Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 2003 > Committee on Foreign Affairs > Report No. 01 - Project Ethiopia

HOUSES OF THE OIREACHTAS

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs

Project ETHIOPIA

REPORT

July 2003

Chairman’s foreword

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs has placed the problems of Ethiopia at the top of its agenda. It has taken the opportunity to meet with and review the policies and programmes of the Government and the principal Irish organisations, which are working with and in Ethiopia. The synthesis of this work and the recommendations of the Joint Committee are compiled in this Project ETHIOPIA report, which was adopted by the Joint Committee at its meeting on 1 July 2003.

Ethiopia became an Ireland Aid Programme Country in 1994. Since then the partnership has been extended to include not only the provision of aid, but the establishment of a close Government to Government working arrangement for the implementation of policies and programmes tackling famine relief, the HIV / AIDS crisis, infrastructure development and reform of the civil service. Recognising the severity and intractability of the issues facing Ethiopia, Ireland is committed to the long-term development of Ethiopia in line with its Bilateral Aid Programme objectives.

This report considers the issues and challenges facing Ethiopia in terms of the immediate and hopefully short-term famine crisis, the ongoing working relationship between Ireland and Ethiopia, as well as the international and global context. It highlights the priorities, direction and policies being pursued by Ireland and outlines the increasing role, which Ireland Aid can play in order to assist Ethiopia to overcome poverty and famine and to achieve a sustainable future. The enormous problems which Ethiopia has to overcome can be gleaned from even a cursory glance at that country’s socio/economic position vis a vis the developed world e.g. the current annual income per head of population in Ireland is US $23,000 while in Ethiopia it is US $100, a derisory sum with which to eke out an existence even of the most pitiful kind.

The report covers, inter alia, the causes of the current famine including the war with Eritrea and the dangers, which continued conflict poses for the country both in terms of renewed famine and its overall development. It deals also with the horrors of disease, particularly HIV/AIDS, which as in many other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa is endemic in that country. It points out that HIV/AIDS not only threatens the recovery of the country but also condemns an ever-growing cohort of orphans, currently numbering over one million, to a life of abject poverty, exploitation and in many cases early death, unless the international community makes a major sustainable effort to intervene and save them.

Evidence from elsewhere in the world has been uniform in indicating that increased educational opportunity, particularly for women and girls, has been a vector for attitudinal and behavioural change in diverse populations. The Joint Committee, therefore, commends Ireland Aid and other Irish organisations for their work in education and recommends that this crucial work be vigorously continued, particularly with regard to the female population.

On behalf of the Joint Committee I would like to take this opportunity to thank the NGOs and missionaries who, over many years, have made an enormous contribution to the people of Ethiopia. Without their continued unwavering assistance the situation in that country would undoubtedly be even worse than it is currently. The Joint Committee exhorts these bodies to continue with and expand their great work, while acknowledging the enduring and indeed grave obstacles, which they continue to encounter. It would also like to acknowledge the vital importance of the Ireland Aid Programme in Ethiopia and recommends that it should be continued and enhanced. In light of the nature of a significant number of inter-linked problems, each a major issue in its own right, the Joint Committee calls for a candid evaluation of the situation and a commitment by major international organisations to confront the issues in a culturally sensitive but vigorous and forceful manner. Notwithstanding the major efforts made by the international community and the generosity shown by millions of donors, the situation in Ethiopia is now significantly worse. It is clear that it will take a major well focused programme by the international community to provide a more comprehensive and lasting solution to the appalling problems which beset Ethiopia.

Dr. Michael Woods T.D.

Chairman

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs

Members of the Joint Committee

See Appendix 1 for the Joint Committee Orders of Reference.

MEMBERS OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Acknowledgements

The Joint Committee wishes to thank those witnesses, from Concern, Christian Aid Ireland, Goal, Oxfam Ireland, Self Help Development International, Trocaire, Action Aid Ireland, Medical Missionaries of Mary, Daughters of Charity, Good Shepherd Sisters, Holy Ghost Missionaries, and Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, who made presentations to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs (see Appendix 2). These witnesses and many others in their organisations are dedicating their efforts to alleviate the many problems facing the people of Ethiopia.

The Joint Committee would also like to thank the representatives of the Oireachtas Ethiopia Study Tour for their valuable contribution.

In particular the Committee wishes to thank Deputy Tom Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, who with his staff, met the Committee and provided extensive information on the work being undertaken by the Irish Government in Ethiopia.

The Committee wishes to acknowledge the particular input and contributions of the following in the formulation of Project ETHIOPIA

Brian Arnold, Agenda Consulting.

Liam Canniffe, Adviser to the Joint Committee.

John Hamilton, Clerk to the Joint Committee.

Executive Summary

Contents

Chapter 1 WORKING TOGETHER

Sharing values

Ireland’s development policies are rooted in a strong tradition of working with developing countries through Irish missionaries, non-governmental organisations and public servants. Our development policies are changing in line with changing structures at home and internationally. Despite the commitments made to date around the world, the need for ongoing commitments to the developing world has never been greater.

The values that Irish policies exemplify include, working in partnership, long-term commitments, mutual respect, caring for the most in need and maintaining a holistic view of the problems being addressed. These values are now being backed with a Government commitment of achieving the UN target of contributing 0.7% of GNP in official development assistance (ODA) by 2007. Ireland is one of a small group of countries that will have achieved this target by 2007.

Despite the increasing ODA, which Ireland is committing to the developing world, it will always remain a small element of the global ODA fund. However Irelands contribution must be more than financial, it must also provide leadership which will assist and guide and promote improved international development work.

The quality of the work undertaken by Ireland Aid, has been repeatedly recognised in presentations to the Joint Committee, while also being independently acknowledged by the OECD in its reviews of Irelands development aid policies and policy implementation. Despite these accolades, recent research showed that the Irish public have a low awareness of the work of Ireland Aid¹. Increasing Irish awareness of the importance of Irelands development work must be achieved in line with the increasing ODA contributions.

Ireland has been working with Ethiopia as a priority country since 1994. In line with many other African countries, the problems facing Ethiopia are clearly daunting. The contrast between the two countries is enormous. While Ireland has achieved the fastest growing economy within the EU, Ethiopia is facing food insecurity and famine situations. Its population is currently in excess of 65 million and could be 73 million by 2005. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and has 2.1 million of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS. In an Irish context, Ethiopia’s HIV/AIDS problem is the size of over half of the population of Ireland.

Raising the bar

While Ireland can rightly be proud of its achievements to date, it must continue to raise the bar and set higher standards in its development aid work. One of the strengths of the Irelands strategic direction has been its specialisation and concentration on the Least Developed Countries (LDC’s), Ethiopia being one such country. This concentration of resources has also benefited from the fact that Irish aid is ‘untied’ (it is not conditional in any way on the use of Irish goods or services), providing greater flexibility and capacity to address a broad and complex range of development issues.

Expanding development aid activities will occur in line with increasing ODA funds. Consistency of long term planning throughout the Ireland Aid development network is essential to achieving both aid quality and effectiveness. The principle of multi-annual budgeting is adopted at Government level and Ireland Aid is also extending this system to NGO and Missionary organisations. Maintaining coherence of this system is not only important to ensuring best value for the Irish aid programme, it is critical to the needs of Ethiopia which is facing increasing development needs and decreasing tax and export revenues.

Partnership is a key principle underpinning the Irish development aid strategy. This requires Ireland to make specific commitments to working with Ethiopia and other programme countries. However partnership is a two-way process and requires mutual commitments from Ethiopia in terms of good governance, maintaining peace, pursuing anti-corruption policies and implementing the development programmes which it has signed up to. Success in the development partnership requires full commitment from both sides. It also necessitates addressing the root causes of the problems rather than the symptoms. While short term crises must be assisted, the implementation of long term development strategies is essential.

Ireland’s role within the EU enables it to influence policies that will have far-reaching effects. The forthcoming Irish Presidency of the EU is a significant opportunity to prioritise a range of development issues. EU Development Policy has acknowledged the need to manage the Community’s external aid more effectively and in this regard EU aid policies and their implementation have been reviewed². While concerns have been expressed about the level of EU bureaucracy, slowness of processing development aid projects and policy coherence within the EU member States and between multilateral organisations³, great improvements have also been seen in this area in recent years. However, the Government should continue to monitor these EU external assistance improvements and press for even faster implementation of development co-operation.

The NGO and Missionary organisations that made presentations to the Joint Committee, also highlighted the need for strong EU and international interventions in development aid policies in order to address the mounting challenges being faced by the poorest countries in the world. While recognising the importance of achieving the 0.7% UN target for Irish ODA, concerns were also expressed about potential slippage due to the changing macroeconomic environment in Ireland.

One strategic thrust of the developed world is to liberalise trade and increase trading opportunities between the developed and developing world. This theory suggests that free trade will lift all boats and that Ethiopia, like other developing countries will ultimately benefit. However concerns have also been raised about this strategic direction, suggesting that, ‘Poor countries are so far behind in the global market they need the playing field to be tilted in their favour.’⁴ Ethiopia has already felt the impact of the liberalisation of the global coffee market and it has impacted negatively on its economy. Monitoring the impacts of trade liberalisation is therefore essential in order to ensure that the developing world is benefiting from the changes.

Globalisation of trade is a reality and capturing the benefits of increased trade is a challenge for Ethiopia. Ethiopia must not be left behind in the global marketplace. It is however currently poorly positioned. Developing the capacity to engage in the global market will require strategic vision and focussed investments. Clearly defining the current and future comparative advantages, which Ethiopia can capture, is essential. Lessons must be learned from the current coffee crisis and policies must focus on a portfolio of products and sectors, in which Ethiopia can establish a clearly defined competitive position, for domestic and export markets.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have proposed the concept of ‘mutual accountability’, which encompasses developing countries playing an active role in monitoring the policies being applied by the developed world. Mutual accountability will provide an additional measure of the impact of developed world policies on the developing world. Its role, in broadening the monitoring and measurement base for development initiatives, will help to strengthen the partnership approach between the developed and the developing world.

Setting the agenda

Irelands role extends far beyond our shores in the promotion of development work. While leadership at home is important, it is a building block for extending influence within the EU, UN and internationally to highlight issues and development priorities.

Recommendations

The Joint Committee sees the following issues as being priorities for addressing at the EU table, domestically and in co-operation with the Ethiopian Government.

Europe

The EU presidency provides Ireland with a special opportunity to focus on key EU development aid issues and to prepare the ground such that it remains a priority in the subsequent Dutch Presidency. Priority issues include:

▪Directing attention and increased resources to the short and long term needs of Ethiopia and other sub-Saharan African countries

▪Increasing the speed, effectiveness and quality of EU development aid decision making, processing and implementation

▪Promoting concerted international action to alleviate unsustainable debt to provide relief for Ethiopia and other Least Developed Counties

▪Highlighting and facilitating policy coherence implementation between the Commission, Member States, multilateral organisations, NGO’s and recipient countries

▪Promoting WTO revisions, which provide direct benefits to the capacity and competitiveness of developing countries. This will involve introducing changes to agricultural policies in both the developed and the developing world.

▪Introducing measures to stabilise the global coffee market and assist producers in Ethiopia

Ireland

Ireland’s development aid provides an opportunity to lead by example. New and innovative approaches are also needed to ensure best impact and value for money in the use of development aid. The Joint Committee recommends the following:

▪In order to maintain confidence in the Governments commitment and to ensure a planned approach to achieving the 0.7% Millennium Target, it is recommended that the ODA budgets for the next three years are outlined as part of the next Government’s budget presentation.

▪Ireland Aid should pilot mutual accountability principles with partner countries, NGO and Missionary organisations

▪The Oireachtas should highlight the importance of Fairtrade coffee by offering it in its canteen and coffee areas

Ethiopia

The following issues were highlighted in the course of submissions and research to the Joint Committee. It is recommended that Ireland Aid review these matters and report back to the Joint Committee with their recommendations:

▪Due to the critical importance of agriculture in the Ethiopian Governments strategy, Ireland Aid, which already supports agricultural research, should increase its focus on supporting agricultural research, technology transfer and competitiveness initiatives which will directly benefit Ethiopia

▪Prioritisation of the structural problem of land reform with the Government of Ethiopia (GOE) to ensure that it is comprehensively addressed within a defined timeframe.

