I
UNIVERSITY OFREADING
Graduate Institute of International Development and
Applied Economics
The Roles, Contributions and Challenges of NGOs in
Ethiopia
By
Ayele Angelo Ago
Dissertation Prepared in partial fulfilment of therequirements
for MA
Degree in Social Development and Sustainable Livelihoods,
University of Reading,
United Kingdom
October, 2008
II
Acknowledgements
I extend my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Dr Henny Osbahr who is also the
program director, for social development and sustainable livelihoods and my other two
courses conveyor, in the Graduate Institute of International Development and Applied
Economics. Her intellectual guidance and keen insight immensely helped me to come up
with this thesis.
I am grateful to all individuals who have taken part to make this study successful. My first
gratitude goes to Mr. Achame Shana Degebusho and his family who have supported me at
various stages of my study.
I am thankful to my wife and children who have tolerated my long absence due to my
study program. I am particularly grateful to Mr. John Clements, Managing Director for
Jade Security Service LTD Company for his kind and wholehearted support by providing
me with part time job, without which completion of my study was impossible.
At last but, my greatest appreciation to Mrs. Ingrid Hartman for her moral and financial
support which was instrumental to my success.
III
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements I
Table of Contents II
List of Tables IV
List of Figures V
Abbreviations (Acronyms) VI
Abstract VII
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Background 1
1.2. Aims, objectives and research questions 3
1.3. Structure of the research 4
Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.1. Introduction 5
2.2. Definitions 5
2.2.1. Civil society 5
2.2.2. Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) 7
2.2.3. Democratisation 8
2.2.4. Livelihoods 9
2.3. General overview of civil society 9
2.4. NGOs in Ethiopia 15
2.4.1. The Roles of NGOs and Livelihood situation in Ethiopia 17
2.4.2. Major NGOs achievements 21
2.4.2.1. Food security 22
2.4.2.2. The role of NGOs on democratisation process in Ethiopia 25
2.4.3. The challenges of NGOs 26
2.4.3.1. External Challenges 29
IV
2.4.3.2. Internal challenges 31
Chapter 3. METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 33
3.1. Introduction 33
3.2. Framework Approach 33
3.3. Method 36
3.3.1. Semi-structured interview 36
3.3.1.1. Interview with a research person 37
3.3.1.2. Interview with government organizations 38
3.3.1.3. Interview with non-governmental organizations 39
3.3.2. Secondary data sources 42
3.4. Limitations of the research 42
Chapter 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 44
4.1. Introduction 44
4.2. Major findings 44
4.2.1. Civil society in Ethiopia 45
4.2.2. Roles and Contributions of NGOs in Ethiopia 46
4.2.2.1. Genesis and importance of NGOs 47
4.2.2.2. Major contributions of NGOs in livelihood transformation in
Ethiopia 49
4.2.2.3. Roles and Contributions of NGOs in democratisation process in
Ethiopia. 55
4.2.3. Challenges of NGOs 61
4.2.3.1. External challenges 61
4.2.3.2. Internal challenges 66
Chapter 5. CONCLUSION 71
5.1. Civil society in Ethiopia 71
5.2. NGOs in Ethiopia 72
5.2.1. Identified Contributions of NGOs 73
5.2.2. Identified Challenges for NGOs 74
V
5.2.3. Future direction 76
5.2.4. Opportunity and future challenges 77
REFERENCES 78
Annexes 86
List of Tables
Table 1. Growth of Local and International NGOs 1994-2000 16
Table 2. Expenditure by NGO Category in millions 23
Table 3. Regional distribution of NGOs staff as at December 2002 24
Table 4. NGOs contributions by programs (1997-2001) 50
Table 5. Share of sectors intervened by NGOs in the period 1997 – 2001 54
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1. Non-Democratic States: Unbalanced Sectors where the state plays predominant roles
and the roles of civil society and private sector is limited 13
Figure 2. Balanced sector which is the characteristic of Matured democratic system 13
Figure 3. Position of NGOs’ within civil society under unbalanced sector 14
Figure 4. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework 34
Figure 5. Approximate location of capitals of sample regions for semi-structured interviews
(http://flagspot.net/flags/et (.html) 37
VII
Abbreviations (Acronyms)
AI Amnesty InternationalCRDA Christian relief and development associationsCBO Community based organizationCSO Civil society organizationDFID Department for international developmentDPPA Disaster prevention and preparedness agencyDPPC Disaster prevention and preparedness commissionEPRDF Ethiopian peoples’ revolutionary democratic frontFBOs Faith based organizationsGDP Gross Domestic ProductGTZ German technical cooperationHa HectaresHIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency SyndromeHRW Human Rights WatchICG International Crisis GroupIFPRI International food policy research instituteIRIN International Reality Investors NetworkKm KilometreMOA Ministry of agricultureMOCB Ministry of capacity buildingMOE Ministry of education
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MOEDAC Ministry of economic development and cooperationMOFED Ministry of finance and economic developmentMOH Ministry of healthMOJ Ministry of justiceLNGOs Local non-governmental organisationsINGOs International non-governmental organisationsNGO Non–Governmental OrganisationODS Overseas development studyODI Overseas development institute ODA Overseas development authorityQa QuintalSNNPR Southern nations, nationalities and peoples’ regionUK United KingdomUN United NationsUSD United state dollarUSAI United States Agency for International Development
Abstract
It is now eighteen years since the present government came into power by overthrowing
the communist regime. Much hope was placed that better democratic system of leadership
would prevail in Ethiopia. Except at the initial stages of power shift where by relative
improvement in the operating environment was observed, the nongovernmental
organization has remained less recognized, struggle for definition, operating space, and
suffer from policy bottlenecks and institutional capacity limitations.
Civil society in general and the NGOs sector in particular, traditionally weak in Ethiopia
due to lack of democratic system of governance, remain underdeveloped and somewhat
misunderstood in the current era of relative political liberalization.
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Many government officials see NGO as political opponents and NGOs are needed when
there is some kind of disaster, such as famine and war that challenge the capacity of the
governments. Such was the case during the famines of 1973/74/ and 1984/85 and during
the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
In spite of excessive and repressive regulation and bureaucratic requirements that consume
much of valuable time, NGOs are providing credible services in the area of relief, food
security, health, education, capacity building and infrastructure programs in Ethiopia.
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Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1.1. Background
The need to address a wide range of problems adversely affecting vulnerable groups
prompted the emergence and growth of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) globally
as we experience them today (De Waal, 1997: 66–68). The famine of 1970s and 1980s has
largely contributed for the influx and emergence of NGOs in Ethiopia (CRDA, 2004). The
modern understanding of NGOs is new to Ethiopia with a history not extending more than
four decades (Desalegn, 2008:1).
The first indigenous organizations, that were functioning apparently similar to the present
NGOs, were traditional self-help groups that existed for generations before they were
developed into organized entities. Those traditional self-help groups, which have been
registered as proper organizations, are today known as community based organizations
(Van, J. 1998:1). In this thesis, NGOs refer to both indigenous and international
non-governmental organizations that involve in relief and development programs. NGOs
emerged in Ethiopia in 1930s as a result of urbanization and economic development
(World Bank, 2000). The early pioneers were missionaries or Faith-Based Organizations
that had started operating in 1930s (CRDA, 2006: 2).
The NGOs sector is the strongest part of the civil society in Ethiopia (Zewdie and
Pausewang, 2002: 105). NGOs can be classified either by the country of origin (local or
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international) or by their engagement (relief, development and advocacy) (GTZ, 2001). In
Ethiopia, 90% NGOs are assumed to be local and the rest are accounted by international
NGOs (Van, J. 1998:1). However, these are not consistent with Zewdie and Pausewang
(2002) that states the proportion of indigenous and international NGOs as 34%:66%,
50%:50%, 59%:41% and 67%:33% in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000, respectively.
Iddir and Equb are the two common traditional institutions that existed for generations in
Ethiopia serving as funeral and saving associations, respectively. In this thesis, these
institutions are not treated as NGOs or as part of civil society as they are established with
the purpose mainly to protect only the interests of their members rather than serving
interests of wider citizens. Civil society is considered not only from associational life point
of view but also from their contribution to influence the government for the desired
changes. AusAID (2007) supports the above statement in that “civil society is expected to
play roles as a watchdog and countervailing agent to influence government for change”
AusAID (2007:18-19).
World Bank,2002)stated that, eight years of uneven, but continued move towards
democracy, the NGOS sectors struggle for definition, operating space in Ethiopia. Civil
society traditionally weak in the country remains underdeveloped, misunderstood in the
new relatively political liberalization. The historical centralization of power in Ethiopia has
left long shadows and the impulses to extend strict and at times arbitrary authority over
various civil society entities remains embedded in the psychology of some officials and for
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many to consider civil society actors as political opponents” (World Bank 2002:2). The
roles of NGOs sector is not limited to relief and developmental work, they are also
involving in the area of democratisation process in the country. NGOs have played
significant roles in the Ethiopian election of May 2005, however; the crisis that followed
the election lefts shadows on the survival of civil society and the NGOs sector in particular
(Amnesty International, 2008:1).
Currently, Ethiopia is hosting an estimated number of 1,200 civil society organizations of
which about 500 indigenous and international NGOs that are operating in different parts of
the country (Ministry of Capacity Building, 2004).
There is relatively increasing research works on civil society since recent years. However,
evidence-based studies on NGOs are scarce. Moreover, the existing one consists of short
pieces and unsatisfactory quality that focus mainly on service provider NGOs and their
unhappy relation with government (Desalegn, 2008,). This research, therefore, will
contribute to the existing scarce literature on NGOs by assessing and evaluating the roles
and challenges of NGOs in Ethiopia.
Chapter 1.2. Aims, objectives and research questions
The overall aim of the research is to indicate the place of NGOs and identify their major
contributions in food security and democratisation process in Ethiopia and the challenges
they encountered in their operation.
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The specific objectives of the research are:
1 To identify the key contribution of NGOs and review from a historical point of view.
2 To evaluate the contributions and challenges of NGOs in the democratisation process
in Ethiopia since 2005.
3 To assess the challenges of NGOs operation in the country.
The key research questions to be answered in this thesis are introduced to achieve the
objectives mentioned above.
What is the overall policy environment the NGOs are operating in?
What are NGOs? Why are they there?
How friendly are the government-NGOs relations for partnership?
To what level have the NGOs internalised democratic cultures and values?
Are there challenges for NGOs operations and what are they?
33. Structure of the research
This thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one introduces the topic and the research
objectives. Chapter two provides a detailed review with background information about
current research on civil society and NGOs at global, regional and national levels. Chapter
three explains why qualitative techniques are preferred and how they are applied. The
analysis and discussion chapter explores the data and present findings in relevant themes
and discuss on them. Finally, the conclusive chapter provides an overview of the main
research findings.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter 2.1. Introduction
Chapter two outlines general aspects of civil society and NGOs in particular at global,
regional and national levels. Some basic concepts, which are closely related to the
research, are defined. The problems related to operational environment for NGOs sectors
are discussed under external and internal challenges.
Chapter 2.2. Definitions
Different but essential concepts frequently mentioned in this thesis need to be defined in
order to give better understanding to the subject matter.
The main concepts are:
1. Civil society
2. NGOs
3. Democratisations
4. Livelihoods
4.2.1. Civil society
Civil society embraces different sections of social community. Civil society includes
NGOs, professional associations, cooperatives, trade unions, religious institutions,
independent media organizations, and think tanks which operate at different levels; global,
regional national and local etc (ODS, 2005:2). Civil society therefore refers to the arena;
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distinct from the market and the state; in which citizens come together to pursue common
interests through collective actions; neither for profit nor for the exercise of political
power. Thus, all organizations and associations that lie between the family and the state
(except firms and political Parties) are part of civil society (World Bank, 2003b: 2-3). This
research is based on World Bank’s categorization of civil society. In addition to the World
Bank requirements, one requirement is added to define civil society into Ethiopian
context. Any group or entity regarded as civil society is required to fulfil one or more of
the following conditions.
Representations:
Organizations, which aggregate citizens’ voice.
Advocacy and technical inputs:
Organizations, which provides information and advice, and lobby on particular issues.
Capacity building:
Organizations, which provide support to other civil society organizations, including
funding.
Service delivery:
Organizations, which implement development projects or provide services.
Social functions:
Organizations, which foster collective recreational activities.
Legal status*:
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If any associational entity is considered as a civil society organization, then it is required to
have legal status/registration (*this requirement is added taking the Ethiopian situation
into account).
Traditional institutions such as Iddir and Equb, associations for funeral and savings,
respectively, existed for generations in the country. This thesis, however, will not treat
these institutions as civil society organization for reasons that there are no sufficient
documented evidences for their contribution in the democratisation process and
influencing the governments for change for the interests of citizens beyond the interest of
their limited members.
Political organizations and business firms are not also treated as civil society organizations
in this study. The exclusion of political parties and private business organizations is that
the former is struggling to change the government and take over the power while the
private business organizations aspire for profit making to protect the interest of limited
members in the groups.
