March 19, 2024,(MOYALE, Kenya): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit(GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) launched, today the Ethio – Kenya Moyale cross border socio- economic empowerment project.
Implemented with Dorcas Aid Ethiopia, the cross border project will target about 750 cross border communities including women and youth to improve their living conditions. Local authorities’ capacities working in education and health will be enhanced to improve their service delivery to host and mobile population in the Moyale area.
In her remarks Ms. Yemisrach Benalfew, Coordinator for Strengthening IGAD Migration Policy Implementation (SIMPI) project explained that the new imitative will build on previous projects on Cash for Community Cohesion, promoting cross-border livelihood cooperation and milk value chain development as well as strengthening the cross border peace committee.
In addition, she noted that the new project expects to strengthen the resilience of the cross border communities and social integration.
Mrs. Kokebe Haile Gabriel, Team Leader of GIZ/SIMPI Project in her part said that the intervention is a continuation of the prior IGAD SIMPI project which was implemented in Moyale Kenya and Moyale Ethiopia.
Furthermore, she emphasized that the project will build the capacity of local administration in basic services delivery for mobile and host communities and promotes women and youth focused livelihood development and strengthen cross border business linkages.
The meeting brought representatives from the cross-border communities including members of the peace committee, all the relevant key government offices and women group.
All acknowledged the different mentioned engagements of IGAD and attested the impacts to living in harmony and restoring peace in the cross-border area.
The IGAD Moyale cross border office, opened on September 2023, hosted the meeting. Since the opening of the office the Moyale communities have been using the office to host cross border dialogues such as to maintain peace in the border area.
The project is financed by the Government of Germany implemented through GIZ as part of the joint IGAD-GIZ collaboration to strengthen cross border local authorities’ capacities, cross border collaboration and joint implementation thereby improving the well-being of people in Moyale.
