Netherlands Awards FHI $10.8 Million to Expand Program in Ethiopia

Second Embassy Grant in Three Years to Enable FHI to Expand Assistance

JUNE 2008 — The Royal Netherlands Embassy has announced a grant of US$10.8 million over three years to Family Health International (FHI) to expand FHI's technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia, nongovernmental, and civil society organizations in addressing HIV/AIDS as well as other aspects of public health and social welfare.

The grant, the second provided by the Royal Netherlands Embassy following a US$6-million award in 2006, extends both the Netherlands' longstanding development partnership with Ethiopia and FHI's activities in the country. The Netherlands' bilateral development cooperation program with Ethiopia, established in 2002, focuses on three sectors, Education, Health and Rural Economic Development. The Health segment, the largest, is concentrated on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, with a clear emphasis on the enhancement of the role and position of women.

Since 2001, FHI has been working in close partnership with federal and regional health authorities in Ethiopia to build the organizational and technical skills of government and civil-society partners, including NGOs, community-based organizations, and public health centers, in service delivery and program management, as well as to facilitate active and collaborative relationships among these groups that foster an expanded and comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS. Under FHI/Ethiopia's strategic plan over the next five years, these activities will be expanded within a broader vision of contributing to improved public health and overall social welfare.

"The Royal Netherlands Embassy's continuing support for FHI's activities in Ethiopia has proven an outstanding investment both in directly addressing the needs of vulnerable people with HIV/AIDS and, equally important, in building the combined capabilities of the Ethiopian government and civil society partners responding to this pandemic," Dr. Theo Pas, Health Advisor of the RNE said.

"Our expansion of this support reflects our ongoing commitment to our partnership with Ethiopia and the priority we place on addressing reproductive health issues across the country."

PHOTO: A caregiver visits a client in Awasa, Ethiopia.  Programs such as this will be supported through the Royal Netherlands Embassy FHI grant (Jim Daniels, 2006).