4.2.2. Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Like other civil society organizations, NGO has no commonly agreed upon definitions
globally. NGOs in their broader definitions are “associations formed within civil society
bringing together individuals who share common purpose” (Turner and Hulme,
1997:200). In the Ethiopian context, as defined by German technical Cooperation (GTZ)
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(2001), the term is broadly used to denote an organization that meets the following
requirements:
NGOs are voluntary in their genesis
NGOs engage in relief, service delivery, advocacy or development activities
NGOs are non-profit or self serving organizations working to serve the
disadvantaged groups of the society
NGOs are non-political
NGOs have no permanent program interest or geographical context
Legal status: any organization to be considered as NGO, it requires a legal
status/registration. NGO refers to both indigenous and international
non-governmental organizations (GTZ, 2001:89).
4.2.3. Democratisation
The word democratisation is a widely used terminology in the present development
discourse. It is derived from democracy that comes from two Greek words demo means
people and kratia means power or rule. Therefore, in Greek democracy means system of
governance that was characterized by direct exercise of political powers by citizens’ actual
participation in city-state gathering. The small size of the city- state made it possible for
citizens to gather freely and cast votes for or against something under discussion (Sisay
and G, 2002: 3, citing Sartori, Giovanni, 2000).
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Although democracy comes in many forms, nowadays, the concept generally implies
majority rule, minorities and individuals’ rights, equality of opportunities, equality under
the law and civil rights and liberties. A democratic government is a form of government in
which supreme power is held by the people and exercised directly or through elected
representatives (Sisay and G, 2002:3-4, citing Rohman, 1999). Therefore, “the democratic
process includes the recognition of the people as sovereign and as the ultimate source of
any political authority; freedom to form associations and organizations for all interest
groups and the unhampered advancement of their causes by all peaceful means; freedom of
the press; freedom of all political parities to operate in every part of the country; free and
fair elections through which the people elect their representatives and administrators; and
the total rejection of violence or war as a means of acquiring or maintaining political
power.” (Sisay citing EHRCO, 1995).
4.2.4. Livelihoods
The term livelihood is used in different ways. The following definition by department for
international development (DFID) captures the broader notion of livelihoods. Livelihood
comprises the capacities, assets (including both material and social resources) and
activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it cope with and
recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both
now and in the future while not undermining the natural resource base”(DFID, 1999:1).
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4.3. General overview of civil society
Civil society is an aggregate of many community groups, such as NGOs, professional
associations, trade unions and human rights advocators. The concept of civil society is not
new. It has been contested with political philosophy, sociology and social theory for
hundreds of years. What is new is the increasing emphasis on the concepts over the last
decade. Civil society has become a buzzword within international development (Anheier et
al. 2004, Edwards, 2004). The importance and place of civil society for Africa’s
development is well articulated by many writers. For example, Murunga and Shadrack
(2007:19) stated the importance of civil society by saying that “literature on African
politics indicates that civil society is the missing key to sustain political reform, legitimate
state, improved governance, viable state-society and state-economy relationships, and
insurance of political renewal”.
The International Crisis Groups (2001) and Kasfir (1998) indicated that, much hope has
been placed on civil society to secure democracy and sustainable development in
developing countries and in Africa in particular. They considered, civil society as a major
force to change or remove undemocratic governments or make the states democratic,
more transparent and more accountable to their people. In Africa, because of the
prevailing, “social, economic, cultural, colonial and political history, civil society assumes
different characteristic when compared to Western liberal democracies. The prevailing
ethnic and kinship structure, the legacy of colonialism, the pattern of economic
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development, and authoritarian governance system gave rise to civil society that markedly
differ from the voluntary associational form that characterise the civil society in United
States or Western Europe”(Fatton, 1992; Kasfir 1998, cited in IDS 2005: 7).
African governance system and its civil society is perceived and looked at in accordance
with exactly the situation that is prevailing in Europe or United States. Perceiving African
politics and its civil society in this manner will lead to wrong recommendations and
solutions to Africans’ problems. Abbink (2006: 173) stated that, the African politics is
conceptualised from the point of view of western context without taking the historical and
cultural aspects into account. Abbink further states the need to revisit and reconceptualise
the analysis of politics in Africa in more cultural and historical terms. Although politics
and civil society are misconceived, there are many in which it has played vital roles in
improving, for example, good governance and exhibited unprecedented growth in social
sector. Civil society organization in Ghana, Zimbabwe and Kenya now provide 40% of all
health care and education services (ODI, 2005) and globally 15-20% of the world’s poor
has been reached by the NGO sector (Fowler, 2000) and development NGOs have an
annual global budget of some US$5.5 billion (ODI, 2005).
The expectations of international institutions from civil society for Africa’s development
and democratization are increasing from time to time. The problem is that the African
political, historical and institutional environment under which African civil society is
working is not treated contextually, for which reason most of the expectation does not
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match with achievements. The ambitious aspiration of international organizations and
donor community is well expressed by Zewdie and Pausewang (2002:103) who stated
that,” the hopes that are put on civil society in Africa, excitement with which the donor
community has embraced the concept make it appear as if some one had just discovered a
magic formula called “civil society” which would painlessly make African governments
more democratic, transparent and accountable”. Crugel (1999) states that the political
context under which the civil society operates at local, regional and global levels
conditions the extent to which the civil society can influence government policy. The
contribution of civil society like in other social issues mentioned above, have been
significant in supporting and promoting pro poor policy formulation.
ODI (2005) suggests that civil society generate issues or actions, raises new ideas or
questions, and creates new ways of framing policy issues. Civil society represents the
views of others, shares expertise and experiences, put forward new approaches. They can
add, correct or change policy issues, hold policy makers accountable; evaluate and
improve own activities, particularly with regard to service delivery and learn from each
other (ODI, 2005:2-4). Despite tremendous potentials that the African civil society has,
the political environment for civil society involvement has not been encouraging and
improving. Civil society and governments in Africa see each other in hostility rather than
as partners for development.
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The following statements by Kukah (2003) explicitly reflect the present African civil
society government relation and the political environment. “The relationship between
states and civil society in Africa seems to have some of the basic characteristics of a
fortified city, communication between those inside and those outside is severely restricted
by the nature of the fort itself. So there are naturally outsiders and insiders. These
characteristics are supposed to inspire awe and causes intimidation in the minds of the
observers. When civil society feels completely locked out it begins to seek relevance by
resorting to such alternatives as migration, informal economic activities, sorcery
witchcraft, cults, genocide, forced relocation, intra-and inter-ethnic, communal or religious
violence, ethnic cleansing etc” (Kukah, 2003:9-10).
Figure 1. Non-Democratic States: Unbalanced Sectors where the state plays predominantroles and the roles of civil society and private sector is limited
Civil society
SocietySource: Rahamato, (2008)
Figure 2. Balanced sector which is thecharacteristic of Matured democraticsystem
State Sector
PrivateSector
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Source:Rahamato,(2008)
Figure 3. Position ofNGOs’ within civil societyunder unbalancedsector
NGOs
C i v i lSociety
Source: Rahamata,
(2008)
NGO sector as a different
part of civil society
emerged as the aftermath
of World War II. The
prevalence of varied
socio-economic problems that followed the war encouraged the emergence of NGOs as
we experience them today. Massive dislocation, destruction that followed the war
challenged the capacities of governments requiring resources and structure that could
address the problems outside of the state domain. The 1950’s and 1960s witnessed the
emergence and rapid proliferation of NGOs to support and assist the people that need
Society
Private Sector
State Sector
Civil Society
SOCIETY
Privatesector
State Sector
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support (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002). For example, there was a dramatic increase in the
number of NGOs worldwide. The number of international NGOs increased by 345% in
last 20 years, from 13,232 in 1981 to 45,674 in 2000(International labour organization,
2001: 10).
4.4. NGOs in Ethiopia
Ethiopia was hit with two devastating famines in almost in a decade. The first famine
occurred in 1973/74 and the second more devastating occurred in 1984/85 causing
involuntary mass migration and huge loss of lives and properties. These two famines
resulted in dramatic increase in the number of NGOs operating in the country. During the
first famine 1973/74 various groups engaged in relief operations formed a network that
became known as Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA) World Bank,
2000). CRDA is an umbrella organization for more than 150 both international and
indigenous non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia (CRDA, 2004).
The significance contribution of NGOs has increased since these devastating famines. The
role of NGOs during these famines was very essential in saving the lives of famine victims
when the government’s capacities were completely eroded. These famines compelled the
then governments to allow a large influx of western NGOs into the country. During the
first famine, the total number of NGOs mostly operating on relief in the country was not
more than twenty-five; of which the vast majority were church based and very few of local
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origin. This number increased to 70 at the later part of 1980s (Zewdie and Pausewang
2002).
Table 1. Growth of Local and International NGOs 1994-2000
NGOs 1994 1996 1998 2000
LNGOs 24 96 160 246
INGOs 46 96 119 122
Total NGOs 70 192 270 368
Source; DPPC, (2000)
The increase in the number of NGOs is not a unique phenomenon to Ethiopia. An increase
of 525% was recoded from 1994 to 2000. The increase in indigenous NGOs was 1025%
while international NGOs increased by 265%. In a similar way tremendous increase has
also been observed in different parts of the world. For example globally, the number of
international NGOs increased by 345% in the last 20 years, from 13,232 in 1981 to 45,674
in 2000 (International Labour Organization, 2001: 11). In Bolivia in 1980 the total number
of NGOs operating in the county was only 100. This number increased to 1000 in 1999
(ODI, 2005). In a similar way in Bangladesh there were only 70 NGOs in 1970s, but in
2000 this number surged to 22,000 (Matin and Taher, 2000). A tremendous increase
(1025%) in the number of indigenous NGOs was observed from 1994 to 2000 in the
Ethiopia, however; the increase has not been matched with institutional and human
capacity.
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Civil society in Ethiopia remained the weakest by all measurements due to the governance
history, which was based on, centralized states ruled by autocratic governments, which
gave no or little space for associational structure (World Bank. 2000:2). This together
with the inflexible, controlling and bureaucratic nature of the government has made the
NGOs sector to remain very small when compared with other African countries, where we
have more than 54,000 operating NGOs in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe each has
more than 700 NGOs and about 2,700 NGOs in Palestine (GTZ, 2001). NGOs forceful
involvement started following the famine of 1973/74. However, missionaries or
faith-based organization came and engaged as a non-governmental organization in
Ethiopia in 1930’s. Norwegian Lutheran Federation was the first that started its program
in the then Gamo-Gofa- region now under SNNPR State in 1930s (CRDA, 2004; CRDA,
2006).
The second famine 1984/85, which was more devastating, highly, boosted the visibility of
NGOs and created opportunity to expand their areas of operation, relief, rehabilitation,
development and so on.
4.4.1. The Roles of NGOs and Livelihood situation in Ethiopia
There is scarcity of studies done on NGOs in Ethiopia and most of the existing ones focus
on the activities of the organizations, especially in the areas of relief and rehabilitation and
their unhappy relations with government (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002). The NGO being
XXVIII
relatively the strongest part of civil society has pivotal roles in the political and economic
transformation in Ethiopia (World Bank, 2000).
“Perhaps the greatest challenge that the country faces is that of ensuring food security.
This is so because of the low technological base of agriculture, limited rural infrastructure
and off-farm employment compounded by neglect and inappropriate policies over many
years. The food security strategy, whose implementation has begun, is meant to break the
complex problems to close the food gap and ensure food security.” Mekonnen
Manyazewai (2000 as cited in Devereux, 2000: 1) Vice-Minister, Ministry of Economic
Development and Cooperation (MEDAC), Government of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is known for its wealth of natural resources and biodiversity as a result of its
extreme altitudinal variations that range from 4620 metres above sea level to 116 metres
below sea level with more than 100 ethnic groups. Ethiopia is the second most populous
country in Africa and yet one of the least urbanized countries in the world (USAID,
2007). Most of its population of more than 65 million people lives in highlands, where
land degradation and drought threatens food security. The highland households are mainly
dependent on better market access or external assistances in order to avoid starvation
(international food policy research institute (IFPRI), 2005). Ethiopia has an estimated
population of more than 78million in 2008(Index Mundi, 2008).
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The total population, which was 42 million in 1984 and 53 million in 1994, surged to more
than 78million in 2008, increasing at 2.9% per year. About 15% of the population is
accounted by nomadic people occupying 60% of estimated landmass of the country, which
is highly inaccessible, and food insecure (USAID, 2007). Agriculture is the source of
livelihood for 85% of the population where the bulk of the poor live (MOFED, 2002,
USAID 2007). Food security problems in Ethiopia are consequential to a combination of
factors. Ethiopia has been structurally food deficit since at least 1980(Devereux, 2000:1).
The growing and serious food insecurity problems in the country affecting as much as
45% of the population has made more than 5 million people dependent on food aid each
year, even during years seemingly with normal weather and market conditions. Over
700,000 tons of food aid has been imported every year to meet the food needs in the
country (Food security Bureau, 2004:2).
“The agricultural sector remains our achilles heel and source of
Vulnerability. Nonetheless, we remain convinced that agricultural
based development remains the only source of hope for Ethiopia;”
Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, April 2000 as cited in Devereux, 2000:2).
