Poverty, demographic pressure, environmental pollution, insufficient resilience to food crises, weak institutions, internal tensions and violent conflicts as well as radicalization and crime are causes of irregular migration, displacement, human trafficking and human smuggling. The EU-managed trust fund "EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa" ​​is an instrument to combat these phenomena in three major regions of Africa: the Sahel / Lake Chad zone, the Horn of Africa and North Africa (each of these zones forms an "investment window" within the Funds). Founded in November 2015 as part of the Valletta Summit, the fund aims to support the stability of the countries in these three regions and to help reduce irregular migration, in particular by promoting resilience, economic opportunities for the population and security Rule of law. At the end of 2017, the fund had a total volume of around EUR 3.3 billion, which can be used to finance projects that contribute to achieving these goals.