▪Liaison with the Ethiopian Central Statistics Office, on the planning and implementation of the 2005 National Census

▪Measurement of the impact that the Ireland Aid fellowship programme is having on Ethiopian development work with a view to ensuring that it is having maximum benefit

▪Measurement of the impact that co-financed multilateral projects are having on the specific problems facing Ethiopia

▪Recommendations / assistance to resolve blockages identified by Missionary presentations, vis a vis funding and new guidelines affecting Missionary clinics, exclusion of church bodies from managing famine relief, delays in issuing travel visa’s for development workers. . It is a matter of the greatest concern that groups, which have been most effective in addressing some of the very serious problems affecting Ethiopia, should be hindered in their work.

Chapter 2 ETHIOPIA — THE COUNTRY

Ethiopia contrasts strongly with Ireland in many ways. Where Ireland is an island, Ethiopia is landlocked; temperate maritime climate versus tropical monsoon to sub-Saharan. The Ethiopian land mass is 16 times the size of Ireland and its population is 17 times the size of the Ireland. Agriculture is very important in both countries, but the issues facing agriculture and the economy are currently a world apart. This chapter provides a picture of the socio-economic and political context of Ethiopia and will deepen the understanding of issues and opportunities presented elsewhere in this report.

Strategic development path

The Ethiopian Government’s primary objective is poverty reduction and all Government policies are being developed with this in mind. The IMF and World Bank are actively working with the Ethiopian Government to assist with mapping its strategic policies and direction. This approach is presented in the Ethiopian Country Strategy Paper and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Its overall goal is stated as:

Ethiopia’s development strategy seeks to promote rapid broad-based and equitable growth by focusing rural development and improvement in physical and human capital, and deepening the devolution process to empower the people and expand the choices and control that people have over their lives⁵.

The Government is seeking to build a self-sustaining socio-economic system in the country, which will enable:

▪The economy develop rapidly

▪The country extricate itself from dependence on food aid

▪Poor people to be the main beneficiaries from economic growth.

The implementation of these policies is being undertaken via the following four channels:

▪Agriculture Development Led Industrialisation (ADLI)

▪Judiciary and Civil Service Reform

▪Decentralisation and Empowerment

▪Capacity Building in Public and Private Sectors.

The broad thrust of Ethiopia’s strategy during the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) 2002-2007 consists of:

▪An overriding and intentional focus on agriculture. (The sector is the source of livelihood for 85 % of the population where the bulk of the poor live.) The government gives overriding primacy to the welfare of rural populace. Agriculture is also believed to be a potential source to generate primary surplus to fuel the growth of other sectors of the economy (industry);

▪Strengthening private sector growth and development especially in industry as a means of achieving off-farm employment and output growth (including investment in necessary infrastructure);

▪Rapid export growth through production of high value agricultural products and increased support to export oriented manufacturing sectors particularly intensified processing of high quality skins/leather and textile garment;

▪Undertake major investment in education and strengthen the ongoing effort on capacity building to overcome critical constraints to implementation of development programs;

▪Deepen and strengthen the decentralisation process to shift decision-making closer to the grass root population, to improve responsiveness and service delivery;

▪Improvements in governance to move forward in the transformation of society, improve empowerment of the poor & set framework/provide-enabling environment for private sector growth and development;

▪Agricultural research, water harvesting and small scale irrigation;

▪Focus on increased water resource utilisation to ensure food security;

Demographics

Ethiopia has the second largest population in Sub-Saharan Africa with a population of over 65 million⁶. The imbalance of the age structure (Table 1) of the population reflects the severe problems faced by the people of Ethiopia in terms of high death (18.04 deaths/1,000 population) and infant mortality rates (98.63 deaths / 1,000 live births). Ireland by comparison has 8.01 deaths per 1000 population and 5.43 death per 1000 live births.

The life expectancy at birth within the overall population was estimated to be 44.21 years in 2002, a sharp contrast with the 77.17 years estimate for the Irish population.

Table 1 Population age profile

Source: Ethiopia, 2000 Demographic and Health Survey- Key Findings, Ethiopian Central Statistics Office

Households

Households in Ethiopia are predominantly male-headed, with less than one-fourth headed by a female. The average household size is 4.8 persons. Significantly, 13% of urban households are single-person households, compared to only 4% of rural households⁷.

Ethnic groups

The population is made up of a range of ethnic groups including Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigre 32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali 6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2% and others 1%. This ethnic diversity is complimented with a variety of languages, however English is the major foreign language taught in the schools.

Agricultural insecurity continues

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. 85% of all Ethiopians are farmers, mostly at small and subsistence levels. However with increasing deforestation, soil degradation and a dependency on rain-fed traditional farming methods, there has actually been a worsening of food production situation developing over the past few decades, leading to a state of chronic food insecurity in the country. While some crops (cereals and pulse) have increased production levels, the increased production has been countered by long-term price reductions⁸. Table 2 highlights the importance of cereal crop production to the country, representing 84% of area harvested in 1996.

Table 2 Area Harvested by Crop Type

Source: FAO

It is noteworthy that despite a positive trend in areas cultivated and production output in recent years (Table 3), the country is still facing serious food shortages.

Table 3 Estimates of Agricultural Production and Cultivated Area

Source: IMF Country Report No. 02/214, September 2002

Coffee

The coffee crop, which traditionally accounted for two-thirds of total exports, has been hardest hit by global price reductions. The coffee sector, representing 2% of total area harvested in Ethiopia, directly or indirectly employs over 25% of the population. With 95% of coffee production coming from smallholder coffee farmers, the impact of the global price reductions is having a devastating effect on the country as a whole.

Harvests

There are two harvesting periods in Ethiopia. The Meher, is the main harvest in the lowland areas and to a lesser extent in the highland areas. It is preceded by the Kremt rainy season, which occurs between July and September, providing the rain for the Meher harvest. The Belg is the rainy season between February and April and it is the dominant agricultural season of the highlands. The main dry season extends from October to February, being longer and drier in the north. Rainfall variability is important, particularly in the lower rainfall areas of the northeast highlands. The success or failure of food production in the country is highly dependent on the timing and amount of rain delivered during these seasons. The crop calendar (Chart1) outlines the typical sowing and harvest periods for key food crops.

Chart 1

Source: FAO 1997

Annual rainfall varies from less than 100 mm along the border with Somalia and Djibouti to 2,400 mm in the southwest highlands, with a national average of 744 mm/year.

A landlocked country

Ethiopia is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa (Chart 2). It is dominated by a highland complex of mountains and plateaux, which is split from northeast to southwest by the East African Rift Valley, some 40-60 km wide and occupied by a string of lakes. The maximum elevation is 4,600 m above sea level.

Chart 2

Economy dependent on agriculture

Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries. Its poverty stricken economy is heavily dependent on agriculture. Ethiopia’s economy is in sharp contrast to Ireland with its 2002 Gross Domestic Product per Capita of $89 compared to Irelands $31,480⁹. The economy has been hampered by years of conflict, food shortages, global market forces and the HIV/ AIDS crisis. It is in need of extensive international assistance if it is to build a sustainable economic path into the future. Agriculture accounts for nearly half of GDP output as outlined in Table 4.

Table 4 Ethiopian Gross Domestic Product by Economic Activity at Factor Costs 1996 -2001

Source: IMF Country Report No. 02/214, September 2002

Terms of trade

The economy has experienced deteriorating terms of trade for a number of years as outlined in Chart 3 and Table 5. The falling price for coffee on the global market has severely impacted the value of exports in recent years as they fell in value by 30%.

Chart 3

Ethiopia Exports 1996-2001

Source: IMF Country Report No. 02/214

Table 5 Ethiopia Merchandise Trade Unit Values and Volumes 1996-2001

Source: IMF Country Report No. 02/214, September 2002

The European Union is the main trading partner for Ethiopia representing approximately 30% of imports and exports as outlined in Table 6.

Table 6 Imports and Exports by Destination 1999/00 —2000/01

Source: IMF Country Report No. 02/214, September 2002

Economic policy

Against this background, the Government of Ethiopia is actively working with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to manage the development of the economy. The GOE, in the context of its Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) is committed to¹⁰:

▪The reorientation of budgetary resources from defence towards poverty alleviation outlays

▪Tax reforms that lay the foundation for strong revenue performance

▪Improved monetary management and financial sector reform

▪Capacity building and regulatory reforms to promote private sector development

Government structures

Ethiopia consists of nine autonomous federal states or regions (Chart 4). Regions are sub-divided into Zones and Woreda.

Chart 4

Source: FAO

Neighbouring relations

Normalisation of relations with the neighbouring countries to Ethiopia is critical to long-term development of the country.

Eritrea.

The signing of the Algiers Agreement in December 2000 brought about the end of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Since then considerable progress has been achieved in maintaining the peace. Ethiopia has demobilised 140,000 soldiers and international boundary commission has delivered its final and binding ruling on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which has been broadly accepted by both countries.¹¹ However some problems remain. The GOE have expressed its unhappiness with the boundary commission ruling on the town of Badme and has not accepted its ruling. In this context there must be an ongoing focus on conflict prevention.

Somalia

Relations between Ethiopia and Somalia are fractious. Ethiopia maintains that ambitions for a Greater Somalia threaten its federal structures. Ethiopia has been accused of arming and training militias in Somalia that are opposed to the Transitional National Government of Somalia (TNG).

Sudan

Following a period of political tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan, relations appear to have improved in 2002 with the signing of an agreement on Ethiopian access to port Sudan. This agreement provides Ethiopia with a second port access that is significant for the country.

Djibouti

Relations with neighbouring Djibouti are close, due to the critical importance of its port for Ethiopia. Ethiopia is currently 80-90% dependent on the Djibouti port for importing goods and food items. The signing of an Agreement in April 2002 helped to ease some tensions over the implementation of trade and commercial regulations¹².

Summary economic and social indicators¹³

Highlights

▪The population is concentrated in rural Ethiopia

▪Average life expectancy is only 43 years of age

▪Gross national product per person is only $100

▪Secondary school enrolment rate is only 10%

▪Infant mortality rate is 11% while under 5 mortality rate is 17%

▪18% of the population have access to sanitation

General

Economy

Social

Chapter 3 ETHIOPIA — THE CRISIS

Context of past famines

Sub-Sahara Africa has suffered a series of food crises in recent decades due to the combined factors of drought and civil war conflicts. Ethiopia has been affected with famines in the 1970’s, 1980’s and is currently facing a famine situation in 2003. While many lessons have been learned from previous food crisis situations, the people’s ability to cope with another food crisis situation in Ethiopia has been weakened. Ethiopia is now an acutely vulnerable country with an increasing structural food deficit.

African crisis

Ethiopia is not alone in the African continent with the crisis it faces. 70% of the population of neighbouring Eritrea are in need of food aid. In Southern Africa, crop failures have reduced food output in Malawi by 30% while Zimbabwe is facing reductions of 67%, while Zambia is facing a food deficit of 626,000 metric tonnes.¹⁴

Early warning

Many lessons have been learned since the 1984/85 Ethiopian famine. There is now a Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS) in place, to highlight impending food shortage problems. In addition the capacity of the international community to respond to a crisis situation has greatly improved. Despite these developments the challenge facing Ethiopia, aid agencies and the international community is still daunting.

Scale and urgency of crisis

Based on reports produced by FEWS and the Government of Ethiopia, up to fourteen million people are in need of food aid and up to 2.7 million tonnes of food aid is needed for Ethiopia alone. This represents the single largest food aid requirement in Africa. It is estimated that up to 35 million people are in need of food aid in Africa as a whole, which translates to over 5 million tonnes of food aid.¹⁵

Update

A 2003 March/April assessment of the food security situation indicates that the situation has worsened since the January 2003 appeal. Table 7 outlines that the gap between current food needs for the year and total food contributions is 24%. While the gap for the supplementary food programme is 30%.

Table 7 National Relief Food assistance Requirements and Contributions between Jan. and Dec. 2003

Source: WFP Pipeline, as of 9^th May 2003; Ethiopia Network on Food Security 19 May 2003

This food aid shortage has been characterised by a rapid slide into a crisis situation. Within weeks of the main 2002 harvest, situations of food insecurity arose. Reports from NGO’s have highlighted the urgency of the situation. The Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate recorded in a Concern nutritional assessment conducted in Kalu in November 2002 was 16.6% for under fives and 27.6% for children between six and twenty nine months. The United Nations determine that an emergency programme is in ‘serious trouble’ if the GAM rate among under fives reaches 15%. These results are not isolated and it is now evident that an emergency aid situation is again on hand.

