A 43.5 million euro three-year program targeting Internally Displaced People (IDP) was launched by the European Union and partners across Afar, Amhara, Beninshangul-Gumuz and Tigray regional states last week. The project seeks to provide vocational training in agriculture and improve access to finance and employment. It is also expected to provide sanitation services to areas with the highest concentration of IDPS and conflict through new infrastructure and rehabilitation of old ones. Coordinated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) partnering with GIZ, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the Danish and Ethiopian Red Cross and the High Commission for Refugees for the IDPs. Prolonged internal conflicts and industrial disasters have taken a toll on the country's economy and exacerbated food insecurity in many parts of the country, the statement from the European Union reads. Roland Kobia, ambassador of the European Union to Ethiopia, indicated that the program is a timely action to ensure humanitarian support and help facilitate peace. It includes setting up community centres for youth empowerment by promoting community dialogues and services for psychosocial needs. There are more than four million IDPs in Ethiopia due to conflict and close to one million refugees from neighbouring countries, according to the latest Global Humanitarian Review report by the UN.
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