Kopin (2010): “Development Cooperation for the Horn of Africa – EU Policy, the civil society perspective & the Maltese contribution to support poverty eradication in Ethiopia”

 

This publication is based on the notion that neither the Government nor Maltese non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) have gained sufficient expertise nor have they developed adequate strategies to efficiently engage in policy discourses at the national, EU and international levels or in on-the-ground projects in benefit of Ethiopian impoverished communities.

It therefore aims to present an introduction to the European Union’s policy and strategic framework vis-à-vis Africa, particularly the Horn of Africa, with a specific emphasis on Ethiopia. As do these framework documents, the Ethiopian government’s national poverty reduction strategy highlights that effective poverty eradication is paradigmatically perceived as being achievable first and foremost through economic development. In fact, economic prosperity and reform, market integration and liberalisation and relations within the region and with the EU are the strategies’ apparent leitmotif.

Secondly, this paper presents a civil society perspective on development cooperation in Ethiopia, which differs from EC policy in that the main focus is on the provision of basic services to the most impoverished communities of Ethiopia, which reflects a philanthropic rather than a commercial emphasis. Whilst many Ethiopian civil society organisations are small in scale and limited in capacities, in its relations, Kopin’s team discovered a high level on specialised expertise and motivation.

In fact, this paper identifies the collaboration between Maltese and Ethiopian civil society as a highly effective means to channel the – relatively limited – Maltese Official Development Assistance in a transparent way to provide efficient development support to Ethiopia’s poor. Bearing in mind the realities of the present development cooperation scenario in Malta, this document provides both Maltese development-focused non-governmental organisations as well as the Maltese government with a set of recommendations for contributing to the eradication of poverty in Ethiopia, which shall stimulate an open, honest debate amongst Maltese stakeholders to jointly engage in advocacy, awareness raising and field projects.

 

“Development Cooperation for the Horn of Africa – EU Policy, the civil society perspective & the Maltese contribution to support poverty eradication in Ethiopia” has been written by Dominik Kalweit and William Grech on behalf of Kopin.

It has been financed through a project entitled “Building an expertise on priority development issues in Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia”, which has been fully funded by the Presidency Fund, managed by EUROSTEP, under Call 5.