Finance Minister Discuss Recovery Plan with Afar President
ADDIS ABABA – Finance Minister Ahmed Shide and World Bank Country Director, Ousmane Dione, visited Afar to discuss recovery plan for conflict affected communities with the president of the region.
The discussion with the President of the region Awol Arba, was focused on the support for recovery from the recent conflict and management of recurrent flood-related risks, the Ministry of Finance said.
Ahmed, together with the regional President, also visited cotton and wheat fields as well as the Tendaho Irrigation Dam, which has been built to enhance productivity toward commodity import substitution.
During the visit, the Minister updated regional authorities about the upcoming $300 million World Bank Response, Recovery, Resilience for Conflict-Affected Communities Project.
The project plans to support affected regions with urgent reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, basic service provision for internally displaced people, and psychosocial and clinical support to conflict-affected women.
More efforts are underway to ensure adequate recovery support across the country, said Finance Minister Ahmed.
He also reminded the authorities that reconstruction interventions will be prioritized based on the multisectoral conflict damage and needs assessment and recovery plan.
The plan covering all affected regions is currently under preparation by the ministry with the support of development partners.
The World Bank Country Director discussed the new integrated disaster risk management (DRM) project currently under preparation.
It focuses on prevention-oriented watershed management intervention, including on the Awash River, to mitigate flooding, and institutional capacity strengthening activities to comprehensively address disasters, according to the ministry.
The Country Director emphasized the importance of flood mitigation infrastructure, disaster preparedness, and readiness in advance of adverse natural events, to reduce their impacts and ensure resilience.
Featured Image Caption: The region’s president and the Minister visited the ongoing wheat productivity in Afar region [Photo MoF]
