News

The Addis Ababa based women ambassadors were extremely impressed by the achievements obtained through integrated rural activities of the Menschen für Menschen  projects in Mida during their visit on 12 and 13 May. The ambassadors also discussed issues of common concern with credit beneficiaries of the village association and visited the Alem Ketema Enat Hospital built with funds from Menschen für Menschen (datd 16 May 2012).

Members of staff of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) joined a visit by representatives from EU members states to Karamoja, a neighboring region to Kenya in the northeastern part of Uganda. The Karamoja region is the poorest in Uganda. The delegation visited a number of projects which have been financed by the EU and its member states. Among them was the Mathany Hospital which is considered as the biggest and most professional hospital of the whole region, and which has received support by the Austrian Development Cooperation. Another project the delegation paid a visit to has helped to build up a district administration to enable access for the population to its local administration and its services. This project has been jointly financed by ADC and UNCDF (dated 11 May 2012).

Austrian film contribution: “Little Alien” by Nina Kusturica, Wednesday 2^nd May 2012 at 17.05 hrs at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at the Addis Ababa University

( http://www.addisfilmfestival.org )

Northern Uganda has suffered immensely from the ravages of a war, which left nearly 2 million people displaced, and remains the poorest region in the country.

The project supported by the Austrian development cooperation aims at empowering citizens to participate in processes of managing public resources, and has a special focus on women and youth to demand for improved service delivery by the Local Governments in their communities through establishing a strong civil society and providing a wider information base (Article dated 23.03.2012).

The embassy participated with five female runners at the 9^th edition of the 2012 “Choice Women First” 5km run, which took place in Addis Ababa on 11^th of March. This year’s race attracted more than 9.000 women and girls. It’s the biggest women only event happening in Ethiopia and a good platform to promote social messages focusing on women.

The Afar- Region is among the regions with the lowest literacy rates in Ethiopia. For this reason, SONNE- International -  in cooperation with the local partner organization APDA (Afar Pastoral Development Association) - is carrying out a mobile, especially matched to the needs of the nomadic population, literacy and elementary schooling project in two districts, which is also supported by the Austrian Development Cooperation (Article dated 05.03.2012).

The workshop held in Addis Ababa from February 27 to March 1, was initiated by ETC (European Training and Research Centre) Graz and organized by its head, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Benedek, in cooperation with the Center for Human Rights of Addis Ababa University. The participants were about 50 future human rights experts from national human rights commissions, universities, law firms, etc, from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The workshop was financed by means from the Austrian development cooperation.

From 23^rd to 29^th of February 2012, the Commercial Office of the Austrian Embassy in Cairo participated with a catalogue exhibition including 9 Austrian companies at the 16^th Addis Chamber Trade Fair in Addis Ababa. Since 1996, this international trade fair has been organized annually by the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association and now ranks as the biggest and most important trade fair in Ethiopia. More than 276 local and foreign exhibitors from more than 25 countries were presented in 2012.

This project is supported by funds from the Austrian Foreign Disaster Aid Fund and is part of Caritas Austria's emergency and emergency rehabilitation program after the drought crisis in

East Africa 2011. Emergency rehabilitation through provision of seeds and animal restocking  and reinforcing resilience are the core components of this project. 

Humanitarian Response to Drought Affected People in Somali Region and Borana Zone, Ethiopia

The eastern and southern part of Ethiopia is badly hit by the current drought. Supported by funds from the Austrian Foreign Disaster Aid FundLIGHT FOR THE WORLD has decided to support the

distribution of supplementary food and provision of medication for those people, who are predominantly affected by the famine.

Livelihood-Based Drought Recovery Project in Oromia Region, Ethiopia

In order to improve food security and to contribute to the livelihood recovery of drought-affected small-scale farmer households in East and West Haraghe Zones CARE will reach with this project a total of 5,600 small-scale farmer

households (28,000 people) over a period of one year.The project is financed by funds from the Austrian Foreign Disaster Aid Fund.

