The Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund (EDTF) has pledged its first-ever grant for five projects with a total investment of close to nine million Birr. More than 400 projects were tabled to the Fund, and 242 were found reviewable. After reviewing them, the experts pushed 67 fundable projects to the Board of Directors for consideration and approval. The Board shortlisted 22 projects and finally picked five. A total of four million dollars has been allocated for the 22 projects in the first round of funding. The minimum and maximum amount that will be granted for each project are approximately 200,000 dollars to 350,000 dollars. EDTF raised around 5.9 million dollars in funding from 25,755 donors from 93 countries. In June 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) called on the diaspora community to contribute a dollar a day to fund social and developmental projects. Zemedeneh Nigatu, chairperson of Fairfax Africa Fund, says the EDTF has to make sure that its objectives are properly achieved. “The initiative shows that the diaspora community is willing to engage themselves in economic development,” said Zemedeneh.

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