Diaspora Trust Fund Seeds $1m Emergency Support

Apr 12 , 2020

The Advisory Council of the Ethiopia Diaspora Trust Fund (EDTF) has committed one million dollars in seed money to the new emergency fund, which was established to mobilise resources to mitigate effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The new emergency fund will be guided primarily by the priority items identified by the Ministry of Health. It will also closely coordinate with the Prime Minister’s National COVID-19 Resource Mobilisation Committee, the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 Task Force, and collaborate with other Ethiopian diaspora organisations working to address the virus's threat to Ethiopia. The new fund will be coordinated in Ethiopia by Board Chairperson Zafu Eyesuswork, Vice-Chairperson Mehret Mandefro (PhD) and the EDTF Secretariat. It will provide periodic reports on funding allocations and expenditures. There is no more critical and urgent healthcare need facing all Ethiopians today than the prevention, treatment and mitigation of COVID-19, according to Alemayehu G. Mariam (PhD), chairperson of the EDTF Advisory Council.