With Euro 3.3 million in funding from the European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a project to improve the implementation of humanitarian food and resilience-building interventions in Ethiopia.
Speaking at the launching workshop on 29 September 2022, Meles Mekonnen, State Minister, the Ministry of Agriculture thanked the EU and FAO for the project and noted that it is aligned with the ongoing government programs, including the vision of defeating hunger and achieving agricultural development by 2030. He reaffirmed the Government of Ethiopia’s commitment to supporting the implementation of the project. “Our officers from Directorates of crops, food security, livestock, and any others that may be required stand ready to collaborate with you to implement this project,” he said.
The 2022- 2024 “Support to Effective Food Security, Nutrition and Resilience Programming in Ethiopia” project will be implemented jointly by FAO, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Non-Government Organizations Regional Bureaus of Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Sidama, Somali, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region. Specifically, the project will enhance the integration of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) into regular planning, budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation, and reporting systems of the agriculture sector. It will also enhance the implementation of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) livelihoods component, including linkages with the DRM-Agricultural Task Force. Furthermore, the project will strengthen the capacity of stakeholders to generate information and design and implement resilience-building programming.
Farayi Zimudzi, the FAO Representative in Ethiopia, thanked the EU for the funding and said the project was timely because Ethiopia is currently implementing large-scale humanitarian interventions. “Nearly 25 million people in Ethiopia are estimated to require humanitarian assistance in 2022. The situation demands revisiting the early warning and information systems that underpin the necessary actions”.
Zimudzi highlighted the projected fifth consecutive season of below-average rainfall from October – December 2022 (Deyer/Hageya), which will likely result in further human suffering and loss of livelihood assets. The activities are based on the lessons learned through another EU-funded initiative (“Support the Government of Ethiopia to enhance food security information, national social protection, and disaster risk management systems”), implemented by FAO between 2019 and 2021.
FAO and EU – a longstanding partnership
The European Union is one of the largest resource partners in terms of voluntary contributions to FAO. It is among FAO’s most important partners through programs implemented worldwide. In Ethiopia, the EU has funded several FAO programs and projects ranging from resilience building to improving livestock health and productivity, strengthening food security information systems, and responding to disasters.
Credit:FAO