Band Aid Donates £500K to Support Forcibly Displaced People in Northern Ethiopia  

08.06.2022 

Band Aid Charitable Trust has donated £500,000 to UK for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s charity partner, to provide sustainable support for refugees and internally displaced people in northern Ethiopia.  

The conflict that broke out in November 2020 has caused the displacement of millions of people in Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions. Widespread human rights abuses, including gender-based violence, and dangerous levels of food insecurity have ensued. 

This Band Aid Charitable Trust grant will support UNHCR’s work ensuring adequate access to safe water for people displaced in Amhara and Afar and improve sanitation and hygiene conditions that have deteriorated due to overuse and overcrowding. For instance, the grant will help people like Alganesh, a 26-year-old mother, who was forced to flee her home and needed supplies to maintain the hygiene of her child and bring water to her family.  

Moreover, the donation will also help meet the critical needs of thousands of displaced children, women and men in Tigray by providing emergency shelters and core relief items (sleeping mats, blanket fleeces, laundry soap, etc.). 

Emma Cherniavsky, Chief Executive of UK for UNHCR, added: “Band Aid Charitable Trust has for many years been a committed supporter of the people of Ethiopia and relief efforts across the country. We are deeply grateful for the trust’s donation to support UNHCR’s work in northern Ethiopia, where staff are working hard to get aid to those who need it the most. Support such as this is vital in ensuring UNHCR can keep responding to desperate humanitarian crises that are currently outside the media spotlight but no less critical.”  

“We deeply appreciate the continuous and generous efforts of the Band Aid Charitable Trust to help people forced to flee. This grant will help us support the immediate and critical needs of the people displaced by the conflict,” added UNHCR Representative to Ethiopia, Mamadou Dian Balde.  

The Band Aid Charitable Trust has supported UNHCR’s work for displaced people since the mid-1980s. In addition to the trust’s work on supporting the relief of hunger and poverty in Ethiopia and its neighborhoods, the trust has also been working on supporting the relief of sickness and the preservation of health among people residing permanently or temporarily in Africa. To support Band Aid’s work, people can watch the Live Aid and Live 8 performances on YouTube.  

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NOTES TO EDITORS 

Photographs of Alganesh are available on request. 

About UK for UNHCR 

UK for UNHCR is the UN Refugee Agency’s national charity partner for the UK. We build solidarity, create partnerships and raise funds across the UK to help deliver global humanitarian relief for refugees through UNHCR’s work. www.unrefugees.org.uk  

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. It delivers life-saving assistance like shelter, food and water, helps safeguard fundamental human rights, and develops solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. UNHCR also works to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality. www.unhcr.org 

UK for UNHCR is a registered charity in England and Wales (registered charity number 1183415). 

Band Aid Charitable Trust  

You can support Band Aid’s work by watching the performances on YouTube:  

Live Aid: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAVzSGkkTa-IoMx_x1XK4Q 

Live 8: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckKR1kDbRKXJArtGYh6drQ