European Commission - Press release

Brussels, 15 December 2016

The European Commission has today approved a package of 11 new actions under the EU Trust Fund for Africa to improve stability and address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement in the Horn of Africa region.

Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, said: "This new set of actions worth almost €170 million is yet another proof of our decisive action to tackle the root causes of instability and irregular migration. With activities on the ground up and running, we have already seen the real value of the EU Trust Fund's for the Horn of Africa. With these new actions, we are steaming ahead to provide sustainable support to the many refugees, displaced persons and host communities in the region. They will allow people to sustainably improve their lives in the region instead of risking their lives in the hands of traffickers and smugglers."

Fourth package of actions in the Horn of Africa under the EU Trust Fund The package of 11 actions for an amount of almost €170 million consists of: regional projects to build the capacities of countries of the Horn of Africa to manage migration, including to fight against human trafficking and smuggling of migrants and through the development of rights-based and sustainable return and reintegration policies (€30 million); a project in three cross-border areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan to address the drivers of instability and forced displacement, and support cross-border peaceful cooperation and sustainable economic growth (€63.5 million); support to refugees and host communities in northern Uganda, in response to the recent large-scale influx from South Sudan (€10 million); projects creating employment opportunities to address socio-economic grievances of young people in Kenya, Djibouti and Eritrea (totalling €25 million). For example, in Djibouti 3,000 people will be trained with relevant skills to access the job market; 75% are expected to have found employment within 6 months of the training; support to the people in Sudan, with three projects to address instability and forced displacement through resilience actions to improve access to, and quality of, primary education, benefitting 90,000 children and training 2,000 teachers country-wide (€22 million), strengthen livelihoods in Southern and Eastern regions (€9 million) and enhance nutrition of 400,000 women and children in North-Eastern Sudan (€8 million); a regional monitoring and learning system (€2 million) to complement the on-going Research and Evidence Facility which is expected to include (but not be limited to) information on the drivers of migration, dynamics of cross-border economies and centre/periphery relations, drivers of radicalism and violent extremism.

These actions will build on previous packages of actions worth €253 million, €117 million, and €66.5 million package committed under the EU Trust Fund in the last 12 months to tackle instability and the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement; all of which are part of an ongoing response to the commitments made by the EU and African partners at the Valletta migration summit of November 2015.

Background

The European Commission launched an “Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa” at the Valletta migration summit in November 2015. The Fund is made up of over €2.4 billion from the EU budget and European Develop­ment Fund, combined with contributions from EU Member States and other donors.

For More Information FACTSHEET: Third package of measures approved to tackle the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement in the Horn of Africa

On the Trust Fund for Africa: https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/regions/africa/eu-emergency-trust-fund-af...

Website of Commissioner Neven Mimica: http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/mimica_en

IP/16/4424