Funding Agency
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Canadian Partnership Branch. UDPP Ethiopia is a component of the CUI’s International Urban Partnership Program (I-UPP).
Timeframe
2006-2009
Geographic Focus
The City of Addis Ababa will be the geographic focus of the project, but the project will be active at both the local and national levels.
Project Partners
City Level
 Bureau of Capacity Building (BoCB) of the City Government of Addis Ababa (CGAA) (coordinating partner)
Department of Urban Plan Preparation and Inspection (DUPPI)
Urban Management Institute (UMI)
National Level
Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD) (coordinating partner), including its sub-organs:
 Federal Urban Planning Institute (FUPI)
Urban Development Capacity Building Office (UDCBO)
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Background
In 2004, CUI launched the preparatory phase for the Urban Development Partnerships Project Ethiopia (UDPP Ethiopia) with encouragement from the CIDA Post in Ethiopia and the CIDA Ethiopia Desk. It was designed as a short-term capacity building program coupled with a feasibility assessment and eventual preparations for a longer-term engagement in Ethiopia.
In January 2004, CUI supported three senior Ethiopian officials from the urban development sector to be exposed first-hand to Canadian experiences in urban governance in the areas of urban planning, growth management, municipal finance, public participation and inter-government cooperation. The study tour was an opportunity for Ethiopian officials to establish relationships with their Canadian counterparts, sparking discussion on potential avenues for Canadian support. This dialogue continued and grew over a series of missions by CUI staff to Ethiopia, with continued sharing of Canada’s urban development experiences, opening discussion on where Canada could best contribute to Ethiopia’s urban agenda and governance reform strategy. In June 2006, CUI sponsored two officials from the City of Addis Ababa to attend the UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum III held in Vancouver, Canada. Participants were exposed to a world-wide dialogue on urban development, and most importantly, networked with CUI’s southern partners from around the world to learn about CUI’s partnership programming approach and achievements.
In mid-2005 CUI expanded its presence on the ground, hiring a full-time manager, who has supported CUI’s work by: a) networking with government, non-government, academe, and donors active in the urban development sector; b) maintaining awareness of current events; c) initiating the process of registering CUI as a legal entity in the country; and d) preparing a situational assessment and draft a program for a long-term engagement. During 2005-06, CUI expanded its presence on the ground, placing three young Canadian professionals, with support from CIDA’s Youth Action Division, within city and federal urban development institutions, including: a) the Urban Development Capacity Building Office (UDCBO), the lead national urban development capacity building institution, b) the Department of Urban Plan Preparations and Inspection (DUPPI) of the City of Addis Ababa, and c) the Urban Management Institute (UMI) of the City of Addis Ababa. These young professionals provided key technical advice on housing, slum-upgrading, local economic development policy, and organizational strengthening, contributing recommendations on how the national government can be more responsive to the needs of the poor and how their host organizations can improve their internal processes.
CUI has reached consensus with several key national and city institutions on opportunities to partner, serving as the foundation for a long-term project.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia is preparing to take great strides as it begins to implement its new 5-year poverty reduction strategy, the Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP). With support from partner countries such as Canada, PASDEP aims to build upon areas of focus from PASDEP’s predecessor, the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP), including capacity building, while also breaking new ground, such as harnessing the untapped growth potential of the country’s cities by supporting the emerging urban agenda. Ethiopia is currently one of the least urbanized countries of the world, yet the GoE recognizes that urban areas hold the potential to become the country’s economic and development engines. The GoE also recognizes the important role that urban areas can play in country-wide poverty reduction, and has articulated them in Ethiopia’s MDG Needs Assessment – the country’s road map to achieving the MDGs. PASDEP identifies conditions that must be met before the benefits that cities can provide will materialize. These include strengthening municipal governments and administrative institutions, and investing in essential urban infrastructure. The GoE has already taken several key steps to position itself to address the country’s urban agenda:
- Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD). The GoE has created a new ministry, the Ministry of Works and Urban Development, to manage and coordinate the urban affairs of the country. Previously, responsibility for urban development was spread across several ministries with no cohesive structure to address the urban challenges and opportunities of the country. For example, the Ministry of Federal Affairs used to be the key ministry dealing with urban development, although the Ministry’s primary responsibility was national internal affairs. MoWUD, which is fully responsible and accountable for the urban affairs of the country, better positions the GoE to direct resources and accomplish the goals of the country’s emerging urban agenda.
- National Urban Development Policy Framework. The newly drafted National Urban Development Policy Framework details key sets of policy that will guide country-wide urban development. For urban governance, the policy framework calls for furthering decentralization (self-rule), increasing community and private sector participation, building the capacity of urban stakeholders, promoting equity of access to the basic necessities of life, improving management of cities, fostering a culture of transparency and accountability, promoting inter-urban and urban-rural cooperation, and building the capacity of urban local governments, including politicians, executive organs and staff.
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The urban management component of the GoE’s National Capacity Building Plan, supported by the Public Sector Capacity Building Program (PSCAP, a capacity building sub-program to which Canada is making a significant contribution), involves investing in strengthening MoWUD, along with its various sub-organs, which include the new Federal Urban Planning Institute (FUPI), the Urban Development Capacity Building Office (UDCBO), the new Regional Bureaus of Works and Urban Development, and other urban-related training and research institutions, including the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia Civil Service College, and the Urban Management Institute (UMI) of the City of Addis Ababa. The overall objective of the urban management component of PSCAP is to enhance the capacity of the above and other urban-related institutions. PSCAP aims to help them deliver decentralized services efficiently and effectively, promote and facilitate the establishment of good city governance, and establish an environment conducive to the implementation of sustainable urban development. Canada has committed a contribution of C$20 million to PSCAP’s pooled fund.