Political participation of women, women as the back- bone of the Somali economy and the remaining civilization and sexual abuse of women have been the returning topics of the solidarity trip of the women ambassadors accredited to the African Union to Nairobi and to the refugee camp in Dollo Ado (Ethiopia) as well as the talks in Addis Ababa, seat of the African Union, which took place in February. This engagement is inspired by the opportunities and challenges presented by recent developments such as security gains on the ground, the renewed momentum on turning Somalia into a peaceful and stable country due to the London conference, and against the backdrop of the approaching end of the transitional period by August 2012 (dated 22.02.2012).

The aim  of this project, which is supported by the Austrian development cooperation, is to minimize conflicts and social tensions, for example caused by cattle theft, between Karamoja and the neighboring communities.

Therefore, peace committees are strengthened economically and socially for their work as mediators in peace negotiations and as promoters of social coherence.

On February 3, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Kolleritsch gave a lecture on "Cultural Interactions- Joe Zawinul's World Jazz and Mulatu Astatke's Ethio Jazz" in front of 400 spectators in the framework of the Acacia Jazz and World Music Festival. She was supported by music by the "Yared Grooves", a jazzband of teachers and students from the Yared School of Music.

In response to the growing drought and famine crisis in the Horn of Africa, OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) streamlined its presence in the region to ensure coordinated, effective and principled humanitarian action to vulnerable people in all the countries of the Horn of Africa. The Austrian Development Cooperation supports this endeavor with 1 Mio Euros (Article dated 24.01.2012).

On January 22 the evangelical pastor Martin Gossens held a memorial service in the German church in Addis Ababa for the victims of the attack in the Danakil desert. The Austrian ambassador read a text which was submitted by the mourning Austrian family of the late Mr. Heindl.

The Austrian development cooperation supports a project by the Austrian NGO “Evangelische Frauenarbeit” designed to improve food security in households in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. By training Afar women, the chosen project area provides a high potential for environmental improvement, strengthening of small scale agriculture and stronger market use by local communities (article dated 11.01.2012).

The frequency of droughts in the Horn of Africa and in East Africa and their severe effects on household food security demonstrate that current adaptive and coping strategies require urgent strengthening.The Austrian government supports financially the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources to pursue their existing initiatives who are being implemented in Uganda (the Upper Aswa-Agago subcatchment) where 375.000 people are affected by droughts and famine (Dated: 04.01.2012).

The Austrian Embassy continues its financial support for the NGO KMG Ethiopia into the new year.   Initially, KMG’s work was focused on eliminating sanctioned violence against women and girls, such as female genital mutilation (FGM), bridal abduction and other customary practices harmful to girls and women. Nowadays KMG trains women and representatives from a wide variety of communities and disseminates information on citizens’ rights and responsibilities. By initiating grass roots movements against gender-based violence, KMG works with communities to develop women leaders (Dated 03.01.2012)

The Austrian embassy supports the Southern Sudanese Women Entrepreneur Association (SSWEA), an NGO of 20 female entrepreneurs located in Juba, which wants to contribute to the creation of jobs in the new country. SSWEA provides a platform for networking and knowledge sharing for its members and intends to encourage more women in South Sudan to found their own business in order to attain self-reliance and to escape poverty (“helping people to help themselves”). Dated: 01.01.2012

Preventive mine action is an integral part of ICRC field operations, which aim to protect and assist all victims

of conflict. In 2012, the ICRC will pursue its preventive mine-action activities around the world, focusing on

countries where the threat of mines is greatest. In order to support the ICRC in continuing these large scale humanitarian activities on behalf of the conflict victims, the Austrian Government has decided to make available a contribution of EUR 350.000,00to the ICRC Mine Action Appeal 2012, earmarked specifically for the ICRC Mine Action activities in Ethiopia.

