Addis Ababa, 3 April 2019. The first field office bordering Ethiopia and Kenya was opened today in Moyale city, southern Ethiopia, to address the drivers of conflict and instability, irregular migration and displacement in these cross-border areas.

The Moyale’s field office covers the geographical areas of Borana zone in Ethiopia and Marsabit County in Kenya. The field team will be working hand in hand with the local Governments, communities, civil society, and private sector to provide cross-border technical support to enable the implementation of livelihoods, peacebuilding, and capacity building activities that will sustain peace and harmony on these border areas.

The office will serve as a joint UN Development Programme (UNDP) – Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Cross Border Unit. It will accommodate the field teams working for two actions: “Cross-border cooperation between Ethiopia and Kenya for conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the Marsabit – Moyale Cluster” and “Support for Effective Cooperation and Coordination of Cross-border Initiatives in Southwest Ethiopia – Northwest Kenya, Marsabit – Borana & Dawa, and Kenya – Somalia – Ethiopia (SECCCI)”. 

Both actions are part of the EU Cross – Border Programme and funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), co-funded by the United Nations (UN), and implemented by UNDP and IGAD.

This field presence will allow both projects to cooperate with the local Governments, communities, civil society, and private sector to ensure that the implementation of the activities are in line with local priorities as well as the cross-border dynamics between Ethiopia and Kenya.

“The European Union believes that the opening of the UNDP – IGAD field level cluster coordination office in Moyale will be a keystone to materialise cross-border coordination and cooperation in the area, and to ensure that the projects activities benefit local institutions and communities that have suffered a lot from marginalisation and conflict for the past years’’ mentioned Sabrina Bazzanella, Team Leader Migration, the EU Delegation to Ethiopia.

Additional two field offices will be opened in Turkana – Omo at the Kenyan and Ethiopian Border and Mandera – Gedo – Doolow at the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali borders in the near future.

“Our field presence will adopt an integrated approach to bring to border regions peaceful and social economic opportunities through legal trade, and improved livelihoods and water management. This will allow regional communities to live in an environment where beside the provided humanitarian assistance will be brought development actions” mentioned Matteo Frontini SECCCI Project Manager at the UNDP Regional Service Center for Africa (RSCA).

Background:

The SECCCI Project started in February 2018 and is funded by the EUTF, with co-financing contributions from UNDP and UNEP, with a total budget of 10 million USD.

The Project is implemented by the UNDP RSCA in partnership with IGAD and UNEP. The implementation is closely coordinated with the national and local Governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

The specific objectives of the Project are:

·        To strengthen regional policy frameworks, structures and protocols for cross-border cooperation between national and local Governments, the private sector, civil society and international technical and financial partners in development;

·        To build capacities of communities, local Governments and civil society to fully engage in processes for development planning and results;

·        To ensure effective cooperation and coordination, monitoring and evaluation of cross-border initiatives including involvement of relevant national and regional actors in these processes.

Contact person: Anna Moghilda, SECCCI Communications Specialist, Tel.: +251 944 345 305, email: anna.moghilda@undp.org