UNFPA Humanitarian Response Division Director, Ms. Shoko Arakaki, and Mr. Andrew Saberton, Director of the Management Services Division, visited humanitarian intervention sites in Tigray Region between October 3 and 4, 2023. The field visit was organised as part of a mission to Ethiopia to assess the progress and way forward on UNFPA’s humanitarian response in the region and countrywide.
In Tigray, the Humanitarian Division Director visited the Adigrat One-Stop Centre supported by UNFPA since its establishment in 2021, in response to conflict-related sexual violence. Frontline health workers working at the centre explained the integrated SRH-GBV response services provided to survivors of gender-based violence, including the challenges and gaps in service provision.
Tigray (WAT) at the safe house in Adigrat, Tigray Region. (c) UNFPA Ethiopia, Paula Seijo.
The One Stop Centre in Adigrat is one of the six additional centres supported by UNFPA across Tigray, the other ones being located in Axum, Shire, Mekelle, Abi Adi, and Maychew. Additionally, UNFPA is supporting 17 Women and Girls’ Friendly Spaces and 2 Safe Houses as part of its comprehensive response to gender-based violence in the region.
Regional Health Bureau in Mekelle. (c) UNFPA Ethiopia, Paula Seijo.
While visiting the UNFPA-supported safe house in Adigrat afterwards, run in partnership with the Women Association of Tigray (WAT), the Humanitarian Director praised the comprehensive GBV approach enabling the full rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors of gender-based violence into their communities. She handed over medical supplies and other commodities to improve the medical response to survivors and their personal hygiene needs while reiterating UNFPA's commitment to continue partnering with the WAT.
Ms. Shoko and Mr. Andrew visited the Women and Girls’ Friendly Space (WGFS) at the Sebacare 4 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) site in Mekele, Tigray, providing services to over 500 women and girls weekly. UNFPA’s senior delegation also visited the Hamlin Fistula Centre and handed-over medical supplies worth 200,000 USD to 21 health facilities in the region.
These medical supplies are part of the broader UNFPA effort to support the region’s health system recovery, which has been devastated by the recent years of conflict, significantly affecting women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services.
As part of the mission, Ms. Shoko and Mr. Andrew also met and discussed with senior officials of the the Federal Government, the Interim Regional Administration of Tigray, development partners, and other stakeholders.