The following report by International Reality Investors Network (IRIN) on the current
food insecurity situation in the country matches with the speech of the Premier after eight
years. “The overall food security situation in the drought-affected areas has not improved.
It has been exacerbated by the country's dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Parts of
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region and Somali region pastoral and
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agro-pastoral populations are extremely food insecure due to successive seasons of
below-average rains, flooding in riverine areas, livestock disease, an army worm
infestation, conflict, inadequate humanitarian assistance and extremely high food prices.
More than 4.6 million people are in need of emergency relief” (International Reality
Investors Network (IRIN), August 18, 2008 citing in Minister of Ministry of Agriculture,
Abera Deresa).
Ethiopian economy is highly volatile and unsustainable due to structural rigidity, external
shocks, conflicts and is dominated by smallholder agriculture which employed 89% of the
labour force, 56% of GDP and 67% of export earnings in 1997(Devereux, 2000). On the
other hand Aredo et.al, (2007), indicates that approximately half of GDP (45%) is
contributed by agricultural sector and agriculture creates employment opportunities for an
estimated 85% of the total population in the country (Aredo et, al. 2007). It can be
noticed that some improvement was observed between the reporting period of Devereux
and Aredo in the total labour force employed in agriculture and in GDP.
Environmental degradation is one of the most serious problems in Ethiopia. IFPRI (2005)
indicates that Ethiopia is among the most soil nutrient depleted Sub-Saharan African
country. Such land degradation reduces average agricultural productivity; increase
farmers’ vulnerability to drought and food insecurity. More than 1.1 billion tons of soil is
lost every year as a result of soil erosion due to water from highlands (Australian
development cooperation, 2004:7).
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The dominant farm system in Ethiopia is characterized by traditional methods of farming
with little surplus and heavily influenced by changes in the weather conditions. According
to an estimate, 30% of farm produce is supplied to local market while more than 60% of
the produce is used for own consumption. Moreover larger proportion of the rural
population (more than 40%) is a net purchaser and the poverty situation in Ethiopia is
among the worst by most social and human development indicators (Aredo, et al 20007).
Ethiopia ranks 169th from 177 countries in human development index having Gini index
of 30(UN Human development Report 2007/2008: 284). Recent government reports of
Ministry of finance and economic development (MOFED) (2005) indicated that the head
count poverty index was 44% in 1999/2000 implying that about half of the population is
under absolute poverty.
In short, Ethiopia is vulnerable to all sorts of food insecurity, chronic, cyclical and
transitory problems. The major causes of food insecurity problems are drought, war,
poverty land degradation, weak institutional capacity, such as market, land tenure system,
and inconsistent government policy (Devereux, 2000:1).
As can be understood from the speech of premier Zenawi quoted above, the Ethiopian
economy is entirely depended on agriculture. Focusing the economy on which more than
80% of the total labour force is engaged may sound rational, however; depending
dominantly on unsustainable natural resource base, on highly degraded land, on rain fed
XXXII
agriculture, which is the characteristics of Ethiopian agriculture, is debatable unless it is
followed by structural transformation of agriculture, such as promotion of technological
inputs or land tenure reforms and gradually reducing the roles of agriculture and
significantly increase growth in other sectors (Befekadu and Berhanu 2000:29).
4.4.2. Major NGOs achievements
It is impossible to list what NGOs have accomplished in the course of their involvements,
however; some highlights on major achievements can indicate program successes,
however; major achievements are summarized below.
4.4.2.1. Food security
Following is the achievements recoded by the NGO sector from 1984 1996 as an
indication of NGOs contribution in the area of food security in Ethiopia. Figures of
disaster prevention and preparedness commission (DPPC and CRDA, as cited in Zewdie
and Pausewang 2002) show that in twelve years (1984-1996) NGOs provided relief
assistance on the average to 6.5 million beneficiaries every year which was about 14% of
the then total rural population. In 1990 alone 13 million beneficiaries have received
assistance from NGOs. The volume of the food assistance distributed by them ranged from
1.5 million quintals in 1984 to 5.1 million quintals in 1992. The development project
undertaken by NGOs in 1990s was estimated to have cost 2.3 billion Birr and was
believed to have benefited 26 million people both rural and urban and created 14,000
XXXIII
employment opportunities (DPPC and CRDA, cited in Zewdie and Pausewang 2002:
107-108).
Table 2 below demonstrates the extent of the NGOs contributions in the area of food
security, capacity building and infrastructural development programs from 1997-2001
(CRDA, 2004).
In short, the NGOs sector in five regional states, in six program areas in five years
(1997-2001) have benefited 23.2 million people of which 20 million benefited from
development projects and the remaining 3.2 million from relief and rehabilitation
programs. A total of 360 projects were implemented by 271 NGOs (188 Local and 83
International) in development programs. A total budget of 3.53 billion Ethiopian Birr or
about USD 392, 222,200 of which 90% or USD 352,999,980 was spent on development
programs and the remaining 10% on relief and rehabilitation operations (CRDA, 2004)
Table 2. Expenditure by NGO Category in millions
Sector NGOs Share in %
Indigenous International Indigenous International
Food Security 563.02 385.47 59 41
Health/Water 515.83 475.48 52 48
HIV/AIDS 35.96 74.26 62 38
Education 432.95 267.80 62 38
Capacity Bldg 171.54 115.93 60 40
Infrastructure 89.83 119.93 43 57
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Emergency 144.12 202.71 41 59
Source: CRDA & DPPC (2004)
In December 2002, NGOs operating in the five regions had a total 9,803 employees of
whom 64% were males and 36% females. Nearly 98.5% of the NGOs employees were
Ethiopians. About 11% of NGOs staffs hold management positions with executive roles,
39% of the staffs provide technical support and the rest 50% were support-giving staffs.
About 77 %( 7,551) of the NGOs workforce is accounted by local NGOs of whom 36%
were females (CRDA 2004).
As can easily be seen from the Table 4, high NGOs staff concentration was observed in
Addis Ababa (41%), where relatively better facilities are available. On the other hand,
Somali regional state, which is one of the remotest and food insecure parts of the country,
accounts only 3% of staff.
Table 3. Regional distribution of NGOs staff as at December 2002
S/N Regional states Region’s share in
%
Staff gender aggregated in
%
Male Female
1 Addis Ababa 41 62 48
2 Amahara 27 74 26
3 SNNPR 17 83 17
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4 Tigray 12 88 12
5 Somali 3 82 18
Source: CRDA (2004)
The concentration of NGOs workforce indirectly indicates program concentration as well.
It is therefore debatable that NGOs and their programs are concentrated in areas where
there are relatively better facilitates and also questionable whether there is an equitable
distribution in NGOs programs in the country.
4.4.2.2. The role of NGOs on democratisation process in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the African countries, which have become politically unstable since the
overthrow of imperial regime in 1974. The communist regime that took over power from
the emperor ruled Ethiopia with absolute tyranny and shameful killings and imprisonment
of its citizens for 17 years. The feudal monarchy followed by a brutal dictator Marxist
regime made civil society in general and the NGOs sector in particular weak and invisible.
Zewdie and Pauswange, (2002), states that when the Mengistu’s regime collapsed in 1991
some NGOs were tolerated by the government for the fact that the government’s capacity
was completely eroded to address the problems of the then catastrophic famine (Zewdie
and Pauswange, 2002).
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The roles of NGOs in the democratisation process are insignificant for the fact that NGOs
have been operating under restrictive and controlled environment. Advocacy is a risk
business in Ethiopia. NGOs those who involved in advocacy work during the election of
May 2005, have suffered much because of their involvement. A good case in point is
Christian relief and development association (CRDA). CRDA is an umbrella organization
of more than 200 NGOs in Ethiopia. CRDA is currently facing serious challenges because
of its position statement regarding the election crisis of May 2005. The following case is a
good example of the challenges advocacy NGOs currently facing and ahead of their future
involvements.
“During the year under review (2005), due to the political situation in the country, a few
training programs on Resource Mobilization, Leadership, etc., which were planned to be
conducted within the fourth Quarter had to be postponed to the next year (2006). All
programs of CRDA have felt the impact of this situation since it created misunderstanding
between CRDA and the Government. CRDA’s involvement in election-related activities
posed both opportunities and challenges. While CRDA was able to show its shift towards
and/or accommodating lobby and advocacy issues on top of its conventional service
delivery mission, it faced serious challenges in the regions as authorities questioned at
every communication the role of CRDA in politics instead of continuing its development
partnership. This challenge has exacerbated since CRDA voiced its position regarding the
situation in the country following the May 15 National Elections. Cases in point are;
different offices in Oromia did not show interest in inviting CRDA on issues dealing with
NGO category, despite CRDA's recognition as a CSO partner in the region. CRDA has
XXXVII
also been unable to form partnership with existing authorities of Addis Ababa due to the
pending administration hand-over of ruling party to the opposition”(CRDA, 2005:33).
4.4.3. The challenges of NGOs
The governance system in the past regimes gave little space for the establishment of a
strong and a vibrant civil society in Ethiopia. The centralized and autocratic nature of the
governance highly contributed for the limited number and nascent civil society in general
and the weak disintegrated NGOs sector in particular in the country (World Bank, 2000).
The year 1991 was considered to be more promising for the emergence of a vibrant civil
society in Ethiopia (Milikia, 2006). It was not deniable that more civil society was
established since the indicated period due to relatively improved political environment.
The number of NGOs operating in the country in 1994 was only 70 of which 46 were
international and the remaining indigenous. This number dramatically increased to 368 in
2000 of which indigenous was 246 and the remaining international (Kassahun, 2002).
The year 1991 has never brought favourable situation for the emergence and re-emergence
of a strong and a vibrant civil society in the country, rather the promises and hopes
remained rhetoric. The ever-relapsing relation between the NGO and government seems
going from bad to worst these days. The following statements by World Bank in 2000
surprisingly after eight years are found to be so relevant to the current Ethiopian situation.
XXXVIII
“Eight years into Ethiopia’s uneven, but continuing move towards representative
democracy, the country’s NGOs sector struggles for definition, operating space, and
institutional capacity. Civil society traditionally weak in Ethiopia remains underdeveloped
and somewhat misunderstood in the current era of relatively political liberalization”
(World Bank, 2000: 1). Amnesty international(AI) in its June 2008 report” states that
“Amnesty international is deeply concerned by the repressive Draft Charities and societies
proclamation, which clearly aims not only to undermine and frustrate the work of
independent civil society organizations in Ethiopia but also bar foreign non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty international from operating in the country. The
proclamation is a clear demonstration of the government’s intolerance of the work of
human rights defenders and civil society organizations, and would seem to be a ploy by the
government to conceal human rights violation and prevent public protest and criticism of
its actions”(AI, 2008:1)
The EPRDF led government soon after taking power, has become hostile to civil society
groups especially; international NGOs some of which provided support for the then
guerrilla fighter groups the present EPRDF (government) when it was still an insurgent
movement. The NGOs who supported EPRDF and hoped for policy environment more
favourable than that of communist regime were disappointed with unfriendly outlook of
the new government-EPRDF (Campbell, 1996).
XXXIX
Why the then guerrilla fighters, the present leaders became unfriendly to their former
supporters? May be one of the other parties is suspicious that there is no reason why one
should not do what had been done during the guerrilla fighting times, for the fact cleaning
ones own house is better than suffering from the consequences.
What one could easily understand from the above citation is how the political environment
for civil society and the NGO sector in particular is unfriendly and hostile. Zewdie and
Pausewang (2002) stressed that EPRDF after coming to power, was of the opinion that
NGOs, especially international ones were not really needed in the country and that they
could be replaced with local, party-controlled organizations which would be safe and
friendly.
The Ethiopian civil society, especially the NGOs sector has been engulfed with various
external and internal problems for a long time. The challenges may be categorized into two
broad parts; external and internal. This thesis will look at the challenges in relation to the
NGOs operation under the present government.
4.4.3.1. External Challenges
There are various external challenges that NGOs face in Ethiopia today.
Government attitude
Strong, vibrant and independent institutions have been considered by the present
government as a threat and categorized as part of opposition and working to undermine its
power bases (Desalegn, 2008).
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Marked improvement was observed in the relation between NGOs and the state
immediately after the war with Eritrea, for the fact that the government aspire to win the
support of the civil society following the war; nevertheless; the government has no interest
and appetite to consider the NGOs and other civil society sector as real partners for
development (CRDA, 2006; Milkias, 2006; Desalegn, 2008).
Bureaucracy
Lengthy and bureaucratic requirements for registration, demanding reporting
requirements, and continued lack of transparency on the part of government executive
bodies exacerbate the ever-volatile Government-NGO relations (GTZ, 2001).
Pro-government NGOs
The state is deliberately promoting its own party controlled parallel civil society groups,
such as local indigenous NGOs, women organizations, youth associations and trade
unions. This highly reinforces the suspicion that is held in the voluntary sector that the
state does not have confidence in independent civil society groups and may be planning to
replace them at some time in the future (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002).
