After several months examining all the proposals received, our Allocation Committee chaired by Board member Maite de Aranzabal Maite opted for the NGOs Medicus Mundi and Derandein. These will use our financial support in cooperation projects in Rwanda and Ethiopia.

In the first case, it is the fifth phase of the 'Dukora Tujy Imbere' project which Medicus Mundi has in place in Rwanda since 2007. Our aid will serve to increase the production of 7 women's cooperatives over a nine-month period, contributing to the process of personal and community empowerment and, in addition, promoting knowledge in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Initiatives include the installation of a water tank, repairing greenhouses, purchasing machinery for making shoes, building stables and starting a banana plantation. All of it is to be accompanied by an educational component to help properly manage the cooperative.

Meanwhile, the Derandein Foundation will start its Ethiopian programme in July. There it will seek to improve knowledge about agriculture and beekeeping in 145 homes in the Tigray region. For a year, a comprehensive training program will enable these families to learn techniques for growing vegetables and fruit trees, and also to learn about beekeeping with their own hives so that they can market their own honey and increase the personal benefits and community. It is a small boost in a country facing its worst drought in 30 years with a devastating consequences for food supply.