Sweden provides 116m birr for urban productive safety net beneficiaries in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, June 12, 2020 (FBC) – The Government of Sweden, through UNICEF, has provided 116 million birr support for urban productive safety net beneficiaries in Ethiopia.

The fund will be used to support poor households who are vulnerable to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including persons with disabilities and elderly people.

The cash will enable 49,000 households to cope with the impact of the pandemic for the coming six months, according to the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction.

The World Food Program (WFP) also contributed close to 20 million birr for a temporary direct support program targeting pregnant and lactating mothers in 11 cities.

The financial  agreements were signed by Ethiopia’s Minister of Urban Development and Construction, Engineer Aisha Mohammed, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Dr Ergoge Tesfaye, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia, Adele Khodr, and WFP Ethiopia Country Director, Steven Were Omamo.

On the occasion, Minister of Urban Development and Construction, Engineer Aisha Mohammed said urban productive safety net program has a total of 600,000 beneficiaries.

Although the program implementation has achieved remarkable outcomes in changing the lives of the beneficiaries, they are now suffering from the impact of the pandemic.

The Minister said the financial support to permanent direct support beneficiaries is very significant to mitigate the problems resulted from the virus.

Engineer Aisha further said that 100 million birr has been secured to support people living in abject poverty in 16 urban areas.

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Dr Ergoge Tesfaye, for her part said both supports would help deal with social crisis created by COVID-19.

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