ReDSS Ethiopia CRRF monthly update October 2019

Dear colleagues,

Greetings from the Regional Durable Solutions Secretariat (ReDSS) Ethiopia Country Unit.

In this bi-monthly update, you will find updates on the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) at local, federal, and regional levels, upcoming trainings and learning events including the Global Refugee Forum preparation, and other useful resources published over the past several months.

National Consultation on Local Approaches to Inclusion, Addis Ababa, 18 October: in preparation for the Regional Government-to-Government Stock-taking Conference, at the request of the Ministry of Peace, UNHCR facilitated a one-day national consultation with representatives from Ethiopian Regional States that host refugees. The feedback gathered will feed in to the Regional Conference Delivering the Global Compact on Refugees to take place in Addis Ababa on 31^st October and 1^st November 2019 organized by the Ministry of Peace/ARRA, the Danish Embassy and UNHCR. The Conference will bring together ten participants from each of the CRRF IGAD countries.

Multi-stakeholder National Consultation meeting Ethiopia Preparing for the Global Refugee Forum (GRF), Addis Ababa, 15 October: as part of Ethiopia’s preparations for the Global Refugee Forum, ARRA and UNHCR co-hosted a National consultation/ multi-stakeholder event. The aim was to share good practices, key areas of focus for potential pledges and envisaged priority areas for support/contributions. This was discussed in the context of the themes of the GRF, and further discussions will take place within these thematic areas. For more information please contact Katarina Herneryd-Yahya, herneryd@unhcr.org.

ReDSS development of key messages to inform GRF preparations: a key messaging document has been developed with ReDSS members to support preparations to participate in government-led GRF consultation processes. It both serves as a guide in terms of coherent messaging during consultative processes but also to key stakeholders (donors, development actors, UN agencies and humanitarian partners etc.) to support a common agenda and encourage the development of supporting (joint) pledges and contributions.

UNDP/ARRA livelihood training, Gambella, 2-20 October: the training was conducted for 350 beneficiaries, drawn from both refugees and host communities. The training helped the participants to assess their potential and identify possible areas of livelihood activities to engage in. One big success of this training is that both host and refugee communities were able to sit in one room for training in at least four camps. For more information please contact Michael Yohannes, michael.yohannes@undp.org.

Danish Refugee Council, National Conference on Access to Justice and Legal aid service for Refugees, Addis Ababa, 16-17 October: focused on exploring initiatives and discussed ways of improving access to justice and legal aid service for refugees in Ethiopia. For any inquiry on the outcomes of the conference please contact Angeliki Karydi angeliki.karydi@drc.ngo.

European Union, RESET Plus Innovation Fund in Ethiopia Launch, 15 October; the European Union has launched RESET Plus Innovation Fund program to build resilience in Ethiopia through social innovation. The eight million Euro, four-year program, is financed under European Union Trust Fund in Africa and is aimed at fostering social innovation that enhances resilience-building in five regions of Ethiopia. It is expected to improve the livelihoods and resilience of 20,000 people, particularly in drought prone areas, of which half are women. Climate change, livestock, family planning, sanitation and agriculture are among the eligible thematic areas for funding.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS)/UNHCR report on The 1969 OAU Refugee Convention at 50: click here for the report which analyzes the contributions, challenges and prospects of the Convention. The report was formally launched as part of an ISS/UNHCR seminar on 28 October, with discussions also exploring the OAU Convention and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). The research has been conducted in connection with the African Union’s 2019 theme on ‘refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa’, which coincides with the 50^th anniversary of the Convention.

Development of a Common Research Agenda for the CRRF in Ethiopia: ReDSS Ethiopia research team continues to work on a research synthesis paper that will help policy-makers and practitioners navigate and understand existing research and identify key gaps and areas for future focus, which should be available in December 2019. Click here for further information on this, as well as ReDSS ongoing coordination with research practitioners and engagement with ARRA.

CRRF Coordination in Somali Regional State: ReDSS continues to work with UNHCR, ARRA, and Somalia Regional State (SRS) Government to hold regular CRRF coordination meetings in Awbare, Kebrebeyah, and SRS (Jijiga). In particular, CRRF coordination meetings were held in Kebrebeyah on 17 September and Awbare on 18 September, while CRRF Frontline Engagement Workshops were held for the CRRF coordination groups in Awbare on 20 August and 25 September in Kebrebeyah. For more information, please contact Amin Yusuf a.yusuf@regionaldss.org.

Upcoming conferences and learning events

Ethiopian Ministry of Peace/ Danish Government/ UNHCR, Regional government-government conference- Delivering the Global Compact on Refugees, 31 October-1 November, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: click here for more information and here for the agenda. The main aim is to foster cross-national sharing of experiences and identify forward-looking opportunities to achieve the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, with a focus on local approaches to the inclusion of refugees within their host communities. The Conference will bring together ten participants from each of the CRRF IGAD countries; Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia, in addition to five participants from Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan as well as partners.
Humanitarian Policy Group/ Research and Evidence Facility/ ReDSS joint learning event- The CRRF in practice, 15 November, Nairobi, Kenya: the event will include learning from recent research carried out by HPG and REF, with areas of focus including what is needed to move forward on self-reliance, donor financing and private sector engagement to address gaps in refugee and host community support, and recent research from REF on the impacts of commitments made in association with the Nairobi Declaration on Durable Solutions for Refugees. Click here for preliminary agenda and the event will take place at Park Inn, Westlands. Kindly RSVP to Lavender Mboya Lavender@sahanresearch.net by 6 November 2019.
The Global Refugee Led Network, Regional Summit, 9-11 November 2019, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: The Summit will be held under the theme “The role of refugee leaders in promoting and advocating for Refugee participation and self-representation.” This summit will be the first opportunity of its kind for refugee leaders in the Africa region to come together to share experiences, network and discuss how to strengthen refugee self-representation at all levels (locally, regionally and internationally). For more information please contact Béatrice Mauconduit beatrice.mauconduit@drc.ngo.
ARRA / UNHCR, Thematic consultations, 5 and 18 November, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: to discuss on key areas of focus for potential GRF pledges. On the 5^th of November 2019 there will be a plenary session on the four thematic pledge areas and on how to prepare pledges. This will be followed by co-sponsorship meetings on the four areas this will be concluded with a plenary wrap up session on the 18^th of November 2019, where the pledges from the government will be announced and donors are expected to announce packages support for the government.
ReDSS Evidence Week, 18-22 November 2019, Addis Ababa and Jijiga, Ethiopia: the aim of the evidence week is to bring together key stakeholders to share, reflect and learn about relevant solutions topics. This year, learning events will focus on how actors can best support authorities to lead and coordinate durable solutions processes. They will also highlight local examples of GRF/CRRF in action and on coordination and government-led processes. Specific invitations and agendas for each location will be shared in the coming week. For more information please contact Solomon Hassen, s.hassen@regionaldss.org.
European Union CRRF launch, 27 November, Jijiga, Ethiopia: the EU will formally launch the three Component areas of the EUTF support to the CRRF in Ethiopia. All three component areas of the EUTF focus on Somali Regional State and implementing partners include UNHCR, ReDSS, World Bank, Urban Protective Safety Net Project, Mercy Corps and DRC. For more information, please contact Jason Bell at j.bell@regionaldss.org.

Useful resources