EU approves €59 million to support peace, stability and job creation in the Horn of Africa
EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, said: “This new package illustrates how the EU Trust Fund provides sustainable solutions to address instability and lack of economic opportunities, as they are two main root causes of forced displacement in the Horn of Africa. By promoting peace, stability and job creation, these new actions will help create alternatives for people to improve their lives to ensure that migration can become a choice for people, and not a necessity.”
Fifth package of actions in the Horn of Africa under the EU Trust Fund
The package of actions announced today consists of:
- The regional project “Promoting Peace and Stability in the Horn of Africa Region” (€40 million) covers all countries in the Horn of Africa and aims to contribute to achieving sustainable peace, security and stability to improve economic integration and development. The project will enhance the capacity of IGAD and national governments of the region in key areas of peacebuilding. This will be done for example by improving early warning and response mechanisms or by countering transnational organised crime such as trafficking and smuggling.
- The new “Kenya-EU Partnership for the implementation of the Kenya CVE strategy ” (€5 million) will support Kenya in improving the implementation of its recently adopted National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism. The aim is to prevent and counter violent extremism in an efficient and inclusive way, and in full respect of human rights.
- Two further projects build upon ongoing support to the people in Sudan. A project in North Darfur, “Wadi El Ku Integrated Catchment Management Project (Phase 2)” (€10 million), will directly target 80,000 smallholder producers and indirectly benefit the 700,000 people dependent on the Wadi El Ku catchment, by strengthening rural livelihoods through the inclusive and sustainable management of water resources.
A second project is a “Technical Cooperation Facility for Sudan 2018 – 2020″ (€4 million) to provide monitoring, assessments, specific studies and other technical assistance to support the sound implementation of the €100 million Special Measure for Sudan channelled through the EU Trust Fund.
These actions build on previous packages of actions worth €606 million (approved in packages of €253 million, €117 million, €66.5 million and €170 million) committed under the EU Trust Fund since December 2015 aimed at providing regional sustainable solutions to irregular migration and forced displacement. They were approved by the operational committee of the EU Trust Fund for Africa.
Background
The European Commission launched an “Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa” at the Valletta migration summit in November 2015. The Fund amounts to €2.5 billion from the EU budget and European Development Fund, combined with contributions from EU Member States and other donors. The aim of the EU Trust Fund for Africa is to address the root causes of instability and irregular migration and to contribute to good migration management. The bulk of its resources are dedicated to the creation of jobs and economic development, especially for young people and women in local communities, with a focus on vocational training and the creation of micro and small enterprises
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