Laureate 2020

The 59-year-old German engineer Fekadu Aleka with Ethiopian roots has rendered outstanding services to improve the water supply for numerous people in Ethiopia through his organisation Environmentalists Development Association – Ethiopia (EDA-E).

As a young man, Fekadu Aleka was involved in the resistance movement against the Derg regime. At the end of 1983 he fled to Germany. From 1986 to 1993 he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. After successfully completing his degree in engineering, he returned to Ethiopia in 1993 to use the knowledge he had acquired in Germany to help improve the living conditions of his compatriots. Since 2006, Fekadu Aleka has successfully completed a number of drinking water supply projects for over 55,000 people with the EDA-E, installed toilets, showers and hand washing facilities, carried out training projects with schoolchildren, supported women in generating income and equipped schools with solar power. In February 2020, another major project will be inaugurated in Bilaa, which will supply 10,000 people in a remote mountain region with clean water.

Ceremony at the German Embassy in Ethiopia

German Ambassador and host Brita Wagener is delighted that the award will be presented to the prizewinner on 24 February 2020 in his native city of Addis Ababa: „Ethiopia is becoming increasingly the focus of public attention as an African country with great potential. The Nobel Peace Prize for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and the choice of Ethiopia for EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s first trip abroad outside the EU are clearly indicating this.“

Bavarian Ministry of the Environment assumes patronage

The Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection has assumed the patronage of the ceremony. For the Head of the Department of Water Management and Soil Conservation, Prof. Dr. Ing. Martin Grambow, the history and commitment of Fekadu Aleka is a successful example of sustainable development cooperation at eye level with a role model character: „We want to expand cooperation like this. Bavaria has set up an Africa office in Addis Ababa especially for this purpose.“