The European Union has adopted additional funding worth €275 million from the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa for programmes in the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel and Lake Chad region that support regional stability and local communities and assist migrants and refugees.
In the Horn of Africa, the EU will support refugees, migration management, regional stability and job creation with €204.9 million. Part of this funding will boost pioneering efforts to implement the Global Compact on Refugees. Kenya, for example, will receive an additional €7.6 million for its work with refugees and local communities in Kalobeyei, Kakuma and Dadaab.
In Uganda, a €10 million programme to support the government’s environmental response plan for refugee hosting areas will help prevent and address deforestation and other detrimental impacts on the environment.
Other examples of funding decisions for the Horn of Africa include a new €16 million programme in South Sudan that will help improve rural communities’ connectivity, resilience and food security through better infrastructure.
Also in South Sudan, funding worth €5 million will promote gender equality through national laws and policies, and foster the socio-economic and political participation of women and girls.
In countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad region, the EU supports resilience, stability and migration management with €70.2 million.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will, for example, receive €25 million to provide protection and sustainable solutions to migrants and refugees along the Central Mediterranean route in 2020.
Out of this total amount, €15 million will support the work of the UNHCR’s Emergency Transit Mechanism in Niger.
The funding will also enable the UNHCR to support the peaceful coexistence of evacuees and host communities through small-scale quick impact projects.
The €10 million for the IOM will strengthen its capacity to protect migrants and refugees, cover additional assisted voluntary returns and manage sustainable and dignified reintegration in the Sahel and Lake Chad region under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative (link is external).
Background
The EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa was established in 2015 to address the root causes of instability, forced displacement and irregular migration and to contribute to better migration management. EU institutions, EU Member States and other donors have so far allocated €4.6 billion to the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
With this additional funding, the Emergency Trust Fund now funds 224 programmes worth a total of €4.441 billion, including €1.611 billion for 88 programmes in the Horn of Africa, €2.023 billion for 101 programmes in the Sahel/Lake Chad region, and €807 million for 31 programmes in North Africa.
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