ETHIOPIA – Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa, has secured USS$7.7M in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to train the next generation of 750 Ethiopian disaster risk management professionals at Bahir Dar University (BDU).
The US Embassy in Ethiopia said in a statement that the new investment dubbed ‘Feed the Future Ethiopia Resilience Platform’ is the largest single external investment in the history of BDU.
USAID Ethiopia Mission Director Sean Jones also handed over eight USAID motor vehicles worth over US$400,000 to the Amhara Regional Health Bureau Head Dr. Melkamu Abte during his visit to the bureau offices.
He discussed the United States government’s support for the Amhara Regional Health Bureau which includes over US$4 million to provide emergency medicine and repairs to health facilities damaged by the Northern Conflict.
Earlier, the bureau had requested for motor vehicles to help the region in its life saving work particularly delivering essential medicines and medical equipment to health facilities and to transport doctors and medical staff to the hardest-to-reach areas in Amhara Region.
In the Amhara Region alone, the American people have provided over US$430 million in humanitarian and development aid in the last two years. This is another example of cooperation between the American people and the people of Ethiopia.
The US Embassy in Ethiopia further said that the recent funding follows nearly two decades of US Government support to BDU including funding the university’s Institute of Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Studies.
“The United States is devoted to the health, welfare, and prosperous future of the people of Ethiopia,” the US Embassy in Ethiopia reaffirmed.
USAID Ethiopia Mission Director Sean Jones met and had talks with Bahir Dar University Vice President Dr. Tesfaye Shiferaw on strengthening health emergency preparedness in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia.
Furthermore, Mission Director Jones met with the Mayor of Bahir Dar Dr. Diress Sahilu to engage with the Mayor in his capacity at the Bahir Dar City Administration under the Government of Ethiopia.
The discussion between Mayor of Bahir Dar Dr. Diress Sahilu and the USAID Ethiopia Mission Director focused on USAID’s historical support, urgent needs facing communities in the Amhara Region and continued US support for peace and stability in the region.
Mr. Sean Jones lauded Dr. Diress Sahilu for the city’s decades of close partnership with USAID while affirming the American people’s longstanding partnership with the people of Ethiopia.
“The United States is devoted to the health, welfare, and prosperous future of the people of Ethiopia. In 2021, USAID invested more than US$1.2 billion across the country in humanitarian and development aid,” the US Embassy in Ethiopia restated.
In addition, the Mission Director visited USAID’s partners at the Amhara Regional Health Bureau and met with local officials, humanitarian organizations and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
He also visited the Organization for Rehabilitation & Development in Amhara (ORDA) where he met with ORDA Executive Director Alemayehu Wassie and representatives of internally displaced peoples (IDPs) and host communities in Amhara Region.
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