Ethiopia
Achieving sustainable, equitable and resilient societies is humankind’s challenge for the 21st century. In pursuit of this ambition, the international development community needs a shared, universal framework, within which to work more closely together. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the obvious answer, but a number of technical, political and organisational challenges prevent development co-operation providers from using them as their common results framework. Based on seven case studies, this publication identifies two critical factors and one game changer that can help overcome those challenges. First, country leadership needs to be supported by the international community. Second, development partners need to change their set-ups in order to deliver on the SDGs. Finally, by forcing governments and development partners to reset their long-term strategies and rethink their internal systems, the COVID-19 pandemic provides them with a rare opportunity to use the SDG framework collectively as a roadmap to recovery: this can be a game changer.
The Rural Development Strategy Review (RDSR) of Ethiopia studies the rural-urban transformation process of the country, along with the evolution of rural development strategies, and identifies potential areas of reform. This overview summarises the main results and recommendations of the RDSR. It recognises the large and continuous efforts of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) in promoting rural development and highlights the increasingly important roles of intermediary cities. Ethiopia’s socio‑economic landscape is fast changing, governed by three main transformations: economic, demographic and spatial. These transformations will bring both challenges and opportunities. However, the current framework for rural development, the Agricultural Development-Led Industrialisation (ADLI) strategy, may not be capable of fully addressing these challenges and reap on the benefits of rising opportunities. Thus, this report calls for a shift in paradigm, and updating of the current strategy, in order to maintain Ethiopia’s successful economic path and promote an inclusive rural-urban transformation.
Climate-related disasters have inflicted increasingly high losses on developing countries, and with climate change, these losses are likely to worsen. Improving country resilience against climate risks is therefore vital for achieving poverty reduction and economic development goals.
This report discusses the current state of knowledge on how to build climate resilience in developing countries. It argues that climate-resilient development requires moving beyond the climate-proofing of existing development pathways, to consider economic development objectives and resilience priorities in parallel. Achieving this will require political vision and a clear understanding of the relation between climate and development, as well as an adapted institutional set-up, financing arrangements, and progress monitoring and evaluation. The report also discusses two priorities for climate-resilient development: disaster risk management and the involvement of the private sector.
The report builds on a growing volume of country experiences on building climate resilience into national development planning. Two country case studies, Ethiopia and Colombia, are discussed in detail.
Countries have the potential to achieve a virtuous circle between climate resilience and development. Improvements in climate resilience can support development, while inclusive development can help to build climate resilience. Achieving this will not only mean climate-proofing existing development pathways, but also considering how the pathways themselves may need to change in light of the challenges posed by climate change. This chapter outlines the need for climate-resilient development, which provides a strategic approach to addressing current vulnerabilities while preparing for the effects of a changing climate.
Ethiopia’s objective of reducing its vulnerability to climate extremes and its ambitious growth plans have come together in its Climate-Resilient Green Economy initiative. The initiative aims to transform the country into a middle-income economy by 2025, without increasing net greenhouse gas emissions and while protecting itself against the negative impacts of climate change. This case study brings together the lessons from Ethiopia's experience to date. It discusses the links between climate and socio-economic development in Ethiopia, analyses the key enabling factors, and examines the entry points for building resilience in selected policy areas, focusing on the agricultural sector and macroeconomic management.
The land value capture system is poorly developed in the country. The most prominent instrument is strategic land management, due to the land lease policy in place since 1993. Land readjustment takes place when the government initiates a redevelopment project. There is no legal framework for charges for development rights or developer obligations. Although national guidelines indicate that infrastructure provision must be based on the principles of cost recovery and cost sharing, further legislation on infrastructure levy has not been developed yet. The high level of land informality and the lack of administrative capacities constitute challenges to the use of land value capture instruments.
In 2011, the economy continued on the high-growth trajectory of the previous seven years. Growth has been broad-based, with the services and the industrial sectors growing at the highest rates. This momentum is expected to continue in 2012 and 2013, albeit at a slower pace. The five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), however, which emphasises agricultural transformation and industrial growth, projects the economy to grow at much higher rates. In the 2010/11 fiscal year (8 July – 7 July), macroeconomic management failed to reduce inflation, which was driven mainly by escalating food prices. Both domestic and exogenous factors were responsible for causing the resurgence in inflation. These include a loose monetary policy, rising prices of imported inputs, malfunctioning of the domestic market, and supply shocks. However, inflation is expected to decline notably in 2013 owing to continued macro stabilisation efforts. The government has been pursuing prudent fiscal policies which have focused on boosting domestic revenue mobilisation and reducing domestic borrowing.