The two grant agreements will be used to support Strengthening Climate Resilient System for WASH and Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) in Ethiopia.
ADDIS ABABA (MoF) – Two grant agreements amounting to £120 million (ETB 4.23 billion) were signed on 23rd August 2019 between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and the United Kingdom at a ceremony held at FDRE’s Ministry of Finance in Addis Ababa (MoF).
A grant amount of £95 million (ninety-five million pounds sterling) will be used to finance Strengthening Climate Resilient System for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Service (SCRS–WASH)[1] and a second grant with an amount of £25 million (twenty-five million pounds sterling) will be used to finance phase 4 of the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP)[2] in Ethiopia.
The overall objective of the SCRS–WASH Program is to improve access to climate-resilient water, improve sanitation services and good hygiene practices for 1.2 million people in the prioritized drought affected and drought-prone areas of Ethiopia.
Whereas; the additional finance to the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Phase 4 (PSNP 4) Program is aimed at supporting increasing access to safety net and disaster risk management systems, complementary livelihoods services and nutrition support for food insecure households in rural Ethiopia.
Ato Admasu Nebebe, State Minister of Ministry of Finance and Mr. Alok Sharma, Secretary of State for International Development signed the memorandums of understanding on behalf of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Government of the United Kingdom, respectively.
[1] Climate Resilient System for WASH Program in Ethiopia
Climate change and variability impacts nearly all social and economic sectors, including the water sector, with significant consequences. Ethiopia has a complex and varied climate due its diverse geography. Climate change is likely to have a significant impact on the availability and safety of water resources in Ethiopia. Some of the impacts of climate change and variability are manifested in the increasing number of extreme weather events, including floods and drought, and the increasing incidence of waterborne diseases, reduced water quality and increasing energy demand.
In Ethiopia, systematic and comprehensive water quality monitoring and assessment is lacking, except ad hoc water quality testing, which often follows the outbreak of diseases or reported health problems related to water, sanitation and hygiene. Hence, continuous and comprehensive water quality monitoring and surveillance activities are not in place in most institutions and organizations. As the result of the project “Building adaptation to climate change in health in least developed countries through resilient WASH”, the Government of Ethiopia has developed and endorsed policy and guideline documents on climate-resilient water safety plans to ensure water safety from source to the point of use through the consideration, assessment and management of climate-related risks. Associated measures are being implemented as part of a national WASH program in Ethiopia. The policy and guideline documents have been circulated for wider use by different sectors and WASH development partners in the country
[2] Productive Safety Net Phase 4 Program in Ethiopia
PSNP 4 is one major component of the Ethiopian Government’s strategy to address climate vulnerability, and contributes to both the adaptation and mitigation goals. PSNP 4 is a country-level program, but with spill-over benefits in terms of the contribution to climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. PSNP 4 is expected to deliver continued declines in hunger and poverty for the poorest, most climate-dependent rural Ethiopians by protecting them from weather- induced production shocks and improving their ability to deal with shocks that do occur (an average decline in months of food stress by half a month for 10 million people).
Sources: Ministry of Finance, GOV.UK and WHO