Ethiopia has made encouraging economic progress amidst layers of social and economic problems. Projects relation to poverty reduction has also been implemented as a quick fix to alleviate chronic problems.
According to United Nation Report 2018, the Ethiopian government takes programs like Productive Safety Net. Amongst these, road and educational infrastructures got top priority as a key task to achieve the poverty reduction program. Besides to government financed projects, various activities are implementing with nongovernmental agents.
Ethiopia Social Accountability Program (ESAP) also has been implemented with multi donor financing trust fund. The program has been implemented phase by phase, in which two of them put to practice over the last years. ESAP was introduced as a pilot program since 2006.
Following the pilot program, the second phase of ESAP was implemented within selected 223 Woredas concentrating on infrastructural standards and quality, construction of new infrastructure, human development trainings and awareness creation on resource management which lasted from 2011 up to 2018 as the report indicated from ESAP.
ESAP III has been launched by doubling its accessibility, as it was said. Its accessibility has been said to have surged to 500 by now. The program is being implemented with 30 million USD which has been gained from Multi-donor Trust Fund, administered by World Bank, The Ethiopian Herald learnt.
Multi Donor Trust fund is supported by Irish Aid, European Union, Australian Development Agency, Department for International Development and Swedish Embassy. Admasu Nebebe, State Minister of Finance told journalists that ESAP registered results with respect to human capacity development, service delivery and infrastructural expansion.
Taking on the recently launched phase, he describes that Ethiopia’s plan to ensure food security and agricultural productivity cannot be true without transparent service and infrastructural expansion. ESAP is one of program that the Ethiopian government supports to its sustainability.
The program is mainly working with community need assessment first hand by surmounting residents, 100 local CSOs also involve in the program. The government also takes recommendations from researches which ESAP conduct for further strategies, The Ethiopian Herald. The Ethiopian government is highly alert to augment poverty reduction programs like ESAP. “And we will strive to replicate the past achievements,” he said.
Team leader at ESAP, Rolf Hunink said that the past programs were successful, adding that the program is financed by multi-donor trust fund and implemented in concert with more than 100 local CSOs. To him, ESAP is mainly working with mutual assistance with local civil society organizations which aimed at alleviating social problems.
“Ethiopia has nearly or more than 1,000 woredas and we have planned to make the programe accessible at half of them. And if this phase may result success like its predecessor , we will hold discussion with Ethiopian government to replicate the program in the rest Woredas, and I think it will help to reduce poverty,” he remarked.
World Bank Country Representative, Carolyn Turk in her part also remarks that the program will foster the mitigation of societal problems. To her, ESAP Phase II was productive to create community awareness on issues like basic. “ESAP is one of best implemented program that make us to keep on supporting with financial fund,” she insisted. We have mitigated so many problems and identified the rest by using face to face dialogue with the community, she added.
Adane Shibiru, Senior Director of Consortium for Christian Relief and Development Associations (CCRDA), also remarked that the previously implemented projects had brought prolific results on building educational and health service infrastructure. Delayed and failed governmental infrastructures also came to completion owing to the program as to him.
The Ethiopian Herald, June 14/2019
BY YESUF ENDRIS