Chart 5 outlines the worsening situation across a selection of areas during Jan-March 2003.

Chart 5 Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) surveyed between January and March 2003 for selected areas

Source: Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission, Ethiopia Network on Food Security, 19 May 2003

The situation is now a race against time to keep millions of Ethiopian people alive until the next meher harvest. Should this harvest fail, the crisis will be extended into 2004. While the emerging crisis in Ethiopia has been overshadowed for months by events such as the Iraq war and the war on terror, it achieved international news media attention in the run up to the G8 summit in France (June 2003).¹⁶

UN Outlook for 2004

The UN Mid-Year Review for Ethiopia describes the prospects as follows: ‘The outlook for 2004, or scenario projections at this point in time is difficult to project with any real accuracy until after the belg assessment when contingency planning will be done like last year and the full picture will not be possible until the November/December assessments, but a number of points on the prospects can be foreseen. These include continuing relief needs; urgent needs for a robust rehabilitation strategy for pastoral areas and agricultural areas forced to make major asset sales to survive during prolonged drought in 2002-2003, and a greater focus on resettlement and policy issues affecting development.’¹⁷

Roots of the crisis

Many people will ask how can a famine situation of this magnitude arise in Ethiopia, almost 20 years after one million people died during the 1980’s famine. While fresh media attention will focus on the 2003 Ethiopian crisis, the roots of this crisis are complex and varied. James D. Wolfensohn of the World Bank highlighted that; ‘Problems that require lasting solutions often are not susceptible to quick fixes.¹⁸’ It is clear that the problems of Ethiopia require a range of solutions, which address its short term and long term needs. The future for Ethiopia rests with addressing long-term sustainable solutions and the policies pursued by the Government of Ethiopia will play a central role in achieving sustainable development.

The poverty trap

Ethiopia is trapped in a poverty spiral, which has worsened with each crisis that the country has faced. Nature has played its part in triggering many crises, typically drought conditions, but also excessive rain causing flooding and destruction of crops and infrastructure. Many developed countries also face extremes in weather conditions, but more often than not, they have sophisticated organisational and infrastructure arrangements that facilitate the rehabilitation and overcoming of climate induced problems. In Ethiopia, even when food is successfully produced, it can suffer serious post-harvest losses due to deficient food storage and conservation systems.^a

Ethiopia is facing continued and long-term investments in infrastructure, which are needed to address the production and distribution of food within Ethiopia and with other countries. It must also be allowed access to global markets with a fairer system for agricultural trade. This involves the developed world changing its heavily subsidised agricultural policies so that developing countries are not disadvantaged.¹⁹

Conflict

Conflict is one of the greatest impediments to development in developing countries²⁰. While Eritrea was recognised by the United Nations in 1952 as a federal State, it was unilaterally annexed by Ethiopia in 1962, which provoked a guerrilla war with Eritrean separatists until 1991. In 1998, war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea, following Eritrea’s occupation of parts of northern Tigray and Afar Regions. It lasted until June 2000 when Ethiopia recovered by force the occupied areas. These conflict situations diverted much needed resources from the development priorities of the country. While the peace process is most welcome, there are certain concerns on unresolved aspects. Therefore further reconstruction and development will be predicated on the central need for the conflict resolution process to continue.

Political turmoil

The absence of stable government structures and policies over a number of decades has also hampered the progressive development of the country. The current Government of Ethiopia had to address the legacy of the Derg, the Marxist —Leninist military regime that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and ruled until it was overthrown in 1991. During this period there was further conflict with Somalia and brutal suppression of opposition to the Government. The current Government was tasked with dismantling the centralised structures established under the Derg and establishing a decentralised, democratic federal system of government.

HIV/AIDS

On top of political instability and conflict, climatic extremes and poor infrastructure, Ethiopia has also had to address the onward spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. It is now estimated that 2.1 million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS (end of 2001) while 160,000 adults and children died of AIDS in 2001, while 990,000 children under the age of 15 have been orphaned due to either one or both of their parents.²¹ Research shows that there is a two-way relationship between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity²². The spread of the disease is being driven by poverty, inequality and lack of knowledge. People are being driven to adopt increasingly risky strategies in order to survive. In this regard women and children are typically most at risk. For those with the virus, malnutrition weakens the immune system, making them more susceptible to other diseases. It also makes it harder for them to access food as they may not be strong enough to work or walk distances to gather or buy food.

Malaria & measles

Malaria affects 4 to 5 million people annually in Ethiopia and is prevalent in 75 percent of the country, putting over 40 million people at risk and represents the largest single cause of morbidity. Southern Ethiopia is known for malaria epidemics. As the rains are now ongoing in the southern parts of the country, physically weak and malnourished people are at high malaria risk. Measles is also one of the major current threats to the population in Ethiopia, mostly children, and the spread is exacerbated by drought conditions. The number of cases has been increasing with reports of small outbreaks in different parts of the country²³.

Land tenure

At a very fundamental level, the ability of farmers to become more competitive and have confidence to invest in their holdings is impacting food security in the country. It is estimated that the minimum landholding required to produce the minimum food requirement for a household is approximately one hectare. A recent survey (Table 8) showed that 48% of households surveyed did not have the minimum size of land unit to provide food security per household²⁴.

Table 8 Minimum Holding Size and Food Security

Source: Land Tenure and Agricultural Development in Ethiopia, Paper presented at World Bank Rural Development Workshop, Addis Ababa, November 13, 2002

Property rights are further complicated by the fact that the land is owned by the State^b and the current land tenure system and perceptions about tenure security is having a negative impact on long-term land improvement practices.

Discrimination

Despite the fact that women play a critical role in the economy and agricultural production, they are frequently discriminated against in terms of property and land tenure rights, access to extension services and do not have access to inputs for agricultural production.²⁵ Despite this social context, women are undertaking the multi-faceted roles of child bearing and rearing, working the land, household maintenance and gathering food and water. Much work needs to be done to ensure gender equality is implemented throughout the country.

Population explosion

The challenge facing the Ethiopian Government is also growing as the country’s population continues to expand. Ethiopian women’s fertility rate is one of the highest in the world and the population is currently projected to reach 73 million by 2005. This population explosion is also contributing to increasing population migration. Ethiopians are being forced to live in parts of the country where they did not traditionally live. Population movement from the highlands, where rainfall is more reliable, to more arid lowlands, increases the vulnerability of these people²⁶.

Long-term solutions

Ultimately the economic development of the country is crucial to achieving stable food security and poverty reduction in Ethiopia. The Government recognises that current and future growth in the economy, ‘to a large extent depends on structural factors such as initial conditions (initial income, investment, level of education), vagaries of nature, external shocks (such as terms of trade deterioration), and peace and stability both in Ethiopia and in the region. Each of these problems needs appropriate policies to address them’. It is now internationally recognised that good governance and the absence of conflict is essential to achieving sustainable development. Addressing a range of cross cutting issues, e.g. governance, gender equality etc. provide the foundation for building sectoral development programmes such as health, education, agriculture.

The Global Coffee Crisis

Ethiopia is now suffering economically due to a global over supply of coffee. While Ethiopia was the birthplace of the coffee plant, it is now just one piece in an international network of coffee producing countries. Worldwide it is estimated that there are 25 million producers of coffee, with the main centres in Latin America, Africa and Asian counties. For many of these countries, coffee production was seen as an obvious revenue generator. Guidance and advice from multilateral agencies confirmed this viewpoint. Ethiopia, like other countries became highly dependent on this commodity, to such an extent that in recent years coffee exports represented over 60% of the countries GDP. Chart 6 presents the decline in Ethiopian coffee exports in recent years.

Chart 6

Coffee markets

While the supply side of the coffee industry is highly fragmented, multinational companies dominate coffee purchases. In 1998 the worldwide market shares of the four leading roasting and instant manufacturing companies was 63%.²⁷ Against this market background the developing countries, which produce the coffee, are weakly positioned.

The collapse of the coffee market links back to the liberalisation of the market dating back to 1989. This brought about the removal of international controls in terms of quotas and price bands. New entrants were free to enter the market and production increased. The net result has been massive overproduction, a collapse in prices, a reduction in the overall quality of coffee and a shortage of high quality coffee.

Farmers’ dilemma

Farmers who invest in coffee production make a long-term commitment, as it takes about six years for the plant to produce saleable coffee. The collapsed market means that farmers are trapped. Their investment is generating such poor returns that they have neither the resources nor the commitment to maintain ongoing investment in the crop. In turn this leads to lower yields and poorer quality coffee that is worth less. Farmers are being forced to sell their productive assets to survive and this is weakening their long-term sustainability. Knock on impacts include inability to buy food, children not going to school, and reduced healthcare. At a national level the Government collects less taxes and it in turn spends less on health, education and has a reduced capacity to pay international debts.

Adding value to coffee

Against a backdrop of poor countries capturing a reducing percentage of the value of the coffee market, (10% in 2002 in comparison with 30% in 1992²⁸), the Fair Trade initiative seeks to ensure that producers in developing countries obtain a fair and sustainable price for their produce and that workers are properly remunerated and treated²⁹. The ability of Ethiopia and other developing countries to capture the maximum value of the coffee market is a significant challenge. Table 9 presents details of coffee production, markets and stock estimates. It is noteworthy that only approximately 30% of the coffee exports have undergone primary washing treatment.

Table 9 Ethiopia- Estimates of Coffee Production, Marketing and Stocks 1996-2001

Source: IMF Country Report No. 02/214, September 2002

USAID actions

Initiatives being pursued by USAID’s regional programme to address the coffee crisis include:

▪Working to strengthen the East Africa Fine Coffee Associations (EAFCA) ability to improve quality, competitiveness and profitability

▪Conducted regional cupping competition involving 26 coffees from 4 countries

▪Launched an internet auction for East African fine coffees (www.eafca.org)

▪Helping EAFCA to establish a regional appellation system for East African coffee

▪Reorganising and re-registration of coffee co-operatives

▪Forming three coffee cooperative unions

▪Helped a cooperative establish a modern washing station and improve access to markets

▪In 2002 USAID invested $2.8 million to help coffee producers in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda, over and above its normal agricultural programme

Oxfam recommendations

Oxfam have undertaken a major campaign highlighting the issues surrounding the coffee crisis. It recommends:

▪Removal and destruction of poor quality coffee stocks from the market

▪Supporting farmers via EU EDF funds to diversify production from coffee

▪Supporting more value added processing in developing countries

▪Promoting the introduction of independent monitoring for the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) Quality Scheme

▪Removal of tariffs on processed coffee coming into the EU

▪Reform of agricultural policy to prevent dumping of produce on markets in the south

▪Leadership from the Oireachtas in using Fairtrade coffee

Chapter 4 ETHIOPIA AND IRELAND

Historical context

Ireland has a long history of working with developing countries through its State agencies, Missionaries and Non-governmental agencies. This work has established a status and respect for Ireland amongst countries around the world, but especially with the developing countries³⁰. The current aid policy, pursued by successive Irish Governments, is broadening and deepening the extent and quality of aid work driven by Ireland at local, country and international levels. The pro-active role and strong co-operation of the Irish Embassy staff in Addis Ababa, has been commented on many times during the course of the preparation of Project ETHIOPIA.

Irish aid target

Irelands leadership in development aid was again highlighted when the Government made a historic commitment as part of the Millennium Year. At the dawn of the new Millennium, the Government committed Ireland to achieving the UN development target of spending 0.7% of GNP on development by 2007³¹. The commitment was announced by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D. to the Millennium Summit at the United Nations in September 2000.

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs views the fulfilment of this commitment as being critical to the strategic direction and positioning of Irelands development aid, both at home and internationally.

The current positioning of Irish ODA contributions is outlined in Chart 7. The Irish Millennium commitment therefore represents a strong leadership position in both the European and global context.

Chart 7

Source: OECD DAC

One possible scenario, which Ireland Aid has modelled for reaching the 2007 GNI^c target, is presented in Table 10. Ireland Aid are however concerned that the multi-annual approach to budgeting was suspended due to the changed economic environment. Clearly, rolling budgetary certainty is critical to implementation of long-term development programmes. The Joint Committee therefore sees the return to multi-annual budgeting as a priority for Ireland Aid.