Participation
Major decisions that concern the civil society themselves are passed at regional and federal
levels without the participation of civil society representatives (GTZ, 2001). A good case
in point is that officials in the ministry of justice responsible for drafting new laws that
govern NGOs operations have been unwilling to involve the NGOs sector in the
preparatory efforts (CRDA, 2006). The study of Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation (Norad) on capacity building program in Ethiopia (2005) complained that the
XLI
Ethiopian government is considerably more restrictive with respect to the space it allows
to international and national NGOs than the Sri Lankan state (Norad, 2005: 1).
Rules and regulations
It is the state that sets the rules, regulations that govern civil society engagements and that
the rules are vague, ambitious, and subject to arbitrary interpretation by the regulating
organizations (Desalegn, 2008, Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002, CRDA, 1997).
The deliberate provision of regulation contrary to provision of their parent law restricted
freedom of association, violated essential provision of the constitutions and international
human right agreements ratified by Ethiopia (CRDA, 2006: 13). It is possible to mention
more similar challenges in addition to the aforementioned cases. However, what have been
mentioned so far can indicate as how hostile is the working environment for NGOs
operations in particular and civil society engagement in general. What is important to
mention here is that the external constraints are the major bottlenecks that remain the most
difficult to overcome at present, and have been responsible for restricting wider
involvement of civil society in the country (CRDA, 2004).
4.4.3.2. Internal challenges
Internal challenges refer to limitation in the resource and managerial capacity within the
NGOs themselves.
Capacity limitation
There is significant capacity limitation among indigenous NGOs. Limitation in human
resource and budget constraints are the prominent features of local NGOs. GTZ (2001)
XLII
stressed that, lack of access to funds, physical assets and competent human capital is the
features of Ethiopian NGOs.
Weak private sector
In Ethiopia the private sector is so weak and fragile as to become internal funding sources
for NGOs, as is the case in many other countries. The private sector is so weak due to
unfriendly policy environment and government control of major economic sectors,
(Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002).
Dependence on external funding
The overwhelming majority of both international and local NGOs depend on external
funding sources to run their programs. Government and donors play major roles in
supporting NGOs programs which usually has compromised the independence and
effectiveness of NGOs (Hellinger, 1987:137). The NGOs who based their funding source
on governments end up with negative bearing against the poor by failing to distance
themselves and compromising their impendence with the government (Weston, 1994).
Personal interest
Many of the NGOs are not home-grown, they are distant from many of the social and
cultural aspects of the society, and many NGOs have tendencies to preserve institutional
and personal interests rather than the wider beneficiary (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002).
Democratic culture and values
Many of the NGOs, especially indigenous ones have not internalised democratic cultures.
They lack the culture of tolerance and constructive debate and have no media to inform
the general public about their activities (Gebre-egzibiaher and Sisay, 2002).
XLIII
Chapter 3. METHODOLOGY AND
LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
Chapter 3.1. Introduction
Chapter three presents the reasoning behind the selection of the topic, the underlying
livelihood framework, the methodology used and analysis of the research data and
associated limitations.
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Chapter 3.2. Framework Approach
The sustainable livelihood framework has been used as a structural tool to analyse main
inter-related factors that can identify the roles of NGOs in transforming livelihood. The
sustainable livelihoods framework presents the main factors that affect people’s livelihoods
and the typical relationships among them. It can also helps in assessing contributions of
development activities to livelihood sustainability. Sustainable livelihood approach is
mainly concerned with people and seeks to gain an accurate and realistic understanding of
people’s potentials (DFID, 1999:1). In this study, the sustainable livelihood framework is,
therefore, used as a tool to analyse the roles of NGOs in transforming livelihoods in
Ethiopia.
Figure 4. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
XLV
In general, survival of human being depends on livelihood assets. The livelihood assets
include material, social, tangible and intangible assets that people can have in possession.
Livelihood assets are resources that can be seen as the capital base from which different
productive streams are derived to construct livelihoods (IDS, 1997:7). DFID (1999)
focuses on the use of different types of capitals for sustainable livelihood. The types of
XLVI
capital are human, natural, physical, social and financial capitals. Human capital represents
the skills, knowledge, ability to labour and good health that all together enable people to
pursue different livelihood strategies to achieve their livelihood objectives. Social capital
refers to the social resources upon which people draw in pursuit of their livelihood
objectives. Natural capital is a term used for natural resource stocks from which resource
flows and services useful for livelihoods are derived. Physical capital comprises basic
infrastructures and producer goods needed to support livelihoods, and the financial capital
denotes the financial resources that people use to achieve their livelihood objectives
(DFID 1999:7-17).
Such studies that engage to identify the roles of NGOs in transforming livelihood,
recognizes the fundamental influence of people’s surrounding which includes the broad
political and economic structure and the immediate physical, social and cultural
environment (Hebinck, 2002). The broad political, economic, social, physical and cultural
environment influences the involvement and contributions of NGOs. The sustainable
livelihoods framework that can help to analyze the whole factors is, therefore, selected as
a more appropriate tool for this particular project. Within the sustainability framework, the
theme of the research mainly focuses on “the role of NGOs, in livelihood transformation
and democratisation process in Ethiopia, is mainly developmental. However, their roles on
development are mainly determined by the nature of the governments and system of
governance in the country”.
XLVII
Despite the importance and diverse use of the sustainable livelihood framework, it has
weaknesses that need considerations. Firstly, the analysis of livelihoods in relation to
various capitals requires enormous financial, time and personal resources, which are often
lacking. Secondly, its integrated approach considers many aspects that deliver a flood of
information challenging to be analysed. The decision about what aspect to consider with
priority is also another challenge. The difficulties to obtain clear indicators that can help to
measure and compare the analysis. For example, a person’s social capital and asset status
that are highly associated with the amount of resources he/she earns can vary according to
the local context. For instance, some actors might be able to satisfy their needs with low
level of financial capital, whereas others with more financial capital. In this study, to
reduce the above mentioned weaknesses of the sustainable livelihood framework, a
semi-structured interview was used as a source to prioritise issues to be focused.
Chapter 3.3. Method
Qualitative research techniques are used in this research. The advantage of using the
qualitative method is to get an in depth examinations of an issue. It is not also limited to
rigidity on definable variables, it enables examination of issues that otherwise may not be
uncovered through quantitative techniques.
Primary data as well as information from secondary sources are accessed. Literatures
covering the main publications on civil society in general and on NGOs sectors in
XLVIII
particular at global, regional and national level were reviewed. Information was gathered
from books, reports, journals, and from electronic sources.
Chapter 3.3.1. Semi-structured interview
Primary data were generated through semi-structured interviews conducted on
twenty-seven governmental (15) and non-governmental (12) organizations. The
semi-structured interview was conducted in three federal regional states and two federal
government organizations and twelve non-governmental organizations (see figure: 5
below).
Chapter 3.3.1.1. Interview with a research person
An independent interview was made at the last stage of this research with Desalegn
Rehamato who is one of the researchers who has long research experience with civil
society groups in Ethiopia. The interview was mainly focused on the recent situation of
the civil society in the country. In depth discussion was made in relation to charity and
society draft laws expected to be enacted in October 2008.
Figure 5. Approximate location of capitals of sample regions for semi-structuredinterviews (http://flagspot.net/flags/et (.html)
XLIX
KEY:
Sample Federal and regional capitals where interviews made with government
officials
Head office of non-governmental organizations where interview made with
selected officials.
L
Chapter 3.3.1.2. Interview with government organizations
Two conditions were considered in selecting regions and organization for semi-structured
interview.
Concentration of NGOs and program diversification
The number of NGOs and program diversifications were taken as conditions while
selecting sample regions and organizations. Regions with many NGOs and diversified
programs were selected for the interview.
Level of partnership programs
Government organizations within the selected regions were screened based on the variety
of programs/projects that are being carried out in partnership with NGOs. Government
organizations those, which have the coordinating roles both at federal and regional level,
were included in the interview.
In accordance with conditions mentioned above, three regional states, one ministry and
one agency were selected for semi-structured interview. From each region four bureaux
that have partnership projects and coordinating roles, two federal organizations with
coordinating roles were selected, which make the total number of interviewees from the
government side to be 15. In many circumstances, department heads and experts working
closely with NGOs-government partnership programs/projects were interviewed as these
staffs were considered to have better understanding about the policies of the government
and the programs and policies of NGOs.
LI
The government organizations included in the interview were bureau of agriculture,
bureau of health, bureau of disaster prevention and preparedness and bureau of labour and
social affairs. In the case of southern nations, nationalities and peoples’ regional state
(SNNPR), bureau of finance and economic development was included instead of bureau of
disaster prevention and preparedness as the former was responsible to coordinate the
operation of NGOs from the government side in the region.
From federal level government organizations, Ministry of Justice and the Agency of
disaster prevention and preparedness were selected for the interview. Ministry of Justice is
currently responsible to coordinate the over all operation of civil society organization in
the country and Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency, formerly responsible for
coordinating the over all operations of NGOs and currently responsible only to coordinate
the operations of relief oriented NGOs in the country.
The attempts made to have interview with Minster of ministry of justice and Directorate of
disaster prevention and preparedness agency could not become successful. However; it
was possible to manage to get valuable information from the interview made with
Desalegn Rahamato, who has done an extensive research work on land use and civil
society in Ethiopia.
Chapter 3.3.1.3. Interview with non-governmental organizations
LII
Interviewing with non-governmental organization was done at their head office level for
convenience. The interview was carried out with 12 non-governmental organizations of
which 5 are international and the remaining 7 are indigenous NGOs. The screening of
NGOs for the interview was done taking into account their area of specialization such as
advocacy relief, their experience with government-NGOs partnership program/projects,
their knowledge in government policies, programs and in the concept of governance and
democratisation.
The interviewed indigenous NGOs are:
Forum on street children, working on disadvantaged street children,
HUNDEE-Oromo Grass-root organization that involve on micro finance and
natural resource conservation,
Pro-pride working on health and capacity building programs,
Rehabilitation centres for the victims of torture in Ethiopia purely working in the
area of advocacy and rehabilitation of tortured prisoners,
Sustainable Land-use forum, working in the management of natural resources,
Adult and non-formal education association in Ethiopia, purely working on
informal education program,
Water action Ethiopia, working on the provision potable water to rural
community, and
Action for development working in nomadic areas on advocacy on the rights of
nomadic community and capacity building to nomadic people.
LIII
The interviewed international NGOs are:
Pact-Ethiopia which intensively follow right-based approach in effect working on
advocacy and capacity building program in different parts of the country,
Adventist development and relief agency mainly relief oriented NGOs,
Handicap international working with handicapped sections of the community,
Islamic relief organization, working on education and health service provision to
the Muslim community,
World vision international Ethiopia, mainly working on integrated rural
development and relief program,
SOS Sahel UK working on integrated rural development program,
Trocaire, working as funding NGO to indigenous NGOs on HIV/AIDS, capacity
building programs.
A total of 37 and 27 questions were prepared to the NGO sector and to government
organizations, respectively. The questions are prepared in different forms. Many of the
questions are yes or no, agree or disagree, multiple choice and short answer types (see
annex 1and 2).
The semi-structured questions were sent to the interviewees before the interview date so
they can prepare themselves for the response to be simple and systematized. Many of the
interviews were undertaken through telephone directly from reading. Initially the plan was
LIV
to undertake the interview with executive directors and department heads, however, due
to the difficulty to get and make an interview with executive directors and department
heads, interviews made with project coordinators and officers.
Chapter 3.3.2. Secondary data sources
Secondary data were gathered by referring to previous research/study papers, project
survey reports, periodic monitoring and evaluation reports and; electronic sources.
Information on policies and legislation related to the operations of NGOs were mainly
gathered from the resource centre and the webpage of Christian Relief and Development
Association (CRDA), which is an umbrella organization of more than 150 NGOs.
Contemporary literatures on NGOs and civil society in Ethiopia and African situation were
also consulted.
Chapter 3.4. Limitations of the research
The following major limitations were encountered in the research process.
Lack of evidence based research
Lack of detailed and extensive research carried out on NGOs in Ethiopia has limited this
research to depend heavily only on limited secondary data sources.
Lack of cooperation
The semi-structured interview was delayed beyond initially planned timeframe. Some of
the government staffs were busy on their routine; some of them were not cooperative in
providing the required information. The support and collaboration of international NGOs
LV
was also very limited. In some cases, the lack of collaboration from some of international
NGOs forced to include other NGOs apart from initially planned.
Limited reliability
The reliability of data was very limited. Firstly, there was lack of coherency between the
feedbacks that was obtained from governmental and non-governmental organizations. For
example, for the question “whether the working environment for NGOs is conducive or
not?”, the responses were positive and negative from government and NGOs interviewees,
respectively. Such interest based inconsistent responses created challenges to decide what
is relevant and what is not for the analysis.
Time constraints
Exceptionally too much time and resources were spent to arrange and undertake
interviews.
Chapter 4.
