The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomes a generous contribution of €8.5 million for 2021-2023 from the people of Germany to provide emergency assistance to save lives and the livelihoods of communities affected by conflict and climate change in Ethiopia. It is part of Germany’s flexible funding for the Eastern Africa region.
Germany’s donation will contribute to WFP’s Tigray emergency response that aims to reach up to 2.1 million people with urgently needed food and nutrition assistance. A total of 5.2 million people, or 91 percent of Tigray’s entire population need emergency food assistance due to conflict.
The donation will also support WFP’s refugee response in the country and help to deliver life-saving and life-changing emergency food assistance to communities in Ethiopia’s Somali region who are affected by extreme climate shocks.
“WFP welcomes this timely and generous contribution from the people of Germany to enable us to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs across the country,” said WFP Ethiopia’s Representative and Country Director Dr. Steven Were Omamo.
“WFP is immensely proud of its long-standing partnership with the Federal Republic of Germany and we are grateful for its commitment to working together with us to improve food security and help vulnerable people in Ethiopia to get the food they need to survive, get back on their feet and become food secure,” he added.
German Ambassador to Ethiopia Stephan Auer visited WFP’s warehouse and offices in Adama last week to witness food being dispatched to communities in urgent need of food assistance. The Ambassador also heard from teams on the ground about how WFP’s life-saving assistance is delivered across the country.
“WFP’s work is of the utmost importance – now more than ever. Germany is proud to support WFP in Ethiopia and beyond, being the organization’s second largest donor worldwide,” he said following his visit.
Germany’s donation comes at a critical time as WFP faces a funding shortfall. WFP currently requires US$203 million to maintain operations in Tigray Region until the end of the year, and an additional US$97 million is needed to cover relief food operations in the Somali region during the next six months.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).
