The director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Antón Leis, has visited the activities of the program we are implementing in Ethiopia together with the NGO Rescate and our local partners, the Ethiopian Catholic Church Social and Development Commission (ECC-SDCO) and the Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO). This program is funded by the AECID.
Ethiopia was the first stop on the AECID director’s tour of Africa this week. In Ethiopia, he had the opportunity to witness firsthand the situation in the Somali region and the work we are doing there through our program to strengthen the livelihoods of agro-pastoral communities.
The Somali region is one of the poorest in Ethiopia, which is why Antón Leis stated that it is a “priority” area for AECID and reiterated his commitment to initiatives such as our program, highlighting its contribution to the fight against poverty and gender inequality.
Visit to our program
During the visit to our program’s activities on Tuesday, February 18, the AECID director personally met its beneficiaries as well as the various partners involved in its implementation. He visited Hanchebi and Tiqdem, two locations where the program activities are being carried out, showing great interest in learning how we work to address the vulnerability and poverty these communities face due to their exposure to extreme weather events caused by climate change and other economic, social, and environmental crises.
We were also able to explain to him the purpose of our program’s activities in addressing this complex issue. These cover areas of work such as rural development, food security, nutrition, or safe access to clean water. We also explained to him how we support these communities through training to enhance their resilience to climate change and, especially, to achieve gender equality in production processes and decision-making.