On December 19, the Ethiopian pianist Girma Yifrashewa was the star of the final concert of the successful Liszt in Addis series, which attracted more than 1.500 spectators. Girma’s concert made the connection from last year’s Chopin in Addis piano festival via this year’s Liszt series to the Claude Debussy anniversary in 2012. In his speech at the final concert the Ethiopian Minister for Culture and Tourism, Amin Abdulkadir Bereket, thanked the Austrian embassy for organizing this cultural initiative connecting Europe and Ethiopia.

In mid-October the Austrian Government decided on increasing emergency funds for East Africa's hunger-struck regions six fold and made available a total of EUR 8.5 million for these purposes. The increase in funds will enable Care Austria to continue its work to secure the basic livelihood of small farming families as well as to strengthen the position of women in Ethiopia's Oromia region. Caritas Austria also supports Oromia, which is the most densely populated region in Ethiopia. Light for the World is providing food aid and contributing to improved health care in Ethiopia's Somali Region and Borana Zone.

The Horn of Africa is faced with the worst drought crisis in 60 years. IOM (International Organtisation for Migration) is present in all the affected countries of the region and is working closely with host government, national and international partners to meet the rapidly escalating needs and provide assistance to local and refugee populations. The Austrian Minstry of Finance is  contributing with 250.000,00 Euro to these IOM efforts (dated 15 December 2011).

On December 13^th, the Austrian pianist Andreas Teufel held master classes for interested students at the Yared School of Music in Addis Ababa. Andreas Teufel was teaching, among others, at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna as well as at Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

At the beginning of the concert of the Austrian pianist Dr. Andreas Teufel on December 12 a greeting message by the Hungarian Foreign Minister Dr. Janos Martonyi was read out. The musician from Graz complemented his transparently and intellectually presented Liszt program with works by the Hungarian composer György Ligeti.

Another highlight of the Liszt in Addis piano festival, which is organized by the Austrian Embassy, was presented on December 5 at the concert of the French artist Francois Killian. His  interpretations of Liszt took the audience on a virtuously musical journey through Europe with stopovers in Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Hungary.

The Austrian development cooperation supported the 16^th International AIDS- Conference (ICASA 2011) which took place in Addis Ababa form December 4- 8, 2011. The Austrian contribution enabled awareness creation among over 600 young participants from Africa in the field of HIV/ AIDS.

The conference is a forum for sharing experience and knowledge about fighting HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Among others,  former US- president George W. Bush and his wife participated at the conference.

Ecohydrology and sustainable water management was the overall topic of the EU ambassador´s field trip organized by the Polish EU presidency on 29 and 30 November. Under the guidance by professor Maciej Zalewski, Head of the European Regional Ecohydrology Centre, the ambassadors visited, among others, a biofarming park and the Bishangari forest.

A team of several members of the Austrian Embassy participated at the Great Ethiopian Run on November 27. The 10 km run is organized by Olympic medalist and world record holder Haile Gebrselassie and attracted over 36.000 professional and amateur runners. The Austrian ambassador won the Women's Ambassadors Race, seen here with Haile Gebrselasssie and  Meseret Defar,  Ethiopian Olympic and World Champion over 5000 metres.

Young Ethiopian pianists and music hobbyists from four continents living in Addis Ababa were the stars of the amateurs’ evening of the Liszt concert series on November 23. Their repertoire comprised works by Liszt as well as pieces by Frederic Chopin, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Heller, Ludwig van Beethoven und Franz Schubert.

The annual Remembrance Day Service at the Commenwealth War Graves Cementery took place on 13th November. This year the service paid special tribute to those allied soldiers who liberated Ethiopia 70 years ago. The Austrian ambassador participated in the ceremony by laying a wreath.

For several years, the Austrian development cooperation together with the EU, Horizont 3000 and the Austrian Dreikönigsaktion, has been supporting the semi- nomadic pastoral peoples of the Southern  Omo Valley as well as the sedentary peoples of the highlands in Gamo Gofad in Southern Ethiopia, who are especially deprived of water. On November 11, the management of the reservoirs and irrigation systems in Achi district in the Omo Valley was transferred to the local authorities in the presence of the head of the Austrian Development Coordination Office.

