Austria supports IGAD’s projects for regional peace and security
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
July 15, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The east African regional bloc, Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the Austrian government on Wednesday signed cooperation agreement in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The deal was inked by IGAD’s executive secretary, Mahboub Maalim, and Austrian minster for Europe, integration and foreign affairs, Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday
In accordance with the agreement, Austria will support the Rapid Response Fund (RRF) and Early Warning and Response Interventions by IGAD Conflict Early Warning And Response Mechanism (CEWARN) specialized office based in Addis Ababa.
The Austrian Government has been CEWARN’s strong partner on the RRF including by providing direct financial contributions mounting to over $ 900,000.
The cooperation agreement is said to signify a more robust collaboration between the Austrian government and CEWARN in making the RRF financially resilient and expanding its use to support crisis response projects on a broader range of violent conflict and insecurity challenges in the volatile East African region.
During a brief meeting, Maalim and Kurz have also discussed peace and security concerns of the region including on early response to conflict and at community level.
The CEWARN was set up in 2002 as a specialized unit to provide data-based conflict early warning information and analysis to government and non-government actors in IGAD Member States.
In 2009, CEWARN established the Rapid Response Fund (RRF), as a multi-donor basket fund to support locally-driven crisis response projects that contain the spread and escalation of violent conflicts across the borders of Ethiopia-Djibouti; Ethiopia-Kenya-South Sudan Uganda; as well as Ethiopia-Kenya-Somalia.
Projects supported by the RRF range from short-term peace dialogues to modest development projects that provide peace dividends to communities affected by conflict.
It was disclosed that these projects are also intended to catalyze long-term structural and policy response to conflicts.
The Rapid Response Fund has so far supported 52 Conflict Prevention Management and Resolution (CPMR) related projects along the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda.
The projects undertaken at the countries stated above range in worth from USD 10,000- 50,000 with their combined significance close to1.8 Million USD.
An independent study undertaken in 2011 to evaluate the effectiveness of the RRF and its projects revealed that projects implemented through the RRF support have led to considerable decline in violent conflicts across the region.
Development partners that have made contributions to the RRF so far include the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) as well as the Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom
(ST)