Table 10 Growth scenario model for ODA 2003-2007

Source: Ireland Aid submission to OECD DAC Peer Review, April 2003.

Ireland Aid

Ireland Aid is the Government’s Official Development Cooperation programme. It provides long-term and emergency support to developing countries. The programme works in partnership with governments and communities in the developing world in their attempts to alleviate poverty through helping them meet basic needs and through strengthening their capacity to help themselves. It also has a special focus on the fostering of human rights and democracy.

In the light of the Millennium target, a comprehensive review of the Ireland Aid programme was initiated and its findings were presented in February 2002. The key principles that were enunciated in the findings were:

▪Reduction of poverty, inequality and exclusion are the essential goals

▪Peace, human rights and democracy should be reflected in the work

▪Effectiveness, value for money, transparency and accountability should be priorities

▪Partnership, both at home and abroad

▪Holistic approach to combat poverty

▪Sustainable development is a goal

▪Policy coherence at all levels

▪Aid should be completely untied

▪Rigorous monitoring and evaluation

▪Gender equality and environmental protection should be priorities

▪Encourage maximum public ownership

The principles being pursued in the Ireland Aid programme, are underpinned by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (see Chapter 6).

Ireland Aid priorities

The work of Ireland Aid is divided into sectoral and cross cutting priorities, which define the various programmes, implemented by Ireland Aid. Chart 8 graphically presents the interaction between the priority programmes.

Chart 8

Untied Aid

The Ireland Aid programme is completely untied, i.e. it is not conditional on the use of Irish goods or services. This Government policy seeks to ensure that aid is deployed in the most effective way possible depending on the circumstances pertaining in an individual programme country. The Report of the Ireland Aid Review Committee recommended the continued application of the untied policy.

OECD reviews

Increased development aid funds, in line with the Millennium target, has brought with it the challenge of how best to spend these funds in order to maximise benefits and policy effectiveness. An independent review of Ireland’s Development Co-operation by the OECD considered the current and future policies that could be pursued. The key issues confronting the Irish aid programme were identified as 1) how best to grow and 2) how best to manage that growth. The report recognises that ‘the Irish programme is a good reflection of current international policy orientations aimed at eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable people centres development in partnership with developing countries.³²’ It goes on to state that ‘A donor should also ensure that an expanding programme continues to draw upon and reinforce its comparative advantages and experience, along with its staffing and organisation.’ A further OECD DAC Peer Group review of Ireland Aid is currently underway and is expected to report by late 2003. Such Peer Group reviews provide an important international and independent dimension to ensuring that Ireland is pursuing the right strategies and best practices. It has proved to be a very useful tool in Irelands Aid development over the years.

Programme countries

Comparative advantages are also reflected in the review of Irish Aid³³ which recommends that, ‘sub-Sahara Africa, the poorest region of the world, continue to be the main geographic focus of the Ireland Aid programme’. However it also considered that there was scope for ‘a modest expansion of activity in the context of an expanding budget’.

Under the current bilateral aid programme, Ireland aid operates intensive country programmes in Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Uganda, the “priority countries” (Chart 9). East Timor has now been added to this list and it is noteworthy that for the first time, Irelands Aid scope and priorities have gone beyond the African continent, in line with the expansion of the development aid budget.

Chart 9

Channels for aid distribution

Ireland Aid’s development funds for programme countries are distributed via 1) area-based programmes, 2) sector programmes and 3) budget support.

Area-Based Programme (ABP)

These programmes involve working with district authorities on the development of capacity for all the services provided at this level. Assistance would typically encompass health, education, water, sanitation and small-scale road developments. The promotion of good governance with local government is also targeted in the ABP’s.

Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAP’s)

These programmes target sector-wide issues such as health and education. They aim to build on the ABP programmes while also using the ABP experience to identify deficiencies and priorities. In 1991 Ireland Aid contributed €1 million to the Health Sector Development Programme and €.88 million to the Education Sector Development Programme for Ethiopia.

Budget Support

This assistance is given directly into the budget of the partner country and seeks to address a wider range of development needs than would be targeted by SWAP’s.

Bilateral expenditure

Table 11 outlines the scope of the 2001 bilateral ODA. In 2001 Ethiopia received €21.98 million (13% of the bilateral aid programme budget) assistance towards the bilateral projects outlined in Table 12. Bilateral Aid is also channelled to co-financed projects with multilateral agencies. In 2001 €6.59 million was spent on co-financed multilateral projects. This funding assists the overall international development effort, some of which will clearly assist Ethiopia. (Table 13)

Table 11 Ireland Aid Bilateral Programme Expenditure 2001

Source: Annual Report Accounts 2001, Ireland Aid

Table 12 Ireland Aid/Ethiopian Bilateral Projects

Source: Annual Report Accounts 2001, Ireland Aid

Table 13 Ireland Aid Co-Financing Multilateral Projects

Source: Annual Report Accounts 2001, Ireland Aid

The CGIAR^d funding is distributed across four areas of research relating to water management (21%), agro forestry (17%), livestock (34%), and food policy (28%).

In addition to Government-to-Government aid provision, Irelands ODA is also channelled via multilateral organisations, NGO’s and special emergency response measures.

Multilateral Aid

Irelands aid contributions to international multilateral organisations (Table 14) supports global programmes tackling poverty and other development issues. While development funds contributions to the UN are largely discretionary, contributions to EC programmes are obligatory. The main UN recipients are UN Development Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF.

Table 14 Multilateral Aid Contributions

Source: Annual Report Accounts 2001, Ireland Aid

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s)

NGO’s are increasingly becoming a channel for ODA support. NGO support and Irelands official aid programme are mutually supportive and complementary. Co-financing with NGO’s enables Ireland Aid to support development in a wider range of locations than would otherwise be possible. In 2001 €16 million was targeted at NGO co-financing projects. The scheme is sub-divided into the block grant, the main scheme and local funding schemes. Appendix 3 outlines the 2001 NGO co-financing for Ethiopia.

Emergency and Post-Emergency Responses

This channel provides support for developing countries suffering and recovering from natural disasters and conflict. It involves working closely with NGO’s and international organisations (The Red Cross family and OCHA), to deliver aid. Of the €19 million spent on Emergency Humanitarian Assistance in 1991, Ethiopia received €365,723. Theses monies were administered via the World Food Programme and HELPAGE.

NGO and Missionary perspectives

The importance of the work of NGO’s and Missionaries was highlighted in the Report of the Ireland Aid Review Committee. Specific recommendations were made in terms of significantly increasing the overall level of financial support provided to these organisations, while also promoting longer term planning by way of multi-annual budgeting.

Increasing NGO & Missionary roles

The NGO — Missionary organisations constitute an array of different models for undertaking development work. This variety of organisational structure and strategic approach is a strength in itself, providing there is a level of overall co-ordination. Increased co-ordination and communications between these organisations and with the State agencies has evolved in recent years. The establishment of an umbrella organisation for NGO’s, Dochas, has made a significant contribution in this respect. Co-ordination will be further strengthened by the recommendations of the Ireland Aid Review Committee. The NGO’s and Missionaries, not only provide additional channels for undertaking development work, they also provide a variety of avenues for the public to make donations to development aid and for the public to learn about development challenges around the world.

Multi-annual funding

Ireland Aid introduced Multi Annual Programme Scheme (MAPS) for NGO partners in 2003. This is a new approach for delivering development assistance through NGO partners whereby three-year programmes are agreed with specific NGOs subject to special monitoring arrangements. A similar approach for the HIV/AIDS Partnership Scheme (HAPS) was introduced in 2002.

Joint Committee presentations

A number of NGO’s and Missionary organisations made presentations to the Joint Committee on the work that they are undertaking in Ethiopia. This section provides a summary of these presentations and highlights the key concerns raised.

Christian Aid Ireland

Christian Aid is the official agency of the Protestant churches in Ireland and in the UK. Its work is undertaken through local partners and is primarily oriented towards long —term development needs.

Food security is its main sectoral priority which aims to increase the quantity and quality of food produced locally. 85% of the programme focuses on ensuring food security via seed nurseries, cereal banks, soil and water conservation initiatives. It has also highlighted the problem of mounting debt for Ethiopia. In 2002 the cost of serving the total debt stood at $118 million while the Government has spent a fraction of this amount on food relief³⁴.

The response to the current situation in Ethiopia involves:

▪A supplementary feeding programme for 7,000 children under 5 and pregnant women and nursing mothers

▪Animal restocking for 21,000 vulnerable households in the Southern Region

▪Lobbying the international community to make and meet food pledges

‘…food aid alone is not sufficient to tackle the issue of food shortage in Ethiopia’.

Niamh Carty,

Christian Aid

Christian Aid is calling for the following initiatives:

▪A refocusing of government and donor policy towards improving the livelihoods of the poor and enabling them to build up assets

▪A reduction in policies and practices that lead to environmental damage

▪An increase in support to long term development projects to tackle rural poverty

▪Debt cancellation

▪Changes in the terms of international trade to protect vulnerable producers, prevent spirals of commodity prices and encourage diversification

▪Increase support to tackle the problem of HIV/Aids

Christian Aid has highlighted the need for the EU to increase its contribution by scaling up its response to Ethiopia’s immediate food needs while also increasing its response time for getting supplies through the food ‘pipeline’. It seeks the UK Government to take a lead role in ensuring the food relief arrives on time and asks all donors to act with speed and give priority to the Ethiopian situation.

Concern

Concern is pursuing both long term and short-term strategies to alleviate sheer poverty situation in Ethiopia. It is working in three areas of Ethiopia, two areas in the north and one in the south, providing supplementary feeding to 400,000 people. It noted that Ethiopia is acutely vulnerable and has an increasing structural food deficit problem, with between 12 and 15 million people at risk. By late 2002 the classic pre-famine indicators i.e. large increases in the price of grain; increased disposal of livestock with the consequent fall in price; increased migration and a rise in the number of destitute people.

Key issues highlighted include:

▪The need to work on both short term and long term dimensions of the problem

▪The need to place increased focus on agriculture policy

▪The importance of achieving greater recognition of the role of women in food production

▪The impact which HIV/AIDS is having on food security

▪Potentially the very serious food insecurity situation may extent over two years

▪The extent of the problem is challenging the capacity of Ethiopia to cope with the situation

▪How European and American subsidies make African food uncompetitive for export and at times domestically uncompetitive

‘…Ireland should play a key role in such issues by going to the EU and using the Union’s influence in these matters’.

Tom Arnold,

Concern

GOAL

GOAL has a team of seven expatriates and approximately 200 local staff working in both relief and development programmes in Ethiopia. Its response to the emergency situation is in terms of health and nutrition. Working with the pastoralist people in two main regions of Oromia and Afar regions, who have suffered severe losses to their herds. Aid responses include:

▪A supplementary feeding and mass measles campaign for 59,000 children (Kereyou tribe)

▪Measles vaccination for 74,000 children and supplementary feeding for breast feeding, pregnant women and young children (Oromia region)

▪Supplementary feeding and health intervention (West Hararghe) in partnership with CARE and IMC

▪Deploying a rapid response unit to “hotspots” for targeted supplementary feeding activities

▪Working with Save the Children Fund US to encourage school attendance and meal provision for 81,000 children in 208 primary schools.

‘….Ireland Aid to continue to help Irish aid agencies in their responses to the emergency, that it continues to be flexible, open to new ideas and responds rapidly when ”hotspots” or new situations arise.’’

Fiona Quinn,

GOAL

GOAL has received grants from Ireland Aid (€520,000), USAID ($3.19 million) and DFID (£580, 124, towards its Ethiopian Emergency Interventions.

Oxfam Ireland

The Oxfam Country group for Ethiopia is made up from six Oxfam’s working closely together. It also works through a wide range of local Ethiopian partners. This enables Oxfam to work in all regions of Ethiopia and to co-ordinate both emergency responses and long term development work. Examples of Oxfam responses include:

▪Environmental, sanitation and veterinary support through a local partner, Afar Pastoral Development Association

▪Food provision to 6,217 people in East Shewa, via SEDA a local partner

▪Distributing 3,000 female goats to households in East Shewa via Gudina Tumsa Foundation

▪Supplementary food for children in South Tigray via REST

‘….structural issues are crucial in responding to the needs of a country which is on the edge, a country where food aid is a regular yearly event.’’