LVI
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Chapter 4.1. Introduction
Chapter four mainly deals with identifying the major findings and make discussions on
these major findings. The study has dealt with various issues in relation to roles and
operations of NGOs in Ethiopia. Some understandings have been created on civil society,
NGOs, democratisation and livelihoods situation in Ethiopia. The research has identified
the place and position of civil society and the NGOs sector in particular, the contributions
of NGOs in livelihood transformation and democratisation process and major challenges
that NGOs face in their operations. Discussions have been made on the findings which
emanated from the literature review and the semi-structured interview. The discussion
section mainly focused on major areas such as, the role and operational environment for
NGOs, major contributions and challenges of NGOs and livelihoods situation in Ethiopia.
Chapter 4.2. Major findings
The following findings are inferred from the reviewed literatures and semi-structured
interview. The organizations that participated in the interview represent diverse areas of
operations, such as relief and rehabilitation, economic and social development, advocacy
on human rights issue, women, youth, handicapped and street children. Executive
directors, departments heads, program/project coordinators and in some cases project
officers were involved in the interview. In order to protect the anonymity of the names of
LVII
the persons interviewed they will remain unnamed, but the persons interviewed are coded
so as to make the analysis suitable.
Chapter 4.2.1. Civil society in Ethiopia
There is no universally agreeable definition for civil society, however; World Bank
(2003b) defines civil as an arena; distinct from the market and the state; in which citizens
come together to pursue common interests through collective actions; neither for profit
nor for the exercise of political power. Thus, all organizations and associations that lie
between the family and the state (except firms and political parties) are part of civil society
(World Bank, 2003b: 2-3).
The idea that civil society has a key role to play for good governance in developing
countries has risen to prominence in recent years. The UN millennium project report
(2005) “Investing in development for example claims that strong civil society engagement
and participation are crucial to effective governance” while AusAID report (2006) on good
governance states that good governance requires a strong and pluralistic civil society
where there is freedom of expression and association. The contribution of civil society
organizations to democracy is not limited to their capacity to influence public policy; they
also foster voice and participation, which in turn are functions of internal governance
practices. Their capacity to offer citizens a say in decisions and to enhance pluralism may
be as important as their ability to influence policy and demand accountability from state
actors (AusAID, 2006).
LVIII
In Ethiopia working space and the contribution of civil society is limited. The state is sole
role player in the country. According to Desalegn (2008), the state has occupied dominant
positions that play important roles in the society; thus, the role of civil society and private
sector has remained invisible. Figure 1, p.17 clearly shows the unbalanced involvement of
private sector, civil society on the one hand and the state on the other in Ethiopia. The
government dominates the role of civil society and private sectors. Rahamato (2008),
states that, with the exception of very few civil society groups, civil society involvement in
democratization and advocacy and human rights issues has been limited. The Ethiopian
human rights council and The Ethiopian Women Layers association have played relatively
significant roles on human rights abuse since their establishment (Rahamato, 2008). For
example, all NGOs interviewees (100%) said that NGOs are ineffective in advocacy work
and advocacy work is a risky business in Ethiopia. This idea is supported by Zewdie and
Pausewang (2002) who have indicated that civil society is operating under restrictive and
highly controlled political environment (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002). The recent draft
of charity and society law is a good indication of the restrictive and controlling nature of
the government. Concerning the genesis of NGO/CSO, article 1, sub article 2(2) of the
draft proclamation states that charities and societies established by Ethiopians under
Ethiopian law are deemed to be foreign institutions solely for receiving more than 10% of
their annual income from external sources (Ministry of Justice, 2008:1).
Chapter 4.2.2. Roles and Contributions of NGOs in Ethiopia
LIX
The first indigenous organizations, that were functioning apparently similar to the present
NGOs, were traditional self-help groups that existed for generations before they were
developed into organized entities. The fact in Ethiopia today is different. Independent and
visionary NGO sector, in the sense we understand them today, is new to the country with
a history of not more than four decades (Rahamato, 2008).
Chapter 4.2.2.1. Genesis and importance of NGOs
In the broader definitions NGOs are “associations formed within civil society bringing
together individuals who share common purpose” (Turner and Hulme, 1997:200).
According to GTZ (2001), in the Ethiopian context, an NGO is an organization that meets
the following requirements:
NGOs are voluntary in their genesis
NGOs engage in relief, service delivery, advocacy or development activities
NGOs are non-profit or self serving organizations working to serve the
disadvantaged groups of the society
NGOs are non-political
NGOs have no permanent program interest or geographical context
NGO refers to both indigenous and international non-governmental organizations
(GTZ, 2001:89).
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The importance and visibility of NGOs is closely related to the Ethiopian famines. Ethiopia
was hit with two devastating famines in 1973/74 and in 1984/85 causing involuntary mass
migration and huge loss of lives and properties. These famines resulted in dramatic
increase in the number of NGOs operating in the country (CRDA, 2004). The role of
NGOs during these famines was very essential in saving the lives of famine victims when
the government’s capacities were completely eroded. These famines compelled the then
governments to allow a large influx of western NGOs into the country. During the first
famine, the total number of NGOs mostly operating on relief in the country was not more
than twenty-five; of which the vast majority were church based and very few of local
origin. This number increased to 70 at the later part of 1980s (Zewdie and Pausewang
2002).
In Ethiopia a dramatic increase in the number of NGOs has been observed between the
years 1994 to 2000 (Table 1). In 1994 the total number of NGOs was only 70 but this
number has surged to 368 in 2000. The increase in number of local NGOs leaped from 24
in 1994 to 246 in 2000. The growth in the number of NGOs resulted due to national and
international situations. Internally, there was relative improvement in the political
environment under which NGOs were operating and globally, associational life of civil
society is considered as a key for development and democratisation in Africa. The increase
in number of NGOs was not unique to Ethiopia. In a similar way tremendous increase was
observed worldwide. Globally, the number of international NGOs increased by 345% in
the last 20 years, from 13,232 in 1981 to 45,674 in 2000 (International Labour
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Organization, 2001: 11). In Bolivia in 1980 the total number of NGOs operating in the
county was only 100. This number increased to 1000 in 1999 (ODI, 2005).
Tremendous increment in the number of NGOs has been recoded in Ethiopia since their
first emergence during the first famine. However, NGOs in Ethiopia remained weak by all
measurements and their roles was limited due to the governance history, which was based
on, centralized states ruled by autocratic governments, which gave no or little space for
associational structure (World Bank, 2000:2).
Chapter 4.2.2.2. Major contributions of NGOs in livelihood transformationin Ethiopia
Food security has become the greatest challenges to Ethiopia. The magnitude and
complexity of the problems require partnership and collaboration of government with
national and international development actors. One of such most potential partners is both
local and international NGOs. According to DPPC and CRDA (2004), about 14% (6.5
million) of the total rural population was served by NGOs relief programs ever year with
volume of food assistance ranging from 1.5 million quintals in 1984 to 5.1 million quintals
in 1992. The development programs undertaken in 1990s was estimated to cost 2.3 billion
Birr reaching more than 26 million people and NGOs programs created employment
opportunity to 9,803 Ethiopians. About 77% (7,551) of the NGOs workforce is accounted
by local NGOs of whom 36 %( see table 3 below) is female (DPPC and CRDA, 2004).
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Table 4. NGOs contributions by programs (1997-2001)
S/N
Program Type of support provided Measurement
Quantity
1 Food security 1. Tools Farm tools number 522,4552. Draft animals Oxen number 1,7643. Irrigation All support for irrigation hectare 4,1744. Agricultural inputs Fertilizer and seeds quintals 2,3745. Soil conservation Biological conservation hectare 27,8586. Soil conservation Physical soil conservation km 644,1447. Seedling production Seedling production & distribution number 50.7 ml8.Income generation Income generation schemes number 4,695
2 Health and Water9. Health post Construction of health post number 65510. Clinics Construction of clinics number 12511. Hospitals Construction & rehabilitation number 2112. Potable water Clean water sources developed number 2,950
3 Education13. Formal education School, construction number 42114. Formal education School expansion number 48
4 Capacity building 15. Training Farmers trained in various skills number 973,56516. Empowerment Children empowered through several skills number 6,76617. Saving and credit Saving & credit schemes number 2,51718. Training centres Establishing training centres number 329
5 Physical infrastructure19.Construction Road construction number 9,78520. Construction Bridge construction number 4021. Construction Residential house construction number 2,844
Source: DPPC and CRDA (2004)
The NGOs and government partner have recorded credible achievement in the country
since the first famine of 1973/74 in different sectors like food security, health, education,
infrastructure development, microfinance and capacity building programs. All programs
that NGOs have been involved have directly or indirectly contribute to food security. It is
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hardly possible to list all achievements recorded by NGOs, however; NGOs have recorded
appreciable achievements from 1997 to 2001 in the different sectors and programs.
Food Security
The major contributions made by NGOs with regard to food security programs include
provision of farm tools, draft animals, fertilizers and seeds for farmers and; financial and
technical assistance on physical and biological conservation measures (Table 4). Although
NGOs have been contributed significantly in food security programs, the percent
contribution made by NGOs in this sector has remained very small compared to its
relatively long existence in the country (Table 5). In addition, the majority (3/4) of the
beneficiaries in the food security programme provided by NGOs are men although women
are more vulnerable to food shortage. Results from the semi-structured interview confirm
that NGOs contribution with regard to food security programme has been significant
particularly in rural areas (Annex 2).
Health Service
The highest percent contribution of NGOs in the country has found in the provision of
health services and developing clean water sources. NGOs have provided health services
and clean water by constructing hospitals, clinics, health posts and by developing
accessible water sources (Table 4). Although the highest percent contribution of NGOS
has made in this sector, the coverage made by NGOs in the health sector in the country
still has remained relatively small (Table 5). The percent share of beneficiaries in the health
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and water sector services provided by NGOs was relatively better for women compared to
the food security programme. Both governmental and non-governmental respondents from
the semi-structured interview further confirm that NGOs contribution with regard to the
health service has been very high as NGOs reached less accessible areas in the country
(Annex 2).
Education Services
The contribution of NGOs in the education sector was significant although the percent
contribution made by NGOs in this sector remained very small compared to its relatively
long existence in the country (Table 5). NGOs have involved in the education sector by
constructing new formal schools and expansion of existing schools mainly in rural areas
(Table 4). The balance percent share between beneficiaries categorized according to
gender found similar to the percent share reported in the food security sector. Analyses
from the semi-structured interview also confirm that contribution of NGOs in the
education sector was good although there is a need to involve more in this sector as the
majority of the society resides in the rural areas (Annex 2).
Capacity Building
NGOs have provided skill accusation trainings for rural farmers and have established
training centres in different parts of the country (Table 4). However, the contribution of
NGOs in this sector was very low relative to the importance of capacity building to
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achieve goals set by the NGOs and government (Table 5). The percent share for
beneficiaries was also biased to men and less number of women had participated in the
capacity building trainings. Results from the semi-structured interview confirm that NGOs
contribution with regard to capacity building programme has been less significant (Annex
2).
Infrastructure Development
The contribution of NGOs in infrastructure development was significant and equivalent to
the health sector (Table 5). However, the percent contribution made by NGOs in this
sector remained very small relative to the importance of infrastructures for day to day
activities of all sectors involved in the development programmes. Infrastructure
developments made by NGOs include construction of new roads, bridges and residential
houses and; also rehabilitation of existing roads that commonly used to access remote
areas (Table 4). The majority of the beneficiaries in the infrastructure development
programme are men as they get paid more during the construction of roads, bridges and
houses. Analyses from the semi-structured interview also confirm that contribution of
NGOs in this sector was significant and valuable in achieving the development goals.
Microfinance
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The contribution of NGOs in the microfinance programme was significant particularly in
the rural areas (Table 4). NGOs had contributed greatly in empowering of women through
providing finance for establishing small enterprises. The major activities of NGOs in the
microfinance programme are establishing and made operational the saving and credit
schemes in different rural areas.
Table 5. Share of sectors intervened by NGOs in the period 1997 – 2001
S/N Major sectors ofinterventions
Percentage share of thesector (%)
Gender aggregatedbeneficiaries (%)
Male Female
1 Health and Water 51 65 35
2 Food security 17 75 25
3 Infrastructure 15 66 34
4 Education 11 73 27
5 Capacity building 5 77 23
6 HIV/AIDS 1 58 42
Source: CRDA & DPPC (2004)
In summary, more than half (51%) of the total budget was invested on health and water
sector, 17% to food security program, 15% for physical infrastructure development, 11%
for education 5% for capacity building and the rest 1% is invested on HIV/AIDS program
(Table 4). The focus on health and water sector and food security is encouraging, while
investment of HIV/AIDs is insignificant since HIV/AIDS endemic is one of the greatest
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development challenges to the country. With regard to NGOs contributions, both
governmental and non-governmental respondents have demonstrated that NGOs have
recorded remarkable achievements in food security, health, education, capacity building
and infrastructure development programs. Majority (60%) of the government interviewees
responded that NGOs programs have contributed towards positive change among the
beneficiary community by creating facilities such as, hospital, schools, infrastructure
development, and training centres. The rural community has been able to easily access to
better health, education and transportation services. The government interviewees traced
and stated that the NGOs contribution in the times of disasters is remarkable, reminding
the credibility of NGOs contribution in relation to the famine of 1984/85 (see annex 2).