To address Ethiopia’s urban development challenges, the GoE has identified a series of priority actions as part of the country’s emerging urban agenda as articulated in PASDEP. They include the following:
1. strengthening municipal governments and administrative institutions;
2. investing in essential urban infrastructure;
3. developing financing mechanisms that limit the demands on the public budget;
4. continuing to improve the regulatory and licensing environment for urban land, which is needed both to reduce barriers to business, and to increase security and favour asset building by households; and
5. increasing the availability of urban industrial land.
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Project Description
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| The faces of innocence in Ethiopia |
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In July 2006, CUI conducted a situational analysis study in Ethiopia to gain a better understanding of the development needs of the urban sector. The study surveyed the activities and priorities of federal and local government and non-governmental actors in Ethiopia’s urban development sector. The situational analysis provided important input into the design of UDPP Ethiopia.
The situational analysis revealed seven areas of need:
1. Organizational reform. Restructuring of national and city agencies supported by the Civil Service Reform Program (CSRP) and the Public Sector Capacity Building Program (PSCAP) is ongoing in Ethiopia. Restructuring presents numerous challenges, both to the institutions being re-structured, and to those that are playing a lead role in guiding the process. Challenges highlighted by study participants included: building leadership and management capacity, adopting good governance practices, changing management strategies, updating strategic plans, and coordinating institutional reorganization.
2. Decentralization. An important reform being carried out across the country is decentralization. The study found that local government bodies need assistance to absorb responsibilities devolved from higher levels of government. Local governments face resource limitations and a lack of staff capacity to engage in new activities. In particular, there is a need to strengthen local capacity to adopt practices of good urban management and good governance.
3. Human Resources Development. All levels of government face human resource constraints, including staff shortages, high turnover, and limited experience. Few incentives are in place to retain staff, and existing staff development schemes do not meet the needs of a rapidly changing work environment. Institutions are seeking to strengthen human resources by developing and delivering need-based, customized training, and by filling vacancies.
4. Participatory Processes. Better integrating community participation in planning processes is a priority issue identified by study participants. Progress is being made: processes and regulations for participatory planning are being developed; community-based initiatives are being implemented; and efforts to build community capacity are in progress. Nonetheless, Ethiopian organizations expressed interest in strengthening their capacity to design participatory processes, to put into practice community mobilization methods, to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders and marginalized populations, and to evaluate and monitor community participation.
5. Urban Development Framework. The absence of a policy framework to guide urban development activities is recognized as a key challenge to urban planning. The absence of a policy framework means that there are no rules to guide activities such as slum improvement, participatory processes, or monitoring, follow-up and evaluation. To respond to this challenge, Ethiopian planning institutions are drafting new institutional and legal frameworks for urban planning processes, as well as new land and housing, urban development, human resources, municipal finance and infrastructure strategies. Study participants, however, articulated that they need support to put their strategies and frameworks into practice.
6. Information Sharing and Collaboration. Although many organizations are engaged in research, training, consultancy, and data collection and dissemination, study participants highlighted the need to improve information sharing. Ideas include establishing think-tanks and institutional networks to share best practices; networking urban actors, such as public institutions, NGOs, and the private sector; enhancing research institutions and information centres; and conducting need-based research.
7. Leveraging multilateral and bilateral funds to deliver needs-based training. While Ethiopian organizations in the urban sector have been accessing multi-lateral and bilateral funds, such as PSCAP, donors have indicated that uptake of funds has been slower than expected. Also, donors wish to see these funds graduate to addressing specific priorities of partners rather than just funding generic trainings. To improve the use of these funds, Ethiopian organizations need support to better identify and articulate their needs, as well as manage and report on use of funds.
By focusing on these areas of identified need, UDPP Ethiopia aims to continue and expand on its work in the realm of enhancing governance. Work in the identified areas will contribute to PASDEP, including achievement of the MDGs and Local Agenda 21.
The objectives of the project are to:
- Support Ethiopian partners in the development of model approaches to enhancing urban governance as a contribution to urban sustainability and poverty reduction objectives established in PASDEP, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Habitat Agenda.
- Generate new ideas for advancing urban sustainability and poverty reduction in cities, through participation in local, regional and global knowledge networks.
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Approach
Background Studies . Complete a series of background studies, including: a) an assessment of the state of governance in Addis Ababa and a review of the country’s Urban Agenda; b) a partner needs assessment; c) a project gender analysis and strategy; and d) formulation of an HIV/AIDS strategy. These background studies will guide project design and implementation.
Strategic Planning . Support key partners to revise their organizational strategic plans. The process used for these revisions will examine their organizational vision and priorities, analyse internal processes, and identify capacity gaps, highlighting opportunities for the UDPP Ethiopia to improve the effectiveness of the Addis Ababa City Government.
Organizational Strengthening and Capacity Development . Building upon partner strategic plans, the project will deliver need-based training and coaching as well as supporting internal organizational restructuring.
Supporting Graduate-Level Urban Studies Programs . Support national and local partners to develop and launch graduate programs to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian professionals working in the urban realm. Support will include curriculum development, sourcing lecturers and reference materials, and providing a platform for applied research.
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