Clodagh Heagney,

Oxfam Ireland

Oxfam, highlighted the critical gaps in food relief supplies and that it takes three to six months to deliver international food purchases (from pledge to delivery to communities). It also identified key issues and problems as, the declining asset base of farmers; the critical decline in coffee prices and the consequent decline in export revenues; the problems associated with insecurity of land tenure; the need to remove of tariffs on processed coffee coming into the EU while also reforming the CAP and the agreement on agriculture to prevent dumping of produce on markets in the south. Responses to address the coffee crisis were noted as 1) destroying excess stock and 2) using unspent EU funds to support diversification of crops.

Self Help Development International (SHDI)

SHDI was established in 1984 in response to the Ethiopian famine in order to address the causes, rather than the results, of famine. Its single focus is on the development of sustainable rural communities. It works through, Direct Action, on conservation-based, integrated area-based programmes (ABP’s) and, Support Action, in co-operation with federal and regional authorities in promoting capacity building programmes (CBP’s). Specific fields of activity include:

▪Development of primary and secondary agricultural co-operatives

▪Women and development and equality

▪Youth development

‘….one million people have been moved from food dependency to the early stages of sustainable development at an overall cost over the years of about €10 million.’’

Noel McDonagh,

Self Help Development International

To date its work has helped to move over 1 million people from a food dependency profile to the early stages of sustainable development. Its levels of expenditure are growing from €1.12 million in 2001 to 2.4 million in 2005. Chart 10 outlines the stages of economic progression that SHDI follows with developing groups and communities.

Chart 10

SHDI considers that continuing support for the development of sustainable rural communities using models and new approaches that have been shown to work is essential.

Trocaire

Since 1973, Trocaire has been working with local partners in Ethiopia. This policy of working in partnership with Ethiopian NGO’s and the Government helps build local capacity and reduces vulnerability and dependency. Trocaire’s strategic plan for 2002-2006 is targeting 1) HIV/AIDS 2) livelihood security for food security and access to services 3) advocacy, to foster the expression of civil societies concerns and 4) emergencies, supporting local partners to cope with these situations.

‘The Irish Government is in a very strategic position…to drive policy change with the Ethiopian Government towards focusing on key structural issues,’’

Mary Healy,

Trocaire

Trocaire’s main partner for emergency response is the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat, working on programmes in Tigray, Oromia, SNNP and Dire Dawa. Key programme interventions include:

▪Employment generation schemes

▪Water supply

▪Human and animal health

Action points that Trocaire highlighted include:

▪The Irish Government should focus on driving Ethiopian Government policy changes

▪World trade rules need amending vis a vis the coffee crisis

▪Investment must be made in Ethiopian civil society and NGO’s

▪Civil society must be allowed to play an active part in the solutions

▪Promote effective and appropriate local interventions

▪Irish Government should encourage other Governments to recognise the role of successful NGO participatory projects and help reshape official thinking.

ACTION AID IRELAND

ACTION AID Ireland is dedicated entirely to development aid and it works entirely through local people. It works in partnership with ACTION AID Ethiopia (AAE). ACTION AID sought to highlight the impending food crisis situation in Ethiopia in mid 2002 when it was affecting four AAE projects. In 2002 it received funding from Alert Net and in 2003 it pooled its own resources to finance interventions at the following locations:

▪Doba Wereda: Working with local partner, Ethiopia Rural Self Help Assoc, to provide supplementary feeding to 5686 vulnerable children and with AAE to assist 13,288 people through a cash for work programme

▪Dalocha Wereda: AAE is assisting 13,329 households through a cash for work programme and plan to assist a further 10,000 families with seeds and fertilisers.

▪Legehidha Wereda: Working with the Rift Valley Children and Women Development Assoc., providing emergency food assistance to 2,436 children and a further 1,250 wit basic food rations.

▪Hawzien Wereda: Working with the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) to assist 30,000 people wit emergency food relief.

Medical Missionaries of Mary

The Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM) have been in Ethiopia since 1961, always working in the field of health. The current Ministries are situated in 1) Dadim, Borana zone (5 Sisters and 29 national staff), 2) Addis Ababa (2 Sisters and 40 national staff) and 3) St. Luke Catholic Hospital and College of Nursing, Wolisso, West Showa ((run by Sisters from five Congregations, including 2 MMM Sisters), while one Sister is also working in the Health Department of the Ethiopian Catholic secretariat since 1994.

The scope of the integrated programmes of the various Ministries includes:

‘We are not giving handouts. People are engaged in a very creative way in work such as soil and water conservation services, road maintenance and rehabilitation.’’’

Sr. Isabelle Smyth,

Medical Missionaries of Mary

▪A curative clinic and special TB unit

▪Immunisation and Mother & Child programmes

▪Water programme including drilling boreholes

▪Community development and women’s promotion

▪HIV/AIDS counselling and social services

▪Care and rehabilitation of handicapped children

▪Training

▪Orphan support and care

▪Education

▪Repairing houses and building kitchens / toilets

▪Laboratory testing for HIV/AIDS

They are implementing innovative approaches to HIV/AIDS education by using puppets to pass on information about AIDS prevention. The experience and close working relationship between the MMM’s and the communities facilitate ongoing assessment of needs while also providing a channel for delivery of services and emergency relief.

€3 million has been pledged to the current humanitarian crisis and these funds are being used for employment generation schemes, soil and water conservation, roads as well as supplementary feeding.

Shortage of funding for training students, lack of secondment of professional staff and lack of staff housing are current restrictions on expanding capacity at St. Lukes. The MMM’s are also concerned that any emergency relief directed towards the situation in Iraq, does not impact allocations for food emergencies such as in Ethiopia, where supplementary feeding is a priority in order to deliver balanced dietary needs.

Daughters of Charity

The Daughters of Charity have been working in Ethiopia since 1929. Currently eight Irish and English Sisters and 56 Ethiopian Sisters are working at 13 locations in Ethiopia. The Sisters are involved in:

▪Healthcare

▪Social work

▪Education

▪Helping poor students access education

▪Women development programmes

▪Urban development programme

▪Hostel accommodation for school girls

▪Housing programme

“We appreciate that without education people will always live in poverty, and in an effort to break this cycle we have 5 nursery schools, 2 primary schools, one secondary school…..’’’

Sr. Anna Kennedy,

Daughters of Charity

Key concerns highlighted include:

▪Church bodies are no longer allowed manage famine relief donations

▪New Ethiopian Department of Health Guidelines requesting changes to clinics, have actually lead to the closure of some clinics. A similar approach in Education could also have negative impacts.

▪The’ Street Children’ project may have to close due to lack of funds

▪The Montessori training college is threatened due to reduced funding

Holy Ghost Missionaries

Currently there are two Holy Ghost Missionaries working in Ethiopia, in Gamo Gofa and South Omo. Since the early 1980’s the Holy Ghost Missionaries, including the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, adopted a strategy of working within local structures, i.e. an Integrated Community Development Programme (ICDP). Following a Strategic Planning Review in 1998/99 the programme was again reoriented to concentrating on very specific communities. It has completed Phase one (1999-2002) and is now implementing Phase 2 (2003-2005). Within the two projects, there are nine communities, representing about 84,000 people. The scope of the ICDP includes:

▪Community based primary health care

▪Drinking water development

▪Enhancement of socio-economic position (integration) of marginalised groups

▪Testing women’s empowerment and community sensitisation for Gender and Development issues

▪Support for community initiatives to develop social services, infrastructure and economic opportunities

▪Development of an education strategy for ICDP for the particular conditions of South Omo- non-formal education and functional adult literacy

▪Testing pilot approaches and measures in agriculture and natural resources management

▪Strengthening self-help capacities and supporting initiatives of urban poor and women

‘’…rather than provide a service, we would empower the community to get on its feet so hat it could look after itself.’

Fr. Martin Kelly

Holy Ghost Missionaries

Innovative elements include the setting aside of small amounts of funds for programmes which the community decides it wants and the non-formal education which has been a great success.

Great efforts have been spent on studies and strategy development during Phase 1 ICDP. Key studies encompassed social anthropology; gender strategies; natural resources, farming systems and community actions; primary health care baseline study; hydrogeology; education strategy and non-formal adult education; community development training workshop and manual.

The overall strategy is mapped out for the 2003-2005 period and will cost €1.5 million. It is funded 50% by the EU and 50% by funding agencies from Austria, Holland, Germany and Ireland.

Good Shepherd Sisters

The Good Shepherd Sisters have been working in Ethiopia since 1974. Problems described included the ongoing impact of famine, war and strife on the country; the ‘heartbreaking’ poverty; the coffee crisis; the role of women in society; the lack of employment opportunities and the impact that all these issues have on society. Recognising the day-to-day problems that the Ethiopian people were facing, the Good Shepherd Sisters built their responses to address the priority issues e.g.

▪Starting income generating projects

▪Training girls for work and helping to educate them

▪Establishing pre-schooling for children, facilitating mothers working nearby

▪Providing child health care

▪Feeding malnourished children

▪Establishing credit and savings schemes to encourage individual and household development initiatives

‘’If any of our representatives in Europe,…,can do anything to help spur Europe to forget about itself and see what it can do about Africa, it would be a tremendous contribution.’

Sr. Mary Ryan

Good Shepherd Sisters

They have a station at a rural location in the southwest (Masseria village). Here a training centre has been built, while a system for food storage and distribution has also been established.

The Good Shepherd Sisters highlighted 1) the need for EU representatives to address the significant problems facing Africa and 2) the need for the Ireland Aid education programme to ensure that the maximum benefit of sponsoring young peoples was channelled back to Ethiopia.

Task Force on agriculture

In October 2002 the Minister of State, Tom Kitt T.D. established a Task Force to look at agriculture in least developed countries. The Minister has been concerned for some time to ensure that the involvement of Ireland Aid in key social sectors like basic healthcare, primary education, water and sanitation etc is matched by engagement in promoting the economic growth needed to underpin and sustain the gains in reducing poverty. As agriculture is essentially the ‘engine of the economy’ in all of the countries where Ireland Aid is involved in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was logical that any investigation of potential support to the private sector should start with agriculture.

Membership of the Task Force includes the Chief Executives of two Irish NGOs, a representative from the private sector, two agriculturalists and a senior representative from the Department of Agriculture and Food and a consultant with long involvement in development. The Task Force has been assisted in its work by agricultural advisors from the Embassies in the Ireland Aid Programme Countries in Africa. It is planned that the Task Force will conclude its work in autumn 2003.

Chapter 5 ETHIOPIA AND THE EU

European Community’s development policy

The European Union places ‘poverty’^e at the heart of its development policies. The EU is also a major player in the development process, providing approximately half of all public aid to developing countries and in many cases is also their main trading partner. (see Appendix 3) The principle underpinning the EU development policy is sustainable, equitable and participatory human and social development. Promotion of human rights, democracy, the rule of law and good governance are integral elements of the policy. The Community is therefore supporting poverty reduction strategies that encompass the various elements of poverty.

Community policy also recognises that the developing countries have a primary role to play. Their ownership of strategies for development is critical to success in the implementation of development policies. With a view to maximising the impact of Community development policies, the following policies are being targeted for development implementation:

1.Establishing links between trade and development

▪Development policies and trade and investment policies must be complementary and mutually beneficial

▪Improving market access

▪Help partners benefit from globalisation

2.Developing regional integration and cooperation

▪Integrating developing countries into the world economy

▪Consolidating peace and conflict prevention

3.Support for macro-economic policies and promotion of equitable access to social services

▪Improving the macro-economic framework of partner countries

▪Implementing the heavily indebted poor countries initiative (HIPC)

▪Support for social sectors (health and education)

4.Transport

▪Construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure in association with partner countries

5.Food security and sustainable rural development

▪Linking food security policy and humanitarian aid

▪Implementing long-term strategies for rural development

6.Institutional capacity-building

▪Working with partners to strengthen institutional capacities

▪Promoting good governance and anti-corruption policies

7.Mainstreaming horizontal or cross-cutting issues

▪Promotion of human rights

▪Promotion of equality

▪Promotion of children’s rights

▪Protection of the environment

Official Development Assistance

2002 international ODA stands at US$56.9 billion, which is equivalent to 0.23% of their combined resources, measured as gross national income. This contribution marks a recovery from the all time lows of 0.22% of GNI in each of the previous three years.

