Ethiopia, AfDB sign $31mln grant financing agreement

Addis Ababa, may 10, 2021 (FBC) – the government of Ethiopia signed a grant financing agreement with the African Development Bank to support its efforts to end the stunting and malnourishment of children in Ethiopia.

Yasmin Wohabrebbi, State Minister of Ministry of Finance, and Dr. Abdu B. Kamara, Deputy Director-General, East Africa Regional Development, and Business Delivery Office, African Development Bank Group signed the Agreement on behalf of the Ethiopian Government and the African Development Bank respectively.

The grant agreement, which amounts to 31.02 Million USD was signed during a ceremony held in the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and will be used to support nutrition-specific interventions, including the building of infrastructures to support nutrition programs implemented in various parts of the country.

During the signing ceremony, Yasmin Wohabrebbi, State Minister of Finance of Ethiopia, said this grant agreement will support the implementation of the Seqota Declaration, in which Ethiopia has shown its high-level commitment to end child undernutrition in the country.

She also elaborated on the achievements made by Ethiopia in improving child and maternal nutrition following the Seqota Declaration and said the financing agreement will be used to further support to eradicate the underlying causes of chronic undernutrition and ending stunting among children.

State Minister Yasmin referring to the critical role of nutrition for propelling sustainable development, said this financing agreement builds on and supports the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Strategy of Ethiopia and aims to deliver high-impact nutrition-specific and infrastructure interventions across multiple sectors such as health, agriculture, water, education, and environment.

This financing agreement will be implemented in woredas under the Seqota Declaration program in Amhara and Tigray regions which have been selected for the prevalence of high stunting in the area, Ministry of Finance stated.

It will also be used to develop infrastructure for effective service delivery, livelihood support, production and promotion of nutritious food crops, livestock development, strengthen institutional systems, capacity building of health institutions as well as supporting and project coordination and management interventions that contribute to the stunting reduction.