Major challenges

DFID: Working to reduce poverty in Ethiopia

Between 2001 and 2005, Ethiopia received £4.7 billion in aid, of which DFID provided almost 200 million. We expect to spend £170 million in Ethiopia this year, including our response to the humanitarian situation

Since June 2006, most of our aid has been in the form of a contribution to the Protection of Basic Services (PBS) programme. So far, DFID has spent £152 million through PBS. This money supplements government funding on education, health, agriculture, and water and sanitation, while requiring regular monitoring of expenditure. In addition, PBS aims to make local government more accountable to citizens for delivering these services.

DFID’s programme in Ethiopia is focused on: (i) improving governance and accountability; (ii) promoting human development, including better health, education, water and sanitation; and (iii) supporting sustainable growth and providing humanitarian support.

DFID’s programme is designed to help the Ethiopian government implement its own poverty reduction strategy: the Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty. As far as possible, we do this in partnership with other donors using government systems.

Governance

Poor governance is a cause of poverty. People suffer when governments do not allow participation in political life, provide access to justice, deliver adequate public services or control corruption.

DFID is working to develop a more capable state in Ethiopia – for example, by contributing £25 million to a major programme designed to improve the management of public sector resources. We have also allocated £5 million to strengthen such institutions as the judiciary, the Human Rights Commission and the regional and federal parliaments, so that citizens can hold government to account.

In addition, we are helping citizens to voice their demands so that government responds to their needs and rights.

Health

Our main support for the health sector comes from the PBS programme – for instance, funding the salaries of over 16,000 doctors and nurses. In addition, DFID is providing £15 million to help the Ministry of Health procure and distribute 6.5 million insecticide-treated bed nets, 2 million doses of malaria treatment and contraceptives for 3 million women.

HIV/AIDS

Ethiopia receives a large amount of money from global and disease-specific funds for HIV/AIDS. DFID concentrates its support for HIV/AIDS on improving the systems that are essential for delivering the services, and strengtherning the leadership and management of the response.

Education

DFID concentrates its efforts on primary and secondary schooling, teacher training and development, making it easier for all Ethiopian children to go to school, and improving the quality of education.

The majority of DFID’s support to education, over £20 million per year, goes through the Protection of Basic Services programme Much of this is spent on teachers’ salaries and has helped the governemnt to make education services much more available.

Unfortunately, the large increase in the number of children attending school has had an effect on the quality of the education, DFID has started to support the governments general education quality improvement programme which is designed to improve the overall quality of general education.

Hunger and humanitarian aid

Drought, high food prices and carry over effect of 2008 humanitarian situation are making food supply in parts of Ethiopia increasingly insecure. According to the government and the UN, about 4.9 million people require emergency food aid which includes an estimated 34,000 children need medical care for severe malnutrition.

In 2008, DFID provided £18 million to the World Food Programme, £14 million for emergency assistance through the Humanitarian Response Fund, managed by the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In 2009 we expect to provide £24 million to the humanitarian response. Specifically we have provided the World Food Programme with £15 million to support food aid operations.

DFID has also contributed £35 million in 2009 to Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme, which ensures that 7.5 million of the poorest families get enough food and maintain a basic standard of living through the year, even during times of harvest failure. We intend to provide additional funding to the beneficiaries of the safety net, to tide them over until the next harvest.

Water, sanitation and infrastructure

We are contributing towards a World Bank project that supports the Ethiopian government’s plans for improving water, sanitation and hygiene.

Our finance will help an extra 3.2 million people get safe water. We are assisting the Ministry of Water Resources through an evidence-based research programme.

In 2008, 52% of the population was thought to have access to a safe drinking water supply, up from 35% two years earlier.

Rural access and mobility

DFID is providing around £1 million per year to improve rural access roads and increase transportation in remote areas. The Ethiopian Rural Travel and Transport Project, administered by the Ethiopian Roads Authority, is piloting different types of planning, construction and transport technologies. Improving the transport infrastructure in this way is having a direct impact on rural growth and employment.

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