Source: The European Community’s Development Policy

The EU countries combined, contributed 51% of the 2002 ODA while the United States contributed 22% of the total (Appendix 4). In 2002 EU countries increased their ODA by 2.8% in real terms, representing 0.34% of their combined GNI. EU members have now committed to collectively increase their ODA to 0.39% of GNI by 2006. Chart 11 outlines the 2002 ODA contributions per country.

Chart 11

Source: OECD DAC

See Appendix 3 for further details of ODA contributions by country for 2001-2002.

Reform and results orientation

On 16 May 2000, the Commission launched a programme of reform of the management of external assistance. It is now in the process of moving increasingly towards results-oriented development assistance. This commitment to manage for and by results was identified in a range of studies and it is seeking to improve:

For developing countries:

▪Country ownership. Assigning responsibility to recipient governments for achieving their objectives in terms of poverty reduction gives them more space to define their own strategies and policies to this end.

▪National accountability. In countries developing a Poverty Reduction Strategy, this evolution of donors from monitoring policies and actions to a participative results-oriented approach is essential to promote the development of national accountability.

▪Policy-making process. The analysis of results on the ground should lead to policy re-orientations and provide an input to policy dialogue.

For donors:

▪Donor accountability to stakeholders. Reporting on financial commitments is not enough. Donors need to report and be held accountable by their stakeholders for the concrete changes in the lives of poor people stemming from the collective effort of development partners.

▪Donor co-ordination. Focusing on the results achieved by each country should allow better co-ordination of donor performance assessment. Here again, in countries concerned, PRSPs should provide the framework for this co-ordination.

Two substantial areas of work illustrate that the Commission is moving increasingly towards results-oriented development assistance: Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), and the provision of macro-economic support in ACP countries.

EU budget for development assistance

The EU budget for development assistance was €9.7 billion in 2001, which translated to payments of €7.7 billion. The European Development Fund (EDF) represented €2 billion of these payments as outlined in Table 15.

Table 15 Breakdown by instrument of development assistance financed on the European Development Fund (EDF) in 2001

Budget performance

Concerns have been expressed regarding the level of unspent EU monies. This is one of the issues that stimulated a review of the overall EU development aid programme in 2000. One measure of performance for the budgetary expenditure is the RAL, which is the difference between the cumulative amounts committed (less the decommitments) and the cumulative amounts paid by the EU. The RAL therefore measures the outstanding commitments remaining to be paid.

Since 2000 the RAL has been improving due to EU reforms. On a global basis the 2001 RAL showed a 3% reduction. This was the first year since 1990 that the RAL showed a reduction. The EDF expenditure achieved a 6% reduction in RAL while food aid expenditure achieved a RAL reduction of 11%. Chart 12 outlines the RAL expressed in payment years over the period 1989 to 2001.

Chart 12

Source: Europeaid, Financial Trends 1989-2001

EU external assistance to Ethiopia in 2001 was €69.46 million in commitments while payments of €116.36 were made. EuropeAid managed most of these monies. (Table 16)

Table 16 Breakdown by country/region of external aid financed on the General Commission Budget and the European Development Fund (EDF) in 2001

Source: Annual Report 2001 from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the EC development policy and the implementation of the external assistance.

For a breakdown of all African external assistance payments in 2001 see Appendix 5

Food aid

Ethiopia was selected as a priority country for structural interventions under the Council Regulation (EC) No 1292/96 which sought to integrate food aid into a broader food security strategy. The main objectives of this Regulation are summarised as:

▪Enhancing food security geared to alleviating poverty in the recipient countries;

▪Reducing the recipient countries dependence on food aid;

▪Contributing to the countries balanced economic and social development.

Between 1997 and 2001 the European Union contributed €89 million to food aid and food security initiatives in Ethiopia under this Regulation. (Table 17)

Table 17 Summary of total payments for food aid and food security programme years 1997 — 2000

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, Volume 46, 17 April 2003

Table 18 outlines a range of European Community projects undertaken in Ethiopia.

Table 18 Selection of Projects Supported by the European Community in 2001

Source: Annual Report 2001 on the EC Development Policy and The Implementation of the External Assistance, European Communities 2002.

EuropeAid

The creation of the EuropeAid Co-operation Office on 1 January 2001, constituted a central element of the reform of EU foreign aid. The EuropeAid Co-operation Office is a single service tasked with implementing the Commission’s external aid management mechanism^f.

The EuropeAid Co-operation Office has been set up in a way to:

▪Construct a geographically-based organisation covering five Directorates: Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia; Southern Mediterranean, Near and Middle East; Africa, Caribbean, Pacific; Asia; Latin America. This new structure seeks to facilitate the integrated management of the entire operations cycle, and ensure stability during the process of management deconcentration towards the EC Delegations;

▪Gather together in a single Directorate the management of the thematic programmes (food aid, co-financing with NGOs, Human Rights, etc.) in order to ensure a consistency of approaches and a synergy of skills;

▪Organise the functional activities according to their nature: one Directorate for operational support and one Directorate for organisational support.

Cotonou Agreement breaks new ground

The European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries entered a historic agreement on 23rd of June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin with the signing of the new EU-ACP agreements, the ‘Cotonou Agreement’. The Cotonou Agreement replaces the Lomé Convention, which had provided the structure for trade and cooperation between ACP countries and the Community since 1975. Focusing on poverty reduction as its principal objective, to be achieved through political dialogue, development aid and closer economic and trade cooperation, this agreement will shape a significant part of the European Union’s dealings with the rest of the world. It also reflects the Union’s reach both as the leading international trading partner and the world’s main provider of official development assistance, with a European Development Fund of €13.5 billion for the initial five-year period. These funds in combination with about €9.9 billion of previously EDF uncommitted resources, enables the European Community to substantially increase annual flows of commitments and payments to these countries.

The new Agreement clearly defines an integrated perspective that combines politics, trade and development. It is based on five interdependent pillars:

▪A comprehensive political dimension,

▪Participatory approaches,

▪A strengthened focus on poverty reduction,

▪A new framework for economic and trade cooperation,

▪A reform of financial cooperation.

The new Agreement contains innovative provisions to promote participatory approaches to ensure the involvement of civil society and economic and social players by:

▪Providing them with information on the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, in particular within the ACP countries,

▪Ensuring the consultation of civil society on the economic, social and institutional reforms and policies to be supported by EC,

▪Facilitating non-State actors’ involvement in the implementation of programmes and projects,

▪Providing non-State actors with adequate support for capacity building,

▪Encouraging networking and links between ACP and EU actors.

In conclusion, EC development assistance is striving to attain the MDG’s in all regions. This requires quality dialogue with national authorities on the development of sector wide approaches and close co-operation with EU Member States and other partners. The Cotonou agreement and the reform of the management of the EC external aid provide the framework for this³⁵.

Donor matrix overview

External assistance is crucially important for the development of Ethiopia. During 1996-1999 ODA averaged 44% of the Federal Ethiopian budget. The 2000-01 budget provides for about $700 million in external grants and loans (38% of the budget). (This excludes foreign assistance in rehabilitation and demobilisation as well as food aid and NGO projects.) The largest donors to Ethiopia are the World Bank, the EC, USA, the African Development Bank and Japan, constituting slightly over 50% of development assistance to Ethiopia. The EC is the second largest donor after the World Bank, providing 10-15% of all external assistance.

The most significant EU donors, in terms of finance are Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Ireland and France. Table 19 outlines the areas where these countries have concentrated their co-operation assistance.

Table 19 EU Member State Donor Programme Focus

Source: Ethiopia-European Community, Country Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme for the period 2002-2007

Table 20 outlines the focus of other major donors to Ethiopia.

Table 20 Other Donor Programme Focus

Source: Ethiopia-European Community, Country Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme for the period 2002-2007

Chapter 6 ETHIOPIA AND THE WORLD

Perspectives & challenges

International

It is now recognised that the problems of the developing world require not only country solutions, but also global solutions. This necessitates global agreement on the issues to be addressed and global agreement on the best courses of action to be followed. Globalisation, has for many countries, broadened the gap between the rich and the poor. Kofi A. Annan described this context as, ‘Globalization offers great opportunities, but at present its benefits are very unevenly distributed while its costs are borne by all.³⁶’ It is recognised that sharing the benefits of globalisation more fairly is a basis for long-term sustainable development of developing countries. The principles of this inclusive globalisation have been developed in the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Since the mid 1990’s there has been a policy shift from food aid to a focus on food security. This progression saw an integration of food aid into the development policies and food security strategies of recipient countries. The policy shift moved from food relief to development assistance, which addressed structural food insecurity. This policy change was reflected in the ‘Rome Declaration on World Food Security’ in 1996. Leaders emphasised sustainable food security and poverty eradication. The Summit leaders committed themselves to halving the number of under nourished people in the world to 400 million by 2015.

The European Union’s policy has also changed since the 1996 World Food Summit. The ‘focus has shifted from short-term food aid in kind to seeking long-term food security supporting sustainable development, economic growth and poverty reduction’.³⁷.

There is also a deeper understanding of the roles of the respective partners in the rich world and the developing world. The President of the World Bank recently described the various undertakings, which have been signed up to by both the developed and developing worlds, as providing the clarity of what needs to be done on both sides, to address the Millennium Goals. ‘I see the contract a clear delineation of what everybody should do. What I have yet to see is enough passion’.³⁸ Significant responsibility rests with both sides of the development ‘contract’ if it is to bring about radical change.

African

The Economic Commission for Africa recently outlined the following overview of economic and social development in Africa in 2002³⁹:

▪‘Growth slows: The performance of African economies fell short of expectations in 2002, with growth slowing from an average of 4.3 percent in 2001 to 3.2 percent in 2002. The modest overall performance in 2002 reflects the weaker global economy and a slower-than-expected rebound in world trade, and the drop in FDI flows to Africa during the year. Drought and HIV/AIDS in various parts of southern and eastern Africa, and political and armed conflicts in several countries further weakened regional economic performance.

▪Worrying ODA flows: Disaggregating ODA flows to Africa shows that for the “production sectors”- comprising agriculture, manufacturing, trade, banking, and tourism-ODA declined from 17 percent in 1975-80 to 11 percent in 1995-2000. In absolute terms, bilateral ODA flows to African economies have dropped in the last decade, with the exception of flows to education.

▪Macroeconomic performance has improved: Therefore, much more needs to be done to improve fiscal management across the continent. Many countries pursued prudent monetary and fiscal policies during 2002 with 11 countries holding inflation under 3 percent. Although overall fiscal discipline improved in 2002, fiscal profligacy remains a problem, with a number of countries having deficits of more than 3 percent of GDP. However, some countries had massive price increases due to conflict and political crises.

▪Huge challenges remain in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic and poverty: HIV/AIDS has emerged as a major development crisis in the region. By the end of 2002, out of 42 million adults and children living with HIV/AIDS globally, 29.4 million were in Africa. In the same year, of 3.1 million HIV-related deaths globally, Africa suffered 2.4 million. With close to half the population in Africa living below $1 a day, poverty remains a daunting task, raising questions about the ability of the continent to achieve the MDG goal of halving poverty by 2015. In fact, the absolute number of people living below poverty is projected to rise to between 361 million and 426 million by 2015, compared to 302 million in 1998. However, several countries have made tremendous progress in reducing poverty in recent years.

▪Medium-term prospects: The medium-term outlook for Africa is cautiously optimistic with growth projected at 4.2 percent in 2003 on the assumption that weather conditions improve and non-oil commodity prices rise.’

It is clear that the challenges and issues facing Africa are of such a scale that they require radical and innovative actions if they are to be adequately addressed. The UN Millennium Development Goals are one step on the road to tacking the problems highlighted.

Policy & organisational framework

UN Millennium Development Goals

Global action

A global action plan was set in motion when world leaders agreed at the United Nations Millennium Summit to set time bound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. These targets are now called the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s). The MDG’s and the operational targets to be achieved by 2015⁴⁰:are presented below:

1.Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger:

▪Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

▪Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

2.Achieve universal primary education:

▪Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary education

3.Promote equality and empower women:

▪Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

4.Reduce child mortality:

▪Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five

5.Improve maternal health:

▪Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio

6.Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases:

▪Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

▪Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

7.Ensure environmental sustainability:

▪Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes: reverse loss of environmental resources

▪Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water

▪Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020

8.Develop a global partnership for development:

▪Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction- nationally and internationally

▪Address the least developed countries special needs. This includes tariff and quota-free access for their exports: enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction

▪Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States

▪Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term

▪In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries

▪In cooperation with the private sector make available the benefits of new technologies- especially information and communications technologies

Target monitoring

At the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002, leaders from both developed and developing countries began to match commitments with resources and actions. Monitoring progress in achieving the MDG targets is being undertaken via 48 indicators⁴¹. Notwithstanding the active management and monitoring of the targets set, concerns are already being expressed about the reality of achieving the goals for Africa.

