BY ADDISALEM MULAT
As things stand at present, Ethiopia has been making a significant advancement in organizing its Diasporas residing in a wide spectrum of the world. On top of that, the country has been working like two peas in a pod with Diasporas with the aim of fashioning favorable atmosphere for the latter and harnessing the possible multifaceted advantages and opportunities.
Reasoning from the aforementioned fact, Ethiopian Diasporas have been getting themselves fully involved in the nation’s development and taking the country to the next chapter of accomplishment every once in a while.
In the same vein, the Ethiopian Diaspora Agency which was established with the aim of serving as a bridge between the community abroad and the homeland has been discharging its duties and responsibilities in a diverse range of ways.
Above and beyond, the agency has been bringing into play a broad range of effective techniques that can take Ethiopia to the next chapter of accomplishment in the shortest possible time every now and again. In the light of the foregoing, all the efforts of the agency have been bearing fruit.
For instance, only in January this year, the agency has reported that it has collected about 400 million Birr from Ethiopians residing abroad to assist the efforts of the government in rehabilitating Tigray State that the TPLF junta has damaged a lot.
More often than not, the government of Ethiopia places emphasis on Ethiopian Diasporas residing in the length and breadth of the world on the grounds that they play a major role in taking the country to the next chapter of accomplishment.
Apart from that the government has been taking different measures to make certain that experience, knowledge, expertise, as well as financial resources of Ethiopian Diasporas contribute to nationwide development.
The bottom line is no matter how the political ideology and nationalistic sentiment divide the Diaspora community apart, helping homeland economically is nothing less than changing the livelihoods of the community whom the Diasporas think the ones they are struggling and standing up politically for.
But it is worth noting that the good gesture and genuine mentality of the diaspora community are not enough. The government needs to modernize the way it does business in dealing with the diaspora. It should timely revise the approach to create an enabling system to entice the diaspora and use their resources, expertise and technological capacity for the socio-economic development of the country.
Establishing smooth relations, reaching out the communities setting up formal and legal structures are among the priorities measures the government needs considers talking.
Nowadays, Ethiopians residing in every nook and cranny of the world have been getting themselves fully engaged in the development activities of the country every once in a while. As they live in a wide array of the world, they have been leaving no stone unturned with the object of taking the country to new heights of accomplishments time and again.
Likewise, Ethiopian Diasporas residing in various parts of the world have been partaking in familiarizing the world community with the culture and tradition of the various Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia. If they keep up the tempo, they can increase the tourist influx of the country more than ever before and catapult the country to the next chapter of achievement.
As the left, right and center of the country is bedecked with a range of eye-catching natural resources that can win the hearts and minds of everyone, Ethiopian Diasporas can play a major role in attracting a wide spectrum of investors across the country.
Similarly, as Ethiopian Diaspora is known to live around the glove with different capacities that can make a huge influence at home, the agency is doing its level best to harness this potential.
Under the leadership of TPLF junta officials, Ethiopians residing in various parts of the country were not that interested to come to Ethiopia and play a role in their country development. Furthermore, the officials were not in the position to lend their ears to Ethiopian Diasporas.
Back in the day, despite the fact that the Diasporas can make a huge difference to the country development in every aspect, they have not been effectively mobilized, networked and engaged across the different ministries and government levels as one would expect.
However, when the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, Ethiopian Diasporas embarked on fully getting themselves involved in the development activities of the country over and over again.
In an article recently published in this paper, Selamawit Dawit, Director General of the Ethiopian Diaspora Agency said, “Nowadays, Ethiopian Diasporas residing all over the world have been moving heaven and earth to support their homeland concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam by employing a number of international languages. As they love their motherland more than anything under the sun, they have been standing by the side of their motherland to contribute their share to their country.
Likewise, they know the crux of the matter of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam like the palm of their hands, for the most part, the fact that Ethiopia does not have the intention of harming downstream countries including Egypt. Our target is only building the dam intending to pull its people out of poverty and provide its people with electric power and accelerating the development activity of the country and taking the country to the next level of accomplishment.
Often times, a number of people come to our agency in groups and individually to familiarize themselves with the overwhelming gesture about the GERD. As Ethiopian Diasporas do need to know about the dam in greater depth, we do not shillyshally shower them with scores of information. Whenever the need arises, we equip them with the necessary information as quickly as possible.
According to information obtained from the Agency website, the Diaspora associations promote and support project activities to benefit from a variety of Civic Society Funds. At the agency level, it coordinates different tasks in designing projects and fund raising of diverse projects related to the Diaspora society.
What is more, it provides project assistance to help the diaspora coordinate their internal capacities and mobilize additional resources from outside sources to provide civic and charitable activities in their home country.
On the whole, the Ethiopian Diaspora is on the path to exerting all its possible in augmenting Ethiopia’s hard work towards prosperity.
The Ethiopian Herald February 14/2021