Chapter 4.2.2.3. Roles and Contributions of NGOs in democratisationprocess in Ethiopia.
In the liberal democracy, civil society is expected to play two categories of roles. Diamond
(1994) states that in democratic transition, civil society and NGOs in particular, mobilize
groups to pressure the government for political changes. Organized social groups such as
students, women’s groups, farmer organizations, NGOs, grassroots organizations, trade
unions, and religious groups are crucial sources of democratic changes. Secondly, in
consolidating democracy, checking abuse of state power, prevention of the resumption of
power by authoritarian governments and encouraging wider citizen participation and
public scrutiny of states (Diamond, 1994:5-7).
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In Ethiopia democracy is not a matter of luxury but it is a necessary condition to link
economic and social development with social justice and other basic human rights issues
(Sisay, 2002). Ethiopia has become politically unstable since the overthrown of imperial
regime in 1974. During the time of dictator communist regime democratic way of
governance was unthinkable. Milkias (2006) states that, much was expected from the
present government when it came to power in 1991, that the new system would encourage
democratic system of governance in the country. The attitudes and approaches of western
governments in general the state department in particular was encouraging and appeared
as if democracy was once and for all in Ethiopia. The state department took the first
initiative to say” No democracy, no cooperation” following the coming of EPRDF to
power. EPRDF soon followed an innovative approach to catch the attention of the
western governments and state department in particular. The strategic approach that
EPRDF followed was declaring freedom of expression, associational life and respect of
human rights in its transitional charter (Milikias, 2006). The international situation
together with internal pressures encouraged the mushrooming of civil society groups;
especially NGOs. It is not deniable that relative improvement was observed following the
power shift in 1991 in the operational environment for civil society groups, however; the
start could not continue for unclear reasons (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002).
Overwhelming majority of NGOs respondents (80%) has revealed that government-NGOs
relationship has been deteriorated since 10 years. Further, 100% of NGOs respondents
said that the relationships has progressed negatively since 2000 until it has turned hostile
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after the election crisis of may 2005 where by NGOs are categorized as opposition parties.
The following CRDA and European Union election observations mission reports can
clearly demonstrate the status of democracy and operational environment for NGOs in
Ethiopia. CRDA is the first biggest and oldest umbrella organization of more than 150
local and international non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia. It has been operating
since the first famine of 1974. It has been acting on behalf of civil society groups for last
couple of decades in the country. The following report of CRDA is clear indication of how
the operating environment is becoming hostile for the civil society group in general and to
the NGOs sector in particular.
“During the year under review (2005), due to the political situation in the country, a few
training programs on Resource Mobilization, Leadership, etc., which were planned to be
conducted within the fourth quarter had to be postponed to the next year (2006). All
programs of CRDA have felt the impact of this situation since it created misunderstanding
between CRDA and the Government. CRDA’s involvement in election related activities
posed both opportunities and challenges. While CRDA was able to show its shift towards
and/or accommodating lobby and advocacy issues on top of its conventional service
delivery mission, it faced serious challenges in the regions as authorities questioned at
every communication the role of CRDA in politics instead of continuing its development
partnership. This challenge has exacerbated since CRDA voiced its position regarding the
situation in the country following the May 15 National Elections. Cases in point are;
different offices in Oromia did not show interest in inviting CRDA on issues dealing with
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NGO category, despite CRDA's recognition as a CSO partner in the region. CRDA has
also been unable to form partnership with existing authorities of Addis Ababa due to the
pending administration hand-over of ruling party to the opposition” (CRDA, 2005:33).
Fair and free election is one of the major indicators of democratic governments. The
election that was undertaken on May 2005 was ended up with a very tragic bloody shed.
The European Union Election Observations Mission expressed the situation in the
following way.
“The European Union Election Observation Mission regrets the way in which the counting
of the votes at the constituency level is being conducted as well as the way in which the
release of results is being handled by the electoral authorities, the government and the
political parties, especially the EPRDF”(European election conservation mission, cited in
Abbink, 2006:184).
Variety of cases can be mentioned to demonstrate the ever increasing repression and
controlling nature of the government in Ethiopia. A good case in point to mention is the
charity and society draft law. Many international human-right groups expressed their
concern on the draft law. Some of the human right-groups considered the draft
proclamation as a deliberate act of the government to undermine the roles of civil society
in Ethiopia. Amnesty international on its June 2008 report states “the repressive Draft
Charities and societies proclamation, which clearly aims not only to undermine and
frustrate the work of independent civil society organizations in Ethiopia but also bar
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foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty international from
operating in the country. The proclamation is a clear demonstration of the government’s
intolerance of the work of human rights defenders and civil society organizations, and
would seem to be a ploy by the government to conceal human rights violation and prevent
public protest and criticism of its actions” (AI, 2008:1).
On the other hand interviews with NGOs staff illustrate that the relation between
government and NGOs is becoming too weak and the operating environment is
challenging. Overwhelming majority of the interviewees (80%) has indicated that the
present NGO-government relation is too weak and 87% of the respondents stated that the
environment under which NGOs are operating is challenging (see annex 2). An interview
made with Rahamato, pointed out that the draft laws severely frustrated the civil society
working in Ethiopia. He further expressed his fear in that there are many civil society
organizations that may cease to operate in the country if the draft law becomes
operational. According to Sub Article 2(2) of the new draft law, civil society groups those
who have been running their programs with funds from foreign sources, will have no
chance to continue their program with 10% of external support. There is no possibility to
solicit funds locally either. The only chance such organizations have is to cease operating.
Rahamato further indicated that, so far the civil society representatives were able to make
two around discussion with Prime Minister Zenawi, however; the opportunity for the law
to be amended is slim and there is expectation that the draft law will be endorsed by the
parliament at the beginning of October 2008.
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It is the government’s responsibility to ratify laws that facilitate condition for national
development. The attempt to draft separate laws that govern the operation of civil society
in the country is encouraging. However, the most important point is not only ratifying
laws, but also ratifying and enacting laws, design policies and programs that enable to
address the problems of those 45% of the population who live under absolute poverty.
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world ranking 169th from 177 countries in
human development indicators (UN human development report, 200/2008). It is therefore,
inferable that the path to be food secured without democratic system of governances is
challenging if not impossible. To overcome such complex problems and to become food
self-sufficient, the government of Ethiopia needs to make partnership and collaborations
with civil society groups (Rahamato, 2008). Murunga and Shadrack (2007:19) state the
development roles of civil society as the missing key to sustain political reform, legitimate
state, improved governance, viable state-society and state-economy relationships, and
insurance of political renewal”.
The global recognition of the potentials and contributions of civil society for Africa’s
development does not seem the case in Ethiopia from the point of view of the increasing
hostility in policy environment and the government attitudes towards NGOs. The
opportunity for partnership and collaboration between government and NGOs is getting
slimmer through time. It is questionable whether the government is drafting laws, design
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policies and programs with genuine and keen interest to partnership and collaborate with
NGOs to achieve food security in Ethiopia.
The speculation that, the government’s aspiration and plan is to replace international
NGOs with pro-government and government established NGOs appears to happen.
Zewdie and Pausewang (2002) supporting this idea stressed that EPRDF after coming to
power, was of the opinion that NGOs, especially international ones were not really needed
in the country and that they could be replaced with local, party-controlled organizations
which would be safe and friendly (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002).
There may be some aspiration in theory to replace international NGOs by local NGOs.
Ethiopia is food insecure for the last couple of decades and about half of its population is
living under absolute poverty and more than 5 million people require emergence relief
every year from foreign sources. Therefore, it is highly debatable issue, those countries
like Ethiopia that is engulfed with complex food security and political instability
challenges, to replace international NGOs with local NGOs.
Chapter 4.2.3. Challenges of NGOs
The challenges that NGOs encounter in their involvement in developmental and
democratisation process in Ethiopia can be divided into external and internal.
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Chapter 4.2.3.1. External challenges
The external challenges are related to the policy environment under which they are
operating in the country. The following major challenges are the most common among
both indigenous and international NGOs in Ethiopia.
Government attitude and perception
Marked improvement was observed in the relation between NGOs and the state
immediately 1991 after EPRDF come to power. The fact was that the government aspire
to win the support of the civil society following; nevertheless; the government has no
interest and appetite to consider the NGOs and other civil society sector as real partners
for development (CRDA, 2006; Milkias, 2006). In Ethiopia, strong, vibrant and
independent institutions have been considered by the government as a threat so that
categorized as part of opposition working to undermine its power bases (Zewdie and
Pausewang, 2002).
Bureaucracy
Lengthy and bureaucratic requirements for registration, demanding reporting
requirements, and continued lack of transparency on the part of government executive
bodies weakens government-NGO relations (GTZ, 2001).
Pro-government NGOs
The state is deliberately promoting its own party controlled parallel civil society groups,
such as local indigenous NGOs, women organizations, youth associations and trade
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unions. This highly reinforces the suspicion that is held in the voluntary sector that the
state does not have confidence in independent civil society groups and may be planning to
replace them at some time in the future (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002). About 70% of
NGOs interviewees indicated the existence of pro-government NGOs who work against
independent civil society in Ethiopia. On top of this, inter NGOs collaboration and
information sharing is extremely limited among NGOs themselves, which has made them
more vulnerable to government attack.
Participation
Major decisions that concern the civil society themselves are passed at regional and federal
levels without the participation of civil society representatives (GTZ, 2001). A good case
in point is that officials in the ministry of justice responsible for drafting new laws that
govern NGOs operations have been unwilling to involve the NGOs sector in the
preparatory efforts (CRDA, 2006). The study of Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation (Norad) on capacity building program in Ethiopia (2005) complained that the
Ethiopian government is considerably more restrictive with respect to the space it allows
international and national NGOs (Norad, 2005: 1).
Rules and regulations
It is the state that sets the rules, regulations that govern civil society engagements and that
the rules are vague, ambitious, and subject to arbitrary interpretation by the regulating
organizations (Zewdie and Pausewang, 2002, CRDA, 1997). The deliberate provision of
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regulation contrary to provision of their parent law restricted freedom of association,
violated essential provision of the constitutions and international human right agreements
ratified by Ethiopia (CRDA, 2006: 13).
The New Charity and Society Draft law
It very important to take some time and discuss on the charity and society draft law, which
recently has become the concern and frustration of stakeholders including human-right
groups such Amnesty International.
Drafting separate law for civil society organization is a good start. The proclamation may
have long-term merit by encouraging local fund raising practice in the country. However,
it is questionable whether the draft law has considered the reality of Ethiopian civil
society. Concerning the genesis of NGO/CSO, article 1, sub article 2(2) of the draft
proclamation states that charities and societies established by Ethiopians under Ethiopian
law are deemed to be foreign institutions solely for receiving more than 10% of their
annual income from external sources (Ministry of Justice, 2008:1). The draft
proclamation is debatable at least from two angles. World Bank, (2000) states that, civil
society is young, emerging and with extremely limited capacity in Ethiopia (World Bank,
2000). On the other side, unlike other countries, fund raising for charity works, with
exception for burial ceremony, is not a developed practice in Ethiopia (Rahamato, 2008).
Therefore, this research argues that the draft law has not considered the capacity limitation
of civil society and the viability of fund raising in Ethiopian where majority of civil society
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groups, including NGOs mainly depend on external fund sources. The charity and society
draft law, article 2 sub-article 4(J-N) prohibit the engagement of international NGOs on
development policy advocacy, promotion of human rights, the democratisation process,
conflict resolution, citizenship and social development (MOJ, 2008:6). In short
International NGOs are not allowed to involve on advocacy of policy and good
governance. It is the belief of this research that these articles is harmful to the
democratisation and development processes and is contrary to the interest of beneficiaries.
In Ethiopia the current operational environment is not only scary but also frustrating. More
than 87% of NGOs respondents (see annex 2) indicated that the environment for NGOs
operation is challenging. The worries and concern of human right groups and international
community justifies this reality following the draft of charity and society proclamation in
the country. One of such organization that expressed its worry and concern is Amnesty
international. Amnesty in its June 2008 report expressed it deep concern as ” Draft
Charities and societies proclamation, which clearly aims undermine and frustrate the work
of independent Ethiopian civil society and ban on foreign non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) such as Amnesty international from operating in the country. The proclamation is
a clear demonstration of the government’s intolerance on the work of human rights
defenders and civil society organizations, and would seem to be a ploy by the government
to conceal human rights violation and prevent public protest and criticism of its actions”
(AI, 2008:1). Amnesty international and other human right activists have frequently
accused the Ethiopian government for human-right abuse since 1991.
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It is not clear as why the then guerrilla fighters, the present leaders became unfriendly to
their former supporters and sympathizer. It is only the leaders who can answer this
question with certainty, however; the speculation is that EPRDF (government) has
suspicions on some international NGOs based on the previous experience it had with
during the time of guerrilla fighting and cleaning ones own house is better than suffering
from the consequences.