World Trade Organisation overview

Established in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Its goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments provide the framework for increasing members trade.

The WTO has 146 members (April 2003), of which 30 members are Least Developed Countries while an additional nine applications being processed. Ethiopia as well as Equatorial Guinea, and Sao Tome & Principe are currently WTO Observers. Members are divided into developed and developing categories. More than three-quarters of WTO’s Members have self-elected the status of developing countries.

The delivery of WTO technical assistance is designed to assist developing and least-developed countries and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines, implement obligations and exercise the rights of membership, including drawing on the benefits of an open, rules-based multilateral trading system.

Technical cooperation is an area of WTO work that is devoted entirely to helping developing countries operate successfully in the multilateral trading system. The objective is to help build the necessary institutions and to train officials. The subjects covered deal both with trade policies and with effective negotiation.

On 14 November 2001 the Doha Ministerial Conference approved the European Communities-The ACP-EC Partnership Agreement (Cotonou Agreement).

The Doha Fourth Ministerial Conference has framed current WTO negotiations and is timetabled for completion by 2005. The negotiations are committed to key aims under a variety of headings as follows:

Agriculture

▪Market access: substantial reductions

▪Exports subsidies: reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of these

▪Domestic support: substantial reductions for supports that distort trade

The declaration makes special and differential treatment for developing countries integral throughout the negotiations, both in countries’ new commitments and in any relevant new or revised rules and disciplines. It says the outcome should be effective in practice and should enable developing countries meet their needs, in particular in food security and rural development.

Non-agricultural products

Launch tariff-cutting negotiations on all non-agricultural products. The aim is “to reduce, or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries”. These negotiations shall take fully into account the special needs and interests of developing and least-developed countries, and recognize that these countries do not need to match or reciprocate in full tariff-reduction commitments by other participants.

Cooperation and capacity building

Reaffirm all technical cooperation and capacity building commitments made throughout the declaration and add the following general commitments:

▪The Secretariat, in coordination with other relevant agencies, is to encourage WTO developing-country members to consider trade as a main element for reducing poverty and to include trade measures in their development strategies.

▪The agenda set out in the Doha Declaration gives priority to small, vulnerable, and transition economies, as well as to members and observers that do not have permanent delegations in Geneva.

▪Technical assistance must be delivered by the WTO and other relevant international organizations within a coherent policy framework.

Least-developed countries

WTO member governments commit themselves to the objective of duty-free, quota-free market access for LDCs’ products and to consider additional measures to improve market access for these exports. Members also agree to try to ensure that least-developed countries can negotiate WTO membership faster and more easily.

Special and differential treatment

The WTO agreements already contain special provisions, which give developing countries special rights, e.g. longer time periods of implementing agreements and commitments or measures to increase trading opportunities for developing countries. In the Doha Declaration, member governments agree that all special and differential treatment provisions should be reviewed with a view to strengthening them and making them more precise.

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)

The IMF and the World Bank have designed a framework to provide special assistance for heavily indebted poor countries that pursue IMF and World Bank supported adjustment and reform programs, but for whom traditional debt relief mechanisms are insufficient. The HIPC Initiative entails coordinated action by the international financial community, including multilateral institutions, to reduce to sustainable levels the external debt burden of these countries.

To qualify for HIPC relief, countries must:

▪Face an unsustainable debt burden, beyond available debt-relief mechanisms;

▪Establish a track record of reform and sound policies through IMF- and World Bank-supported programs.

Ethiopia is one of 41 countries to have qualified for HIPC relief. Tables 21 and 22 outline the projected impact of the HIPC initiative on Ethiopian repayments over the period 2003-2007.

Table 21 Projected Payments to Fund without HIPC assistance

Source: IMF 2003

Table 22 Projected Payments to Fund with Board-approved HIPC assistance

Source: IMF 2003

Ireland, while recognising the importance of the HIPC instrument for alleviating the burden of debt for the poorest countries in the world, considers that it is so far insufficient to meet the needs of the LDC’s. Ireland Aid and the Department of Finance have reviewed the implementation of the HIPC Initiative. The review is critical of its implementation. In particular the review raises questions about the adequacy of current debt relief levels and on the assumption and projections used by the Bank and the IMF in calculating debt relief. Minister Kitt outlined current policy as:

“The Irish Government now believes, in principle, that the total cancellation of the debts of the world’s poorest countries is a politically acceptable objective and one that we would support. In our view, total debt cancellation would have to be funded largely through additional donor funds, rather than from the existing resources of the World Bank and the IMF. This means that major donors would have to increase their Overseas Development Assistance towards the UN target of 0.7% of GNP.”⁴²

Speaking at the World Bank Parliamentary Network in Athens⁴³, Dr. Michael Woods. T,D., Chairman of the Joint Committee said, “Full cancellation of debt should be offered to highly indebted countries when they comply with the fundamental principles of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and good governance. He also said ‘In particular there should be immediate cancellation of the debts of a number of countries in Africa. Which have been ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In many countries children are now the main bread winners of families as an entire generation has been wiped out.” This scenario exactly describes the challenges facing Ethiopia.

New Partnership For Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

NEPAD was created from a merger, finalised in July 2001, of the Millennium Partnership for Africa’s Recovery Programme and the Omega Plan. NEPAD has the following objectives:

▪To promote accelerated growth and sustainable development

▪To eradicate widespread and severe poverty

▪To halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process

In line with the new philosophies being applied by the developed world, NEPAD is providing a fresh and holistic approach to the future development of the African continent. Its plan of action, the New Africa Initiative (NAI) provides a vision for Africa as well as a statement of the problems facing the continent and a programme of action to resolve these problems. Conceived and developed by African leaders, its address social, economic and political priorities in a coherent and balanced manner.

The NAI provides a framework for a new partnership with the rest of the world. This partnership has the commitment of African leaders, to place Africa on a path of sustainable growth. The partnership is recognition that Africa holds the key to its own development. It is a call to the rest of the world to partner Africa, in her own development on the basis of her own agenda and programme of action⁴⁴.

Strategic Partnership For Africa

The Strategic Partnership For Africa is composed of bilateral donors (including Ireland) and multilateral institutions^g, which manage the SPA - the Special Program of Assistance for low-income debt-distressed countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This programme was launched in December 1987 in response to the region’s severe debt and development crisis.

The Partnership, since 1987, has mobilised $44billion in support for economic reform to African economies, is the principal forum for aid disbursement and coordination for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who opened the 2003 Annual Plenary meeting in Addis Ababa, called upon donors to base all aid on the PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper) and channel most aid directly through national budgets. Accepting that “the key bottleneck to development in Africa is governance,” he urged donors to deliver more effectively on aid promises and reduce micromanagement of aid⁴⁵.

The Partnership has agreed to include African states and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as full participants, along with donor partners.

African Growth and Opportunity Act

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law on May 18, 2000 in the United States. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. President Bush signed amendments to AGOA, also known as AGOA II, into law on August 6, 2002. AGOA II substantially expands preferential access for imports from beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries.

AGOA provides reforming African countries with the most liberal access to the U.S. market available to any country or region with which the United States does not have a Free Trade Agreement. It supports U.S. business by encouraging reform of Africa’s economic and commercial regimes, which will build stronger markets and more effective partners for U.S. firms.

AGOA expands the list of products, which eligible Sub-Saharan African countries may export to the United States subject to zero import duty under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). AGOA GSP applies to more than 6,400 items. AGOA GSP provisions are in effect until September 30, 2008, nearly two years longer than general GSP.

Since its implementation, AGOA has encouraged substantial new investments, trade, and job creation in Africa. It has helped to promote Sub-Saharan Africa’s integration into the multilateral trading system and a more active role in global trade negotiations.

The United States imported $9 billion of merchandise duty-free under AGOA provisions in 2002, a 10% increase from 2001 despite the general decline in imports from the Sub-Saharan region. Ethiopia is one of the 36 sub-Saharan countries eligible for preferences under the AGOA.

USAID

In Africa, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working to build regional stability, strengthen democratic institutions, preserve the environment, promote economic growth, advance food security, educate children, and ensure better health for all. By working with African governments; local, regional, and national organisations; and other development partners, USAID seeks to incorporate African experiences in all of these sectors to ensure sustainable and locally appropriate programs and activities. By understanding Africa’s diverse cultures and experiences, USAID can better design and implement successful strategies and programs. Strategies initiated by Africans such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a new vision and plan of action for African development, present new models for USAID to collaborate with other donors and African leaders.

Key USAID initiatives⁴⁶ that are being implemented in Africa aim to:

▪Fight hunger

▪Increase trade and economic growth,

▪Strengthen education and

▪Fight corruption throughout Africa.

Appendix 6 outlines the development assistance provided by USAID to the humanitarian effort in Ethiopia in recent times.

Millennium Challenge Account

President Bush announced on March 14, 2002 a “New Compact for Development.” Under the Compact, the United States will increase its core development assistance by 50 percent over the next three years, resulting in a $5 billion annual increase over current levels by 2006. These additional funds will go to a new Millennium Challenge Account that will fund initiatives to help developing nations that demonstrate a strong commitment to ruling justly, investing in people, and promoting economic freedom, which are the foundations for broad-based, lasting development⁴⁷.

Aid Linked to Sound Policies

The new compact recognises that economic development assistance can be successful only if it is linked to sound policies in developing countries. In sound policy environments, aid attracts private investment by two to one - that is, every dollar of aid attracts two dollars of private capital. In countries where poor public policy dominates, aid can actually harm the very citizens it was meant to help by subsidising bad policies and delaying reform.

The funds into the Millennium Challenge Account will be distributed to developing countries that have demonstrated a strong commitment towards:

▪Ruling Justly. Rooting out corruption, upholding human rights, and adherence to the rule of law are essential conditions for successful development.

▪Investing in People. Investment in schools and health care provide for healthy and educated citizens who become agents of development.

▪Promoting Economic Freedom. More open markets, sustainable budget policies, and strong support for individual initiative will unleash the enterprise and creativity for lasting growth and prosperity.

World Food Programme (WFP)

Set-up in 1963, WFP is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2001, WFP fed 77 million people in 82 countries, including most of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people.

In 2001 Ireland Aid contributed €4.59 million from its Emergency and Rehabilitation Budget to the WFP, which was one of the single largest recipients of this type of support.

WFP food aid reaches the world’s poorest nations as:

▪Food-for-Life - targeting emergencies

▪Food-for-Growth - targeting needy people at critical times of their lives i.e. babies, school children, pregnant and breast-feeding women and the elderly.

▪Food-for-Work - targeting people who are chronically hungry, WFP promotes self-reliance through food-for-work projects.

Appendix 7 details the current range of projects being supported by the WFP in Ethiopia.

EU and US Trade Channels

The long-term shift to sustainable development for Ethiopia will necessitate embracing the opportunities and challenges of globalisation appropriate for Africa. The strategies to be pursued, with the support of the multilateral institutions and donor countries, should be those which are necessary for the development of the country and for the expansion of the trading links between Ethiopia and the rest of the world.

The EU is the most important trade partner with the Sub-Sahara African region as well as with Ethiopia. Tables 23 and 24 outline that between 2000 and 2001, Sub-Saharan Africa’s market share of imports from the EU remained stable at 36%, while the exports of Sub-Saharan Africa increased 4% to 44.8%. The US market share of imports increased slightly to 8%, while its export market share fell by 1% to 26%.

Table 23 Sub-Saharan Africa Imports 2000-2001

Source: US-African Trade Profile, United States Department of Commerce

Table 24 Sub-Saharan Africa Exports 2000-2001

Source: US-African Trade Profile, United States Department of Commerce

However, Ethiopia does not feature as a leading Sub-Saharan trading partner with the US for either imports or exports. Tables 25 and 26 outlines the leading US Sub-Saharan trading partners and products in 2002.

