The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors Saturday approved a $180 million fund to step up support to refugees and their host communities in Ethiopia.
The fund is to help Ethiopia improve access to basic social and economic services, expand livelihood opportunities, and enhance environmental management for refugees and their host communities.
Approximately 2.5 million people in Ethiopia, of whom one-third are refugees and at least 50% are women, will benefit from the new financing, the World Bank said.
The Bank also said the government has also agreed to third-party implementation and monitoring in “areas at high risk of ongoing conflict to ensure” that needs in all refugee-hosting areas in the country are met.
“This will help the ongoing transformation of the government’s refugee response approach from a short-term humanitarian model into a more sustainable and long-term development approach,” said Boutheina Guermazi, World Bank Director of Regional Integration for Africa.
Ethiopia has long been a generous host to refugees and its policy response to forced displacement has been progressive.
It is the third-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the ninth largest worldwide, sheltering 850,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers. Most refugees in Ethiopia originate from South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea.
MG/APA
Ethiopia-Migration
World Bank approves $180m to support refugees, host communities in Ethiopia
APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors Saturday approved a $180 million fund to step up support to refugees and their host communities in Ethiopia.
The fund is to help Ethiopia improve access to basic social and economic services, expand livelihood opportunities, and enhance environmental management for refugees and their host communities.
Approximately 2.5 million people in Ethiopia, of whom one-third are refugees and at least 50% are women, will benefit from the new financing, the World Bank said.
The Bank also said the government has also agreed to third-party implementation and monitoring in “areas at high risk of ongoing conflict to ensure” that needs in all refugee-hosting areas in the country are met.
“This will help the ongoing transformation of the government’s refugee response approach from a short-term humanitarian model into a more sustainable and long-term development approach,” said Boutheina Guermazi, World Bank Director of Regional Integration for Africa.
Ethiopia has long been a generous host to refugees and its policy response to forced displacement has been progressive.
It is the third-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the ninth largest worldwide, sheltering 850,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers. Most refugees in Ethiopia originate from South Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea.
MG/abj/APA