The third concert of the ongoing “Liszt in Addis festival”, organized by the Austrian Embassy, took place on November 7^th. The concert program of the spirited and very expressive Italian pianist Carlo Michini, an outright Liszt specialist, was embellished with piano pieces which reflected the influence Italy had on the composer Franz Liszt.

On November 4th, the Austrian Ambassador to Ethiopia attended the official inauguration ceremony on the premises of the newly renovated “Tesfa Leligoch” Kindergarten, located in Cherkos area in Addis Ababa. The renovation work has been realized with the financial support by the Austrian Embassy in 2010. The project was implemented by the local NGO named PADet (Professional Alliance for development, www.padet.org.et) in partnership with HOPE’87.

The “Liszt in Addis” piano concert series, organized by the Austrian Embassy, was continued with the Bulgarian concert on November 2nd, 2011. This concert was again broadcast on Ethiopian State TV. The exclusive Liszt program of Atanas Kurtev was most enthusiastically honored by the more than 400 guests who requested five encores with much applause.

resThe Austrian embassy was among the 56 out of about 100 embassies in Addis Ababa that took part in this year’s annual charity bazaar on October 29^th in the Ethiopian capital, organized by the embassies’ staff members. The Austrian stall was kindly sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the City of Vienna, the Austrian ambassador to Ethiopia as well as the Deputy of the Austrian embassy.

As every year the Austrian National Day reception has taken place on 26th October 2011 at the residence of the Austrian ambassador.

A reception was held mid October at the New Life Community College Campus in the district Akaki-Kality near the Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. Representatives of the ADA Cooperation Office in Addis Ababa attended the festivities. The main objective of this development project, which was launched in 2007 by the Austrian association Project-E and their Ethiopian partner NGO NLCO (New Life Community Organization), is to educate female orphans as well as other disadvantaged women to become high-qualified office assistants. Project-E was financially supported by the Austrian Embassy in the year 2010 and now receives further generous funding from the Austrian Development Cooperation.

http://www.project-e.eu/en

The European Commission has awarded the Austrian Red Cross, in conjunction with the Ethiopian and Swedish Red Cross, the implementation contract for a water project in the West-Ethiopian region of Benishangul-Gumuz. On 17 October 2011, the grand opening of the project, which is expected to benefit about 57,000 persons, was held in the presence of the Regional President and the Head of the Austrian Development Office at the regional capital of Asossa.

The Franz Liszt piano concert series, organized by the Austrian Embassy in Addis Ababa, was officially opened with a concert by the Polish Pianist Grzegorz Niemczuk at the Yared School of Music on October 17^th. The well-attended concert compromised pieces both of Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin and was very well received by the audience. The concert has been recorded by the Ethiopian state television. To honor Austria, the Polish pianist played one of Schubert’s impromptus in the encore.

On October 16th in Kembatta, Southern Ethiopa, female Ambassadors based in Addis Ababa celebrate these courageous young girls, the men who marry them, the parents and their communities who went against the tide of female genital mutilation and inspired the rest of the nation.  They are supported by the Ethiopian NGO KMGselfhelp, for further information see: www.kmgselfhelp.org

To support the ongoing humanitarian efforts by the international community in East Africa, the Austrian Federal Government will donate additional 2 Mio. EURO from the Foreign Disaster Fund. This amount will supplement the 1.5 Mio. EUR already provided to alleviate this major humanitarian crisis in East Africa. For the same purpose, the Austrian Ministry of Finance allocates 5 Mio. Euro which are being channeled partly via international relief organizations, and partly via Austrian relief organizations through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

The Austrian piano player Andreas Teufel will perform during the "Franz List Piano Festival in Addis" concert series on 12 December 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the Yared School of Music. On 13 December Mr. Andreas Teufel will give lessons (master class) to the piano students of the Yared Music School.

