increased vulnerability of women and children in times of man-made and natural disasters and affirmed her organization’s commitment to extend all the necessary support to priority areas identified by the government.
Similarly, the WB Country Director to Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea, Ousmane Dione said that his organization would enhance its support for the realization of the rehabilitation project for victims of conflicts.
It is to be remembered that on 12 July 2022, the Government signed a third-party implementation agreement with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to implement the rehabilitation project.
The objectives of the project are rebuilding and improving access to basic services and climate-resilient community infrastructure and improving access to multi-sectoral response services for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors in selected conflict-affected communities in Ethiopia.
Based on the agreement, UNOPS will implement activities identified under the first objective of the Project in the Tigray region. The second objective of supporting GBV survivors will be implemented by another third-party implementer on which negotiations between the agency and the government are taking place. UNOPS will implement the activities of, providing rapid response services to Communities in Tigray consulting the community, reconstructing basic service providing infrastructures affected by the conflict in consultation with the communities and supporting community-level social institutions.
UNOPS will implement the project in Tigray until situations in the state improve to enable the government to implement the project with its own structure in which case, UNOPS will hand over activities to the government.
“Based on the agreement with UNOPS the agency will implement activities identified under rebuilding and improving access to basic services and climate-resilient community infrastructure,” according to Ministry of Finance. The Minister also said under the agreement the UNOPS will implement activities of providing rapid response services to communities in Tigray in consultation with communities.
The UNOPS will also reconstruct basic service-providing infrastructures affected by the conflict in consultation with the communities, as well as support community-level social institutions in Tigray. This helps to enhance the humanitarian aid which is currently heading to Tigray following the humanitarian truce from the government side targeting unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid into the region.
Last month, the World Bank and the MoF signed a financial assistance agreement to help Ethiopian communities affected by conflict and drought. Financing Agreements signed between the Ministry and the WB on 24 June 2022, account for 715 million USD in the form of a grant, credit for the implementation of the Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP), implementation of De-risking, Inclusion, and Value Enhancement of Pastoral Economies in the Horn of Africa Project (DRIVE) and so on.
The resource from the first Financing Agreement will be used to finance increasing the resilience of food systems and preparedness for food insecurity in project areas in the country. The resource for de-risking, inclusion, and value enhancement of pastoral economies in the Horn of Africa Project will be used to enhance pastoralists’ access to financial services for drought risk mitigation, include them in the value chains, and facilitate the livestock trade in the Horn of Africa.
By the same token, the government of Sweden and Japan also agreed to support rehabilitation works. In this regard, Ahmed Shide had discussed with Matilda Ernkrans, Minister of International Development Cooperation of Sweden about the current humanitarian situation in Ethiopia among others.
The two ministers exchanged updates on the humanitarian situation in the conflict-affected areas as well as the magnitude of the recent drought and confirmed the significant progress in securing the transportation corridor to access for delivering humanitarian support in the northern part of Ethiopia.
Minister Matilda appreciated the overall positive progress in humanitarian access and peace process in the country and confirmed her government’s commitment in maintaining the development and humanitarian support.
The government also agreed with Japan on Food Assistance Programme. Ahmed Shide and ITO Takako, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ethiopia have inked a 3.5 million USD agreement.
Accordingly, around 2,250 tons of Japanese rice will be provided to Ethiopia through this grant aid in order to combat food insecurity brought on by various factors including the conflict in the north, droughts, and the extremely high number of IDPs in the country. As a lot of rice consumption in Ethiopia has relied on imports recently, this grant aid will help Ethiopia not only to combat food insecurity but also to reduce imports and contribute to saving foreign currency.
Japan has supported rice production in Ethiopia since 2015, as one of the main pillars of the agricultural sector. Japan has been actively supporting the development of Ethiopia and contributing to the improvement of people’s lives through various schemes, particularly in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, industry, education, and health.
The government has been working on mobilizing resources to restore life in conflict-affected areas. In this regard, it has mobilized finances and various support from local people and the diaspora community. It is also consolidating partnerships with various international partners thereby it would reach to those in need of humanitarian support. Similarly, reconstructing public infrastructures that were damaged by terrorist groups needs a cooperative endeavor to get back to normalcy and keep the nation noticing on achieving its development goals. Therefore, strengthening diplomatic cooperation is vital to realize this through mobilizing financial, material and technical support. Although ministries of Finance, and Foreign Affairs are playing due role in promoting cooperation and mobilizing resources, a lot remains to be done compared to the people who seek support to get back to normal life.
TUESDAY 19 JULY 2022
