It’s a pleasure to join H.E. Ambassador Stephan Auer today to seal the agreement on what we hope will be the first contribution from Germany for UNDP’s Peace Support or Stabilisation Programme for Northern Ethiopia.  This is part of what we expect will be a wider Un and national effort.  

Let me say that, from our standpoint, Ethiopia is at an important juncture right now, between moving towards sustainable peace and development or being faced with the possibility of chronic insecurity and crisis.

For sustainable peace to take hold, however, a key element will be continued progress towards implementation of CoHA – and this includes helping people in conflict-impacted areas to reap a peace dividend: returning to normal life, living in a safe environment, with functioning local governments, health and education services getting back on their feet, local economies revived and decent jobs and livelihoods becoming possible.

This is what stabilisation programmes do: move at speed and scale to improve people’s living conditions and strengthen their faith in peace agreements and, indeed, in their governance institutions.    

We are already doing this work in Afar, Amhara and Tigray, in 13 woredas, directly and indirectly reaching 1.2 million people.  With the help of Germany, we could double these numbers in 2024.  

UNDP is grateful to Germany for recognising the urgency of action to deliver a peace dividend.  It is the first country to step forward to support stabilisation.  We hope very much that others will follow the example of Germany.  Thank you, Your Excellency, for Germany’s leadership!

UNDP, for its part, will make every effort, working with the Federal and Regional Governments and our development partners to make sure that the funds entrusted to us are managed in a transparent and accountable manner and make a difference where it counts the most – in the lives of people hit hard by conflict and insecurity.  

Thank you.