Table 25 Leading US Sub-Saharan Africa Import markets and product categories 2002

Source: US-African Trade Profile, United States Department of Commerce

Table 26 Leading US Sub-Saharan Africa Export markets and product categories 2002

Source: US-African Trade Profile, United States Department of Commerce

Agricultural trade focus

The Ethiopian export trade profile naturally has a heavy reliance on agricultural products. Coffee and hides & skins are the two main product categories exported. Table 27 outlines quarterly trade data and highlights the year on year and quarter on quarter decline in a range of exports. The export shares of leather and leather products as well as that of gold increased. This puts leather and leather products and gold as the second and third major contributors of foreign exchange to the country next to coffee.

Table 27 Value of Ethiopian Exports by major commodity

Source: National Bank of Ethiopia

Table 28 outlines the main commodity groups being imported into Ethiopia.

Table 28 Value of Ethiopian Imports by major commodity

Source: National Bank of Ethiopia

The trade data for Ethiopia is indicative of the range of problems facing the country. Exports are mainly focussed on a small range of agricultural products while imports encompass a broad base for a country with poorly developed productive capacity. If Ethiopia is to take advantage of world markets, it will require a significant expansion in productive capacity. Creating the climate for this scenario involves a broad range of investments encompassing education, infrastructure, health, gender equality, technology etc. The path followed must address the many stages of development to gradually shift from food deficiency, to food sustainability, to food surplus.

GMO’s and trade

Two approaches to the application of biotechnology, in terms of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s), have emerged.⁴⁸ The US is promoting the use of GMO products not only in the developed world but also in the developing world on the basis that this new technology will address the food shortages of the developing world. The EU, while processing applications for the use of this new technology, is also putting in place a range of measures to protect and inform consumers about GMO products. The EU have highlighted a range of issues in its submission to the WTO regarding this trade dispute including⁴⁹:

▪Most genetically modified (GM) crops have been developed with a link to herbicide and insecticide products. Growing GM crops therefore involves making a commitment to a specific seed source but also to dedicated chemical treatments. This solution may not be appropriate to small farmers in developing countries.

▪The concerns of African countries regarding the introduction of GMO foods to their countries should be recognised

▪Provision of humanitarian food aid supplies should not be used to advance the case for GM food abroad

▪EU policy seeks to source food aid for emergency use as far as possible in the region, thus contributing to the development of local markets and providing additional incentives to local producers.

Policy coherence

Development policies are being evolved and implemented on many stages across the world. The alignment, harmonisation and communication of these policies are critical to overall success. However achieving policy coherence across the range of issues involved with development aid and between partners, multilateral, bilateral and NGO organisations is a challenge in itself.

European Commission approach

To this end, the European Commission seeks to have all food security policies (poverty alleviation, food security, rural development, development of social sectors etc.) embedded in a Country Strategy Paper. In the same spirit, aspects of food security should also be incorporated in the poverty reduction strategy papers established by the developing countries under the guidance of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These baseline documents should then improve planning, co-ordination, integration, communications and priority setting.

OECD guidelines

In addition the OECD has produced a checklist for ‘Improving Policy Coherence and Integration for Sustainable Development’. It highlights the following requirements in order to have effective implementation of sustainable development goals:

▪A common understanding of sustainable development;

▪Clear commitment and leadership;

▪Specific institutional mechanisms to steer integration;

▪Effective stakeholder involvement;

▪Efficient knowledge management;

Court of Auditors Issues

Despite the theoretical framework for policy coherence, a recent audit by the EC Court of Auditors identified a range of issues needing addressing⁵⁰ for Ethiopia, including:

▪Food strategy policies not integrated into its overall development strategies. A number of stand-alone strategies existed which caused confusion.

▪Despite its importance, land tenure systems and land reform and environmental aspects were not addressed

▪No evidence was found that gender issues were taken into account

▪The interim poverty reduction strategy paper (IPRSP) does not adequately deal with the structural issues that are at the root of food insecurity and keeps insisting on the need for continued food aid.^h

Issues identified for Member States and the Commission included:

▪Failure of Member States to notify the Commission of their bilateral food aid and food security operations

▪Failure by Member State representatives to systematically forward information received from the Commission to their Embassies

▪In general, coordination between recipients and multilateral donors (World Bank, IMF, UNDP, FAO) is marginal.

UN Economic Commission for Africa

The UN Economic Commission for Africa recently addressed the implications of Mutual Accountability and Policy Coherence⁵¹. Mutual accountability recognises that the policies and actions of both developed and developing countries have an impact on the effectiveness of aid and on the outcomes of development efforts. In this context a framework, for monitoring and tracking progress of both Africa and its development partners in meeting the commitments to development effectiveness, was presented to and endorsed by the NEPAD Heads of State (March 2003). This process envisages joint reviews of development effectiveness as a tool to monitor the progress of efforts on both side of the development partnership.

Multilateral institutions

The multilateral institutions have key roles in the formulation and implementation of different elements of the framework for global economic policy, in particular the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Each of these organisations has a mandate for such cooperation in the agreements under which they have been established. They also have signed agreements among themselves, for mutual cooperation and regular consultation, which identify mechanisms designed to foster greater coherence in global economic policy-making⁵².

¹ ‘Study shows poor awareness of aid issues’, Irish Times, 11June 2003

² ‘Annual Report on the Implementation of the European Commission’s External Assistance’, European Commission, 2001

³ ‘Special Report No 2/2003 on the implementation of the food security policy in developing countries..’ Official Journal of the European Union, Volume 46, 17 April 2003

⁴ “Poor countries need ‘unfair trade in their favour’, not empty promises”, Christian Aid Press Release, 3 June 2003

⁵ Page 36, Ethiopia: Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, July 2002

⁶ Basic Facts on Ethiopia, Embassy of Ethiopia, London, September 2002.

⁷ Ethiopia 2000 Demographic and Health Survey Key Findings, Ethiopian Central Statistics Office

⁸ Ireland Aid Ethiopia Country Strategy Paper 2002-2004, Embassy of Ireland, Addis Ababa, June 2002.

⁹ The World Economic Outlook (WEO) database, April 2003

¹⁰ GOE Letter of Intent to the International Monetary Fund, August 19 2002.

¹¹ GOE Letter of Intent to the International Monetary Fund, August 19, 2002.

¹² Briefing Paper, Dept. of Foreign Affairs, Africa Section, 2003; Ireland Aid Ethiopia Country Strategy Paper 2002-2004, Embassy of Ireland.

¹³ Annex 5, Ethiopia-European Community, Country Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme for the period 2002-2007

¹⁴ Briefing Paper, Crisis In Africa, Concern, 17 December 2002.

¹⁵ Crisis In Africa, Presentation by Concern, 17 December 2002

¹⁶ ‘Geldof urges G8 countries to help Ethiopia’, Irish Times 28 May 2003-05-29

¹⁷ Mid-Year Review-May 2003-Ethiopia, United Nations

¹⁸ World Development Report 2003, Foreword by James D Wolfensohn, World Bank 2003.

a Research on post-harvest food losses in the Eastern Africa Subregion has recorded losses of 2 to 26% of total food production. UN ECA, East African Subregional Development Centre.

¹⁹ ‘Agricultural Policy - A developing Country Perspective’, Paper presented by Tom Arnold, Agricultural Science Conference, 13 September 2002

²⁰ ‘Agriculture in an enlarged Europe’, Paper presented by Tom Arnold, CEO Concern Worldwide to the Agricultural Science Conference, 13 September 2002.

²¹ UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheet, 2002 Update

²² HIV/AIDS and Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, Save the Children (UK) and Oxfam International, December 2002

²³ Mid-Year Review-May 2003-Ethiopia, United Nations

²⁴ Land Tenure and Agricultural Development in Ethiopia, Paper presented at World Bank Rural Development Workshop, Addis Ababa, November 13, 2002

^b Land policy states that the land belongs to the people and that the Federal and regional governments administer it on behalf of the people. Every farmer who wants to make a livelihood from farming is entitled to have a plot of land free of charge. Because land is State owned, it cannot be sold or exchanged for other property or be mortgaged. Farmers can use the land virtually free of charge, as it can be bequeathed to heirs.

²⁵ Section 10.3 Gender and Development; Ethiopia: Sustainable Development And Poverty Reduction Programme; Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, July 2002.

²⁶ Report of Senator Mary Henry following a Parliamentary Study Tour of Ethiopia, Sept. 2002.

²⁷ Oxfam Briefing Paper, Europe and the Coffee Crisis A Plan for Action, February 2003.

²⁸ What’s That In Your Coffee?, Oxfam presentation, Part of Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair Campaign

²⁹ Fair Trade Website, www.fair-mark.org

³⁰ ‘When doing right coincides with national self-interest’ Irish Times Article by Tom Arnold, 29 May 2003

³¹ ‘Reaching the UN Target- A Millennium Decision For Ireland’, Ireland Aid, 2000

^c Under European System of Accounts, Gross National Income (GNI) replaces Gross National Product (GNP). The two items are conceptually identical, however GNI is calculated differently. GNI is defined as GNP plus EU production subsidies received by resident producers, minus production taxes payable to the EU.

³² ‘Ireland: Development Co-operation Review Summary and Conclusions’, OECD, 01/11/99

³³ Report of the Ireland Aid Review Committee, Department of Foreign Affairs, 2002

^d. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was established in 1971 as a result of initiatives by FAO, UNDP and the World Bank as Co-sponsors of the Consultative Group.

³⁴ ‘Ethiopia’s food crisis, the case for urgent action’, Christian Aid Briefing, Leo Bryant, November 2002

e ‘Poverty’ is defined not simply as the lack of income and financial resources but also encompassing the notion of vulnerability and such factors as no access to adequate food supplies, education and health, natural resources and drinking water, land, employment and credit facilities, information and political involvement, services and infrastructure.

f The EuropeAid Co-operation Office is tasked with implementing the full range of the Commission’s external aid instruments, with the exception of the pre-accession programmes (Phare, Ispa, Sapard), the humanitarian activities, macrofinancial aid, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Rapid Reaction Facility.

³⁵ P 133, Annual Report 2001 on the EC Development Policy and the Implementation of the External Assistance, European Communities, 2002.

³⁶ ‘We the Peoples. The role of the United Nations in the 21^st Century’, Kofi A. Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, United Nations, 2000

³⁷ ‘Special Report No 2/2003 on the implementation of the food security policy in developing countries financed by the general budget of the European Union, together with the Commission’s replies’ Court of Auditors, Official Journal of the European Union, Volume 46, 17 April 2003

³⁸ ‘Remarks to the Bretton Woods Committee Annual Meeting, by James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, 12 June 2003

³⁹ Report of the twenty-second meeting of the committee of experts of the conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, 29-31 May 2003, Economic Commission For Africa.

⁴⁰ ‘The Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations Role’, United nations Fact Sheet, United Nations Department of Public Information, October 2002

⁴¹ http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/mi/mi_goals.asp

⁴² Minister of State Tom Kitt T.D. Launches New Government Policy on Developing Country Debt, 19 July 2002

⁴³ Parliamentary Network on the World Bank meeting, Athens, 9^th March 2003

⁴⁴ The New Partnership For Africa’s Development (NEPAD), October 2001

g Current members include World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Economic Commission for Africa, European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Italy,Ireland, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, OECD Development Assistance Committee, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, UN Development Program, and United States.

⁴⁵ ‘Strategic Partnership with Africa Commits to Reform Aid’, World Bank press release, 21 January 2003

⁴⁶ ‘USAID’s Partnership with Africa’, USAID Bureau for Africa, October 2002

⁴⁷ ‘Millennium Challenge Account’, US Department of State Fact sheet, 23 August 2003

⁴⁸ ‘Dispute over GM food sours EU-US summit.’, Conor O’Cleary, Irish Times, 25 June 2003

⁴⁹ EU submission to WTO on GMOs, 17 June 2003

⁵⁰ Special Report No 2/2003 on the implementation of the food security policy in developing countries financed bu the general budget of the European Union, together with the Commissions replies, Official Journal of the European Union, Volume 46, 17 April 2003

h The Interim PRSP has now been superseded by the PRSP 2002-2007 which more adequately addresses these issues

⁵¹ ‘Mutual Accountability and Policy Coherence’, Presentation to the Committee of Experts by Elene Makonnen, Principal Advisor Economic Commission for Africa, 29 May 2003, Addis Ababa

⁵² ‘Agreements between the WTO and the IMF and the World Bank’, 18 November 1996, World Trade Organisation