Chapter 4.2.3.2. Internal challenges
NGOs are expected to initiate, design and implement projects that can be scaled up by
governments and donors. They are also considered as innovators and models of good
practice. However, in addition to external challenges, NGOs also have major internal
challenges. Some of the main internal challenges are listed below.
Capacity limitation
There is significant capacity limitation among indigenous NGOs. Limitation in human
resource and budget constraints are the prominent features of local NGOs. GTZ (2001)
stated that, local NGOs lack access to funds, physical assets and competent human capital.
Weak private sector
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Unlike in other countries, in Ethiopia the private sector is too weak and fragile as to
become internal funding sources for NGOs. The weakness is due to unfriendly policy
environment and government control of major economic sectors (Zewdie and Pausewang,
2002).
Dependence
The overwhelming majority of both international and local NGOs depend on external
funding sources to run their programs. Government and donors play major roles in
supporting NGOs programs, which usually has compromised the independence and
effectiveness of NGOs (Hellinger, 1987:137). The NGOs who based their funding source
on governments end up with negative bearing against the poor by failing to distance
themselves and compromising their impendence with the government (Weston, 1994).
Interview with Rahamato has indicated that NGOs operating in Ethiopia are mainly based
on external funding sources. Thus, the problem with article 1 sub article 2(2) will mainly
affect those NGOs that secure funds externally. If overwhelming majority of NGOs are
depending on foreign funding source, it is clear that indigenous NGOs should either
change themselves into international NGOs which is extremely challenging to achieve or
should depend their program only on 10% of funding support from external sources,
which is also impossible to run a program after cut off 90% budget due to article 2 sub
article 2(2).
“It does not matter it does not rain in Ethiopia, if it does in Canada” (No 11)
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The above idea is taken from government interviewee No 11. There was some
understanding similar to interviewee No 11 in 1990s. In 1990’s, emergence support in the
form of wheat and edible oil was coming from Canada for the famine victims every year.
Through time the then beneficiaries developed much expectation for the wheat and oil that
was coming from Canada. To indicate higher expectation of the community (farmers), a
statement more or less similar to what was mentioned by interviewee No 11 was
frequently used in Ethiopia. What worth mentioning this quote here is?; that NGOs should
be where they are to bring change not to develop dependency.
Democratic culture and values
Democratic culture and values are very important if NGOs need to involve in the
democratisation process in Ethiopia. NGOs involvement in programs, such as advocacy on
human rights with out proper knowledge and skill lead to conflict and hostility instead of
bringing constructive democratic norms and values. Many of the NGOs, especially
indigenous ones have not internalised democratic cultures. Gebre-egzibiaher and Sisay,
(2002), GTZ (2001) stated that NGOs lack the culture of tolerance and constructive
debate and have no media to inform the general public about their activities. The NGOs
interviewees support the need for democratic knowledge and skill. Majority of NGOs
respondents (75%) said that NGOs have no matured democratic culture, such as tolerance
and constructive debate in Ethiopia (see annex 2).
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Accountability
There is always the issue of accountability. There is no clear-cut understanding as to
whom NGOs are accountable. This is very challenging question to answer, however; it is
rational that this question needs to be answered by the NGOs themselves. One of the
government interviewees (No 11) indicated that it is doubtable if NGOs know that they
are accountable to the beneficiary community. They assume that they are accountable only
to their donors. This notion is problematic. My understanding is such that NGOs are
accountable to three bodies, to the community, to the government and to donors (No 11).
Phase-out and sustainability
Phase-out and sustainability are two most important terms, which frequently are
mentioned in development programs. NGOs should be where they are to bring change
among the needy people. Change will be possible if only NGOs are able to sustain their
programs. Sustainability becomes possible when NGOs start their programs with good
phase-out strategy. There are evidences that indicate that NGOs programs have the
problems of phase-out and sustainability. Interview made with both governmental and
non-governmental organization confirmed this fact. Majority of NGOs respondents (83%)
and vast majority of government (93%) stated that NGOs programs/projects have
phase-out and sustainability problems (see annex 2).
Networking and communication
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Networking and communication is a common tern frequently used by NGOs sector in
Ethiopia, but rarely practiced. In Ethiopia NGOs are seen competing for resources than
working towards common interest and integrity. This has given opportunity to the
government to undermine the sector by using its carrot-and stick policy. GTZ (2001)
stated that, inter NGOs collaboration, public relation, and participation in public issues is
rather limited. There is lack of clear understanding of democratic culture and government
polices and programs among NGOs (GTZ, 2001).
Failure to use opportunities
There were windows of opportunities that NGOs had not exploited in democratisation
process in the country that might be due to integrity and networking problems or
negligence or both. Zewdie and Pausewang, (2002) state that as soon as the present
government came to power in 1991, conditions were fertile for associational life and
image building which could bring civil society into visibility, however; opportunities were
not properly utilised.
Chapter 5.
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CONCLUSION
This study has investigated variety of issues related to NGOs roles and operation in
Ethiopia. Basic terms applied in the research such as, civil society, NGOs, democratisation
and livelihood are defined for better understanding and clarity in the Ethiopian context by
taking into account both global and regional situations. The status and place of NGOs
sector at global, regional and national levels are demonstrated in the research. The
operational environment for NGOs is considered from different angles. Livelihood
situation in the country is explored. The roles and contribution of NGOs in livelihood
transformation and democratisation is discussed. Major problems that NGOs have
encountered during their involvement are explored.
Chapter 5.1. Civil society in Ethiopia
During a democratic transition, civil society is expected to play major roles by mobilizing
pressure groups for political change. Organized social groups such as students, women,
farmer organizations; NGOs, grassroots organizations, trade unions, and religious groups
are crucial elements for democratic changes. Civil society also play countervailing and
watchdog roles to check and balance the abuse of state power, prevention of the
resumption of power by authoritarian governments and encouraging wider citizen
participation and public scrutiny of states. In Ethiopia, eexcept for few human-right
advocacy groups (such as Ethiopian human rights council and Ethiopian professional
LXXXV
women layers’ associations), the contribution of civil society in the process of democratic
change is not found significant. This was due to the repressive nature of governments that
highly restricted the participation of civil society in democratic processes. The relative
improvements observed in the political environment during the power shift in 1991 had
increased the numbers of civil society groups in the country, especially local NGOs,
however; the observed improvements could not continue at the pace it started and
expected. After few years of EPRDF on power, the relations between government and
civil society have been reported deteriorating until it got collapsed after the crisis of May
2005 election. In Ethiopia, civil society in general and NGOs in particular, have limitations
in human, financial and material capacity to play countervailing and watchdog roles in the
democratic process.
Chapter 5.2. NGOs in Ethiopia
The history of NGOs in Ethiopia in many circumstances is related to famine of 1973/74.
Ethiopia was hit with two devastating famine in almost in a decade. The first famine
occurred in 1973/74 and the second most devastating one in 1984/85. These famines
contributed for the influx of international NGOs and for the emergence of indigenous ones
in the country. The second famine relatively magnified the NGOs significance and widened
the roles of NGOs in Ethiopia. After the famine situation subsided in the country NGOs
started involving in rehabilitation and development works. The first groups that started
operating in Ethiopia as NGOs in 1930s were faith-based organizations.
LXXXVI
Chapter 5.2.1. Identified Contributions of NGOs
Due to the restrictive nature of the government that limited the space for NGOs, the roles
and contributions made by NGOs are limited in Ethiopia. However, after the occurrences
of the two devastating famines in the country, the roles and contributions of NGOs
significantly increased in different sectors. Identified major contributions made by NGOs
since their establishment in Ethiopia are listed below.
Food Security: credible roles in saving the life of famine victims in food insecure
parts of the country through emergency relief support of NGOs. NGOs
involvements in the area of food security are increasing through times because of
the recorded achievements in last couple of decades.
Health and Education: remarkable contributions in improving the health and
education of the society through constructing and made operational health centers
and schools.
Capacity Building: considerable achievements in uplifting the capacity and skill
of the rural people through constructing training centers and intensive trainings on
skill acquisition capacity building.
Infrastructure Development: improved infrastructures developed by NGOs
enabled millions of people to have access to health, education and market services.
Microfinance: remarkable achievements in increasing the income of the rural poor
through creating local credit and saving institutions.
LXXXVII
Democratization: contribution of NGOs in the democratic process is also
remarkable although it is less significant compared to other contributions made by
NGOs.
Chapter 5.2.2. Identified Challenges for NGOs
NGOs, being the strongest part of civil society in Ethiopia, contributed much to the
poverty reduction efforts in different ways. However, in their involvements NGOs faced
various external and internal challenges. The major external challenges are associated to
the government policies and laws enforced with regard to civil society. The major external
challenges that limited the contribution of NGOs are listed below.
Negative Attitudes and Perceptions: categorizing NGOs as an alliance to
opposition parties that restrict roles of NGOs in the country. The NGOs roles in
the area of advocacy on human-rights are highly scrutinize by the government.
Emergence of Pro-Government NGOs: formation NGOs that only promote the
policies of the ruling party rather than mobilizing the society to development.
Bureaucracy: Lengthy and less transparent processes to establish and operate
NGOs reduced the influx of NGOs in the country.
The New Charity and Society Draft law: this law is expected to be enacted in
the near future and may ban international NGOs from involving on advocacy
programms, including on human-rights, conflict resolution and development
advocacy. Under article 2 sub-article 4(J-N) international NGOs are prohibited to
LXXXVIII
operate on any advocacy work. Local civil society groups will be considered if
their annual financial supports exceed 10% from outside sources. There are many
articles in the draft law that can scare NGOs operation in Ethiopia. The challenges
mention here and elsewhere hint that rigorous tasks are ahead of NGOs in the
democratisation process in Ethiopia. The ever increasing negative attitude of
government towards NGOs and unfriendly relations that is being observed between
government and NGOs demonstrates that government is resistant to recognise and
accept the significance and contribution of NGOs for the country’s development.
The objective of charity and society law is not clear whether to maintain public
trust, promote compliance, enhance accountability, strengthen and provide
autonomy for civil society involvement or to repress and scrutiny their
involvements in Ethiopia.
The major internal challenges that encountered NGOs and limited their contribution
towards development are listed below.
Capacity Limitations: shortage of skilled power, financial and material resources
has limited the roles and significance of NGOs in Ethiopia.
Dependence on External Donors: the freedom to run activities and effectiveness
of NGOs has limited by the interests of external donors.
Accountability: lack of clear accountability by NGOs exposed for corruption and
made less effective in their destined goals.
LXXXIX
Poor Networking and communication: lack of structured networking and
communications among NGOs limited the available resources as they compete for
resources to execute similar interests and projects.
Chapter 5.2.3. Future direction
The challenges faced in the program implementation process can be made learning
experience by NGOs. The challenges faced demonstrates that NGOs should work harder
towards creation of autonomous home-grown civil society group actors that stand for the
interest of wider citizens by playing countervailing and watchdog roles in spite of the
challenges they are currently facing. NGOs are required to represent the interest of the
marginalized groups within wider public arena, campaign on their behalf and seek to
influence public policy and play countervailing and watchdog roles at both national and
local scale.
In Ethiopia, NGOs are required to work towards image and constituency building up by
promoting the role and programme of their organizations. Image and constituency build
up of NGOs can only be possible when NGOs have programs that are sustainable and
result oriented. NGOs should be accountable for their organization, government and the
community whom they are working.
XC
There are some programs that need precaution of involvements of NGOs. It is well-known
fact that NGOs do play pivotal roles in the democratisation process in any country. The
effort will bring the intended outcomes if only if NGOs involve having the required
knowledge and skill about democratic culture and practices. It is curial that NGOs should
be knowledgeable about the rules, regulation and polices and programs of the country they
working for.
NGOs are operating under highly resource competitive environment. The global situation
requires that NGOs should exhibit democratic leadership in their operation, design their
programs giving greater focus for sustainability and effectiveness. NGOs are always
expected to be legitimate in their involvements and base their program on design programs
on sustainable funding sources.
Chapter 5.2.4. Opportunity and future challenges
Opportunity
The two around discussions held between civil society representatives and the Prime
Minister of Ethiopia concerning the current draft law is an encouraging for NGOs future
opportunity in the country. Discussions between government and civic society are
instrumental to smooth the relationships in effect to develop partnership and collaborative
mentality.
Threats
XCI
Ever declining resources-funding and the charity and society draft law expected to be
enacted in the near future are main threats for NGOs to operate in the country.
XCII
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Annexes
Annex 1Semi-Structured Questions
1. Introduction of who I am and why I am completing this particular research:2. Assurance of anonymity:3. Provide my contact detail:
Question to Government staffs
3.3 General
1. What do you understand by local and international NGOs?
1.2 ----------------------------------------------1.2 ----------------------------------------------1.3 -----------------------------------------------
2. Please indicated at least three program areas that you consider have been moreeffective for NGOs involvement?
2.1 ----------------------------------------------2.2 -----------------------------------------------2.3 ----------------------------------------------
3. Indicate at least three program areas that you consider have been less effective forNGOs involvement?
3.1 ----------------------------------------------
CI
3.2 ----------------------------------------------- 3.3 ----------------------------------------------
1.2 Relationships and collaborations: -
4. What are the program areas that your organization collaborates with NGOsector? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. How strong your collaborations have been with the sector?
