On Tuesday, the German federal minister for economic cooperation and development, Dirk Niebel, visited the refugee camp Dadaab as part of his travel through Kenya. Besides providing emergency food aid, the German development ministry (BMZ) will also increase efforts to stabilise the situation for refugees and locals in the medium and long term. Increased educational opportunities for children are particularly in the focus.

19 August is World Humanitarian Day and as every year since 2008, tomorrow the European Commission will honour those who dedicate their lives to preserving and improving the lives of others who need assistance to survive."Humanitarian workers are humble but their achievement is not: each of them can make a difference for hundreds of human beings and this could be the difference between life or death, between starvation and deprivation or promise and self-sufficiency,” pointed out Kristalina Georgieva, the European Union Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

The CARICOM Secretariat-based Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit published the second Issue of its flagship newsletter, EPA Implementation Bulletin on 15 August. It is a Special Issue, dedicated to showcasing those EPA Implementation Units in CARIFORUM States that are supported by the United Kingdom’s Caribbean Aid for Trade and Regional Integration Trust Fund (CARTFund).

The European Commission has attributed 25 million EUR to the health policy sector in Burundi. It approved the Support Project for the Health Sector in Burundi “Amagara Meza” which will be implemented from 2011 to 2015. The project “Amagara Meza” (which means “good health” in the national language) follows the HealthPlus project that was implemented in six provinces from 2008 to 2011.

Between April 2007 and the end of 2010, 32 projects of the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (ITF) were approved (EUR208.86m of grants), allowing EUR5.6bn of investments. The French Development Agency (AFD) has led 10 projects (31% of cases). It is involved in half of the projects and has benefited from EUR66m of grants (1/3 of allocations) for a commitment of EUR408m out of a total of EUR1.25bn mobilized by the Project Financiers Group.