Memorandum submitted by DG Development,
European Commission
THE ETHIOPIAN COUNTRY DIALOGUE—LAUNCHED
THROUGH THE EU WATER INITIATIVE
The information provided in the submission
is in response to a request from the Committee Chair, to supplement
the evidence of Mr A Garc-«a Frag-«o, Head of Unit B1
(Economic Development: Infrastructure & Communication Networks,
Trade & Regional Integration), DG Development, European Commission.
BACKGROUND
Ethiopia has set itself ambitious targets of
achieving 100% national coverage for water supply and sanitation
by 2012. These national targets surpass the water and sanitation
MDGs: to halve the proportion of people without access to safe
drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Currently, more than
half of Ethiopia's 70 million people lack access to water. 50
million people have no access to basic sanitation services. For
Ethiopia to achieve the water and sanitation MDGs an additional
38 million Ethiopians will require access to water and an additional
45 million people will require access to sanitation services by
2015.
Even though Ethiopia has achieved considerable
progress towards these goals, some key challenges remain. These
include:
— limited capacity to implement policy
at the local level;
— limited stakeholder participation—especially
by local private sector and consumers—in the design and
construction of projects; and
— the need for greater political commitment
and public goodwill.
DONOR HARMONISATION
The OECD DAC Survey & Progress on Harmonisation
& Alignment (2005) notes in the Chapter on Ethiopia that:
"The Water Sector Development Programme
(WSDP) was formulated in 2002 and systems around it, such as formalised
dialogue mechanisms and performance monitoring systems are currently
under development. A government-donor water sector dialogue has
been established and is attempting to reach agreement on sector
harmonisation issues. At the present time, negligible donor support
is integrated in the sector Medium Term Expenditure Plan (MTEP)
and, compared with other sectors, donor co-ordination and harmonisation
issues are in their infancy."
EU WATER INITIATIVE
COUNTRY DIALOGUE
Ethiopia was selected by the African Ministerial
Council on Water (AMCOW) to become a pilot country for Water Supply
and Sanitation Country Dialogue component of the EUWI. The objective
of the Country Dialogue is to contribute to the achievement of
Water and Sanitation related MDGs through improved coordination
and strategic planning built on the consensus of stakeholders
(Government, Donors, Civil Society and Private Sector).
The Ethiopia Country Dialogue process was launched
in November 2005 at the Italian Culture Institute in Addis Ababa.
The Country Dialogue process is planned to work through a number
of phases leading to Annual or Bi- Annual joint review of progress
towards the MDGs.
An EUWI Task Force was established at the beginning
of the Country Dialogue, co-chaired by the Ethiopian Ministry
of Water Resources and the Italian Cooperation Addis Ababa. It
comprises multi-stakeholder representatives, including the four
sector Ministries (Water Resource, Health, Education and Agriculture
& Rural Development), the main donors of the WSS sector in
Ethiopia and Civil Society Organisations. UK (DFID) has provided
essential technical assistance to the Ethiopia Country Dialogue
process and has seconded an expert as support to the Ethiopian
Ministry of Water Resources.
The Task Force agreed to focus on three major
areas (Policy and Regulation; Planning, Financing, Information
& M&E; and Implementation & Coordination) that would
complement and add value to existing Government policies and strategies.
Three Working Groups were established within the Task Force to
review these three areas. A draft Sector Review Report and a draft
Financing Strategy (facilitated by the EUWI Finance Working Group)
for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene were prepared for debate
with all stakeholders.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources and
the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa organised the first water sector
multistakeholder forum from 11 to 13 October to bring together
all sector stakeholders to agree and commit to key sector issues,
goals and actions. Over 200 participants, from national and regional
governments, UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector, academia,
and the donor community took part. Participants went on a field
visit to water and sanitation projects in Oromia region, to substantiate
evidence at the community level and to bring the views and concerns
of water users to the discussion.
The outcome was a commitment by all parties
to action on nine key Undertakings in the year ahead, as follows:
— Popularise and operationalise the
Universal Access Plan.
— Disseminate and communicate Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene sector policies.
— Implement policy and regulatory measures
to increase private sector participation.
— Establish and improve regulations
for community management in the sector.
— Enhance and harmonise financing mechanisms.
— Implement M&E system for water,
sanitation and hygiene.
— Plan, budget and scale up existing
Human Resource Development activities.
— Implement and monitor the WASH MOU.
— Establish Supply Chain outlets.
Details of the EUWI Ethiopia Country Dialogue
and an electronic library of relevant sector papers may be found
at: http://www.itacaddis.org/italy/index.cfm?fuseaction=basic_pages.basic_page&page_name=121
The strength of the Country Dialogue is the
strong leadership provided by the Ethiopian Government and the
support that is being made available through the Donor Advisory
Group, which has been galvanised by the process, addressing many
of the issues behind the comments made in the OECD Report (above)
on progress with donor harmonisation in the water sector. Progress
will be monitored at the next Multi Stakeholder Forum in 2007.
December 2006
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
ACTIVITIES IN
ETHIOPIA
The EC-response to the development and poverty
reduction challenges in Ethiopia—notably for the identification
of the focal sectors of support—is designed to assist in
removing structural constraints in sectors that are considered
key for the future development of the country. The response reflects
in particular the following elements and criteria:
(i) the development priorities of the government,
as laid down in the the PRSP;
(ii) the financial requirements and implementation
capacities in a particular sector;
(iii) the existence of a sector development
policy;
(iv) the historic development relationship
between the EC and Ethiopia and its strengths and weaknesses;
(v) complementarity with other donors; and
(vi) the comparative advantages of the EC
as a donor.
The EC provided support to strengthening Water
Supply and Sanitation in Addis Ababa under the 7th and 8th European
Development Funds. Under the 9th EDF (2002-07), three focal sectors
for EC support to Ethiopia were identified:
(ii) macro-economic support and capacity
building for economic reform; and
The Country Strategy Paper and Programming for
the 10 EDF is currently being finalised.
Ethiopia has also benefited from the ACP-EU
Water Facility First Call for Proposals. A total of seven projects
were approved for EC co-funding of nearly €35 million, as
follows:
ACP-EU Water Facility—First Call
for Proposals Projects in Ethiopia
|
| Name of Applicant |
Title | Requested EU
Contribution
|
|
| Ministry of Water Resources | Small town Water & Sanitation Programme
| €16,500,000 |
| United Nations Children's Fund | Accelerating Progress Towards the MDGs on Water and Sanitation in Ethiopia
| €11,594,747 |
| Comunita Volontari per il Mondo | Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project in Oromia and Southern Regions—Ethiopia
| €300,000 |
| Lay Volunteer International Association |
Joining effort in increasing access to safe, affordable and sustainable water and sanitation services in five Wederas (East Shewa, Arsi and Bale Zones)
| €745,000 |
| HORIZONT3000 | Integrated Community Development Program—Water Extension Project (WEP)
| €1,358,797 |
| Christian Aid | Kedida Gamela water development, sanitation , hygiene promotion and environment project
| €1,327,800 |
| Deutsche Welthungerhilfe | MDGs Water and Sanitation Program in Rural Amhara
| €2,887,500 |
|
| December 2006 | |
|
|