(a) strong (b) weak
6. What do you think about the reasons for having strong/weak or nocollaboration? ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------
7. What does the working environment look like for NGO operation in Ethiopia?
(a) conducive (b) less conducive (c) not conducive
8. Why conducive/less conducive or not conducive?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9. What do you feel about Government-NGOs working relationships? (a) strong (b) weak
10. why do you think, it is strong/weak?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Are you satisfied with the present working relationships you have with thesector? (a) yes (b) no
12. If no, Why? And how can better relationships be (re) established?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13. The election irregularity that occurred during May 20005 has worsened theworking relationships between government and NGOs. Do you agree? yes (b) no
14. NGO involvement in the area of advocacy will rather weaken and hamper governmentNGOs-Relationships in the future. Do you agree?(a) yes I agree (b) no I disagree
CII
15. NGOs have critical role in the democratisation process in Ethiopia. Do you agree (a)yes I do agree (b) no I disagree?
1.3 Program efficiency and effectiveness
17. NGOs programs are sustainable and are credible.
(a) yes they are (b) no they are not
17. The contributions of NGO sector in May 2005 election were significant. (a)yes (b) no
18. NGOs have critical roles in the democratisation process in Ethiopia. Do you agree on
this? (a) yes (b) no
19. Please list three areas of involvements that you encourage for NGOs to focus on intheir future involvements?
1. ---------------------------------------------2. ---------------------------------------------3. ---------------------------------------------
20. List three program area(s), which you consider may be ineffective for NGOsinvolvement taking the present Ethiopian situation in account
1. ---------------------------------------------2. ---------------------------------------------3. ---------------------------------------------
21. NGOs have made contributed for positive changes in the lives of beneficiarycommunities in Ethiopia. Do you agree? (a) yes (b) not at all
22. If you consider NGOs have contributed for positive changes, please specify atleast three major indicators that justify NGOs contribution?1. -----------------------------------------------------2. -----------------------------------------------------3. ----------------------------------------------------
1.4 Constraints and measures
23. Please indicate three major weaknesses of NGOs that need improvement for bettercollaboration and partnership:1. ----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
CIII
2. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. ---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------
24. NGO programs have sustainability problems. (a) Yes (b) No
25. If yes, what remedial measures are required?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
26. NGO programs have no phase-out strategy. Do you agree (a) Yes (b) No
27. If yes, what measures you recommend for better phase-out strategy?
CIV
Annex 2Semi-Structured Questions for NGOs
1. Introduction of who I am and why I am completing this particular:2. Assurance of anonymity:3. Provide my contact detail:
2.1. General
1. What is the purpose of your organization?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. What activities does your organization engage with?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2 Democratisation:
3. Which of the government policy/constitution/ documents you have under yourorganization as a reference material?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. How do you perceive the Ethiopian constitution in relation to the rights of civilsociety to association and freedom of expression?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. The Ethiopia civil society is considered at its nascent stage and has limiteddemocratic culture, such as tolerance, constructive debate. Therefore, the civilsociety involvement in advocacy and human rights issues is neither timely noradvantageous. Do you agree on this statement? (a) yes (b) not at all
6. Do you consider the NGOs those involve on advocacy and human rights issues areequipped with the required knowledge and skill to challenge the government forchange? (a) yes (b) not at all
7. There are some who fiercely complain that advocacy is not the priority area thatNGOs are expected to involve relating to the present Ethiopian situation. Do youagree? (a) yes (b) partially yes (c) not at all
8. There are many, who speculate that the election crisis of May 2005 have worsenedthe ever-volatile government NGOs relationships. Do you agree?(a) yes (b) No
9. What implication does the election crisis of May 2005 have on NGO operation inE t h i o p i a ?
CV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3 Relationships:
10. How do you feel the present government NGOs relationships?(a) it was positive (b) it was negative
11. How could you perceive the relationships ten years back?(a) it was positive (b) it was negative
10. How could you perceive the relationships five years back? It was(a) positive (b) negative
11. There are some government created NGOs and government sympathizers working against independent civil society and against the NGOssector in particular. Do agree on this statement? (a) yes (b) not at all
12. What are the program areas that your organization collaborates with Government sector? ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. How strong your collaboration is with the sector?
(b) strong (b) weak
14. What do you think about the reasons for having strong/weak or no collaboration? ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ 15. What does the working environment look like for NGO operation inEthiopia?
(a) conducive (b) less conducive (c) not conducive
16. Why conducive/less conducive or not conducive?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17. What do you feel about Government-NGOs working relationships? (a) strong (b)weak
18. Why do you think, it is strong/weak?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. Are you satisfied with the present working relationships you have with thesector? (a) yes (b) no
CVI
20. If no, Why? And how can better relationships be (re) established?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21. There are some who say that the election irregularity that occurred in May20005 has worsened the working relationships between government and NGOs.Do you agree?
(b) yes (b) no
22. There are some Ethiopians who complain that NGO involvement in advocacy will rather weaken and farther worsen Government-NGOs relationships in the future. Do you agree?
(a) yes I agree (b) no I disagree
23 NGOs have critical role in the democratisation process in Ethiopia. Do you agree (a) yes I do agree (b) no I disagree?
2.4 Program related 24. Please indicate at least three program areas that you consider have been more effective for NGOs involvement?
1. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------2. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 3. ------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
25. Which three program areas do you consider NGOs have been less Effective? Please list them in their order of importance.
1. --------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------2. --------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------3. --------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
2.5 Program efficiency and effectiveness
26. Many government officials consider that NGOs programs are not sustainable. Do you agree to this?
(b) yes I do (b) yes I do to some extent (c) no I do not
27. The contributions of NGO sector in May 2005 election were very tremendous. (a) yes (b) no
CVII
28. Many academia, professional and donor agencies are very keen to see vibrant civil
society in Ethiopia, with special emphasis to NGO sector with the belief that they will play
pivotal role in the democratisation process in the country. Do you agree on this?
(b) yes (b) no
29. Please list three program areas that you encourage for NGOs to focus on in theirfuture operation?
1. ---------------------------------------------2. ----------------------------------------------3.----------------------------------------------
30. List three program area(s), which you consider ineffective for NGOsinvolvement taking the present Ethiopia’s situation in account
1. ---------------------------------------------2. ---------------------------------------------3. ---------------------------------------------
31. There is some understanding that NGOs have made some contributed forpositive changes in the lives of beneficiary communities in Ethiopia. Do you agree?(a) yes (b) not at all
32. If you consider NGOs have contributed for positive changes among thebeneficiary community, please specify at least five major aspects/indicators thatjustify NGOs contribution for the change in lives of the beneficiary.(Establishments, such as hospitals, schools when and where). 1. ----------------------------------------------
2. --------------------------------------------3. ---------------------------------------------4. ---------------------------------------------5. --------------------------------------------
2.6 Constraints and measures
33. Please indicate major policy bottlenecks that need improvement for bettercollaboration and partnership:
1. ---------------------------------------------2. ---------------------------------------------3. --------------------------------------------4. -------------------------------------------5. --------------------------------------------
CVIII
34. Indicate three major steps that you consider should be taken by the governmentto make NGOs performance effective and efficient
1. -------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
2. -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------3. ------------------------------------------
35. NGO programs have sustainability problems. (a) yes (b) no
36. If yes, what remedial measures are required?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
37. NGO programs have no phase-out strategy (a) yes (b) no
38. If yes, what measures you recommend for better phase-out strategy?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CIX
Annex 1Summary of responses for Semi-structured interview (Government staff)
S/N Questions Responses Responses in %
Positive Negative
Positive
Negative
1 What do you understanding by local and InternationalNGOs?
2 Please indicate at least three program areas that youconsider have been more effective for NGOsinvolvement
3 Which three program areas do you consider NGOshave been less effective?
4 What are the program areas that your organizationcollaborates with NGO sector?
5 How strong your collaborations have been with thesector?
12 3 80 20
6 What do you think about the reasons for havingstrong/weak or no collaboration?
7 What does the working environment look like forNGO operation in Ethiopia?
13 2 87 13
8 Why conducive/less conducive or not conducive9 What do you feel about Government-NGOs working
relationships?12 3 87 13
10 Why do you think, it is strong/weak11 Are you satisfied with the present working
relationships you have with the sector?8 7 53 47
12 If no, Why? And how can better relationships be (re)established?
13 The election irregularity that occurred during May20005 has worsened the working relationshipsbetween government and NGOs. Do you agree?
5 10 20 80
14 NGO involvement in the area of advocacy will ratherweaken and hamper government NGOs-relationshipsin the future. Do you agree?
9 6 60 40
15 NGOs have critical role in the democratisationprocess in Ethiopia. Do you agree?
2 13 13 87
16 NGOs programs are sustainable and are credible. Doyou agree?
1 14 7 93
17 The contributions of NGO sector in May 2005election were significant. Do you agree?
2 13 13 87
18 NGOs have critical roles in the democratisation 7 8 47 53
CX
process in the country. Do you agree?29 Please list three areas of involvements that you
encourage for NGOs to focus on in their future
involvements?
20 List three program area(s), which you consider maybe ineffective for NGOs involvement taking thepresent Ethiopia’s situation in account
21 NGOs have made some contributed for positivechanges in the lives of beneficiary communities inEthiopia. Do you agree?
9 6 60 40
22 If you consider NGOs have contributed for positivechanges, please specify at least three major indicatorsthat justify NGOs contribution?
23 Please indicate three major weaknesses of NGOs thatneed improvement for better collaboration andpartnership
24 NGO programs have sustainability problems. Do youagree?
15 0 100 0
25 If yes, what remedial measures are required?26 NGO programs have no phase-out strategy. Do you
agree?13 2 87 13
27 If yes, what measures you recommend for better
phase-out strategy?
CXI
Annex 2Summary of responses for Semi-structured interview (NGOs Staff)
S/N Questions Responses Responses in %Positive Negativ
ePositive Negativ
e1 What is the purpose of your organization?2 What activities does your organization engage with?3 Which of the government policy/constitution/
documents you have under your organization as areference material?
4 How do you perceive the Ethiopian constitution inrelation to the rights of civil society to association andfreedom of expression?
12 0 100 0
5 Civil society in Ethiopia is at its nascent stage withlimited democratic culture, such as tolerance,constructive debate. Do you agree on this statement?
3 9 25 75
6 Are NGOs those involve on advocacy and humanrights issues are equipped with the requiredknowledge and skill to challenge the government forchange?
2 10 17 83
7 Advocacy is not the priority that NGOs are expectedto involve under current Ethiopian situation. Do youagree?
1 11 8 92
8 The election crisis of May 2005 has worsened theever-volatile government NGOs relationships. Doyou agree?
10 2 83 7
9 Does the election crisis of May 2005 have animplication on NGO operation in Ethiopia?
5 7 41 59
10 How do you feel the present government NGOsrelationships?
1 11 8 92
11 How could you perceive the relationships ten yearsback?
8 4 67 33
12 How could you perceive the relationships five yearsback?
5 7 41 59
13 Government created NGOs are operational inEthiopia working against independent NGOs sector.Do agree on this statement?
4 8 33 67
14 What are the program areas that your organizationcollaborates with Government sector
15 How strong your collaboration is with the sector? 4 8 33 6716 What do you think about the reasons for having
CXII
strong/weak or no collaboration?17 What does the working environment look like for
NGO operation in Ethiopia?0 12 0 100
18 Why conducive/less conducive or not conducive19 What do you feel about Government-NGOs working
relationships1 11 8 92
20 Why do you think, it is strong/weak?21 Are you satisfied with the present working
relationships you have with the sector?0 12 0 100
22 If no, why? and how can better relationships be (re)established?
23 NGOs involvement on Advocacy will further weakenand worsen Government-NGOs relationships in thefuture. Do you agree?
3 9 25 75
24 NGOs have critical role in the democratisationprocess in Ethiopia. Do you agree?
12 0 100 0
25 Please indicate at least three program areas that youconsider have been more effective for NGOsinvolvement?
26 Which three program areas do you consider NGOshave been less effective? Please list them in their orderof importance.
27 Many government officials consider that NGOsprograms are not sustainable. Do you agree to this?
10 2 83 17
28 The contributions of NGO sector in May 2005election were very tremendous.
5 7 41 59
29 The NGOs will play pivotal role in thedemocratisation process in the country. Do you agreeon this?
12 0 100 0
30 Please list three program areas that you encourage forNGOs to focus on in their future operation?
31 NGOs have made contributed for positive changes inthe lives of beneficiary communities in Ethiopia. Doyou agree?
12 0 100 0
32 Please indicate major policy bottlenecks that needimprovement for better collaboration and partnership:
33 Indicate three major steps that you consider should betaken by the government to make NGOsperformance effective and efficient
34 NGO programs have sustainability problems 10 2 83 1735 If yes, what remedial measures are required36 NGO programs have no phase-out strategy 8 4 67 3337 If yes, what measures you recommend for better
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