On 21 September 2011, the PACO Yawenta Children Center (kindergarten and primary school classes) in Shashamane, founded and managed by the Austrian expatriate Isheba Tafari, received from the Ambassadors and Heads of Mission Spouses and Diplomatic Spouses Group (Project Matrix) a contribution for the purchase of class room furniture, playground, office and kitchen equipment, and a water tank. More information on the Yawenta Children Center and donation possibilities can be found at: www.yawenta.wordpress.com

The Republic of South Sudan has become an independent nation on July 9, 2011. A large number of foreign dignitaries was attending the celebrations in the capital Juba. Austria was represented by an official delegation, headed by Werner Fasslabend, former Minister of Defense and Special Envoy of the Vice-Chancellor and Minister for European and International Affairs Michael Spindelegger. On the margins of the independence ceremony, the Austrian Ambassador to Ethiopia Gudrun Graf handed over the official letter of recognition of Austria to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Sudan Deng Alor.

A delegation compromising Ethiopian government officials, representatives of the African Union, embassies as well as other organizations traveled to Sheder refugee camp in Eastern Ethiopia to celebrate the annual World Refugee Day on the 20^th of June. The Austrian Embassy in Addis Ababa was among the participants who followed the invitation by UNHCR. The current number of refugees at the Sheder refugee camp exceeds more than 11.000, with the majority of them coming out of Somalia. The World Refugee Day celebrations in Ethiopia are intended to strengthen public awareness of the difficult situation of refugees in Ethiopia itself.

The 17^th Ordinary African Union Summit was held from 28^th of June until the 1^st of July 2011 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. In addition to the meeting of AU heads of state, the AU summit in Malabo included the 19th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC). Austria as AU-partner participated as observer in this Summit which was held under the theme: „Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development”.

On the Occasion of the 30th anniversary of Menschen für Menschen in Ethiopia a 4m-high statue of the former actor and founder of Menschen für Menschen, Karlheinz Böhm, was unveiled on the newly inaugurated Karl Square in Addis Ababa on June 23^rd. The inauguration ceremony was attended, inter alia, by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, the Mayor of Addis Ababa, the former President of the Republic of Germany Horst Köhler, the Ethiopian runner and Good Will Ambassador Haile Gebreselassie as well as the Ambassadors of Austria and Germany.

An Austrian Embassy team participated in the 8^th edition of the CRBC/AACRA Ring Road Relay held on Sunday, 19^th of June 2011. The event took place on the newly built CMC road in Addis Ababa. The race was 12km overall. More than 100 teams from a wide range of organizations, including embassies, businesses, NGOs and government, took part in the event.

The Austrian movie „The crazy world of Ute Bock” (2010, by Houchang Allahyari) was shown on the 20^th of May at the Italian Cultural Institute as Austrian contribution to the European film festival 2011. The festival took place from 14^th to 27^th of May in Addis Ababa, and 19 embassies participated in this annual cultural event.

On April 5^th, the Head of the ADC-Office in Addis Ababa signed a Grant Agreement with the Bureau of Finance and Economic Development in Bahr Dar in the amount of 150 Mio. Birr (8,2 Mio. EURO), supporting the sustainable resource management in North Gondar. This ceremony was also attended by the Austrian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Mrs. Gudrun Graf. The program started already in 2008 and will last until the end of 2012.

In connection with the International Women’s Day celebrated for the 100^th time this year the 8^th edition of the 2011 Choice WOMEN FIRST 5km run took place on 13 of March in Addis Ababa. More than 5000 participants were registered, coming mainly from Embassies, NGOs and other local Women’s Organizations. Also the Austrian Embassy in Addis Abeba successfully took part with three runners.

A new school-wing was opened by Caritas Vorarlberg on 28 November 2010 at the Kessate Birhan Schule in Wonji. The opening ceremony was held in the presence of Mr. Bertram Jäger, former State Parliament President of Vorarlberg and sponsor of the school wing, Bishop Abraham Destas, Meki Catholic Secretariat and Ambassador Gudrun Graf.

The Bazaar of the Diplomatic Spouses Group was held on 27 November 2010 at the Millennium Hall. The Austrian embassy also participated with a stand.