The Ethiopian Ministry of Peace on Saturday launched what is called Durable Solutions Initiative to sustainably rehabilitate sustainably rehabilitate the country’s Internally Displaced Person (IDPs).
The multi-level initiative is a platform for collective action by UN agencies, NGOs, donors with the government in the lead to find durable solutions for internally displaced persons.
The $700 million initiative intends to address the over one million IDPs of the country considering their interests are respected.
In April this year, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator announced that the country needed $1.313 billion for humanitarian assistance following the mass displacement in several parts of the country, mainly caused by ethnic conflicts.
UN official Aeneas Chuma disclosed that about 45.6 percent of the funding requirement, amounting to $598 million was met while the over $714 million remains a funding gap to meet humanitarian needs for over two million internally displaced people (IDP).
In launching the initiative, Minister of Peace Muferihat Kamil said “we can’t simply rely on a project based approach but understand the needs of the IDPs to act accordingly”.
Humanitarian needs reportedly remain high in areas of displacement, as well as in areas of return.
Most assistance in displacement areas is being disrupted following mass return operations.
Assistance in areas of return is said to be either scanty or non-existent, affecting the sustainability of the returnees.
UN Resident Coordinator and UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Steven Were Omamo, said the initiative is a vital step in fulfilling and restoring the rights of citizens in distress, and in assisting them to rebuild their lives.
He added that much more work needed to be done to ensure those in search of durable solutions will be able to access basic rights.
The initiative is developed by the government of Ethiopia, the United Nations, international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donors.
MG/as/APA