Studying the reform agenda in Ethiopia: Enhancing inclusive patterns of regional governance and economic opportunities

Major challenges of governance and economic development exist in Ethiopia and its Regional States after a reset of its political leadership in early 2018, and again since November 2020, when serious armed conflict in Ethiopia re-emerged with an insurgency in Tigray (by the TPLF elite ruling the Region). This project’s overall objectives were to issues of governance and economic policy and via offering fresh insights help reduce the policy and communication gaps between government and the Regional States’ populations. The joint Dutch-Ethiopian research programme and the annual roundtables were aimed at contributing specific, field research-based knowledge and suggestions to regional implementing agencies in the Regions of Oromia and Amhara and to their stimulating internal discussion and reflection on policies. This was to happen via producing reports and briefing papers and contributing to ‘capacity training’ (via four PhD thesis projects and field research). The duration of the project (which was  impacted by effects of COVID-19 and armed conflict in 2020-2022) was 4,5 years (2018-2023). 

The project's research activities fed into a series of annual roundtable meetings to exchange knowledge, stimulate policy debate within the policy agencies, engage other academic researchers in Ethiopia, and disseminate research findings in wider circles. 

The research projects were focused on several selected thematic areas (chosen primarily on a ‘demand-driven’ basis by the Ethiopian partners): 

1) Economic challenges, notably youth (un)employment issues, the attraction, management and utilization of foreign direct investment (FDI), and agrarian policy;
2) Political-civic governance, e.g., inclusive governance, citizen’s rights charters;
3) Issues of women’s empowerment in governance, administration and the economy. 

The roundtable conferences with stakeholders, during which the findings from the research projects were presented, successfully allowed for a systematic exchange of ideas, knowledge and ‘best practices’. In addition, scholars, practitioners, policy makers from the Regions, from the Ethiopian federal government, and members of civil society organizations, think tanks and opposition parties in the country were involved in participating in the final workshops (2022-2023), discussing the research reports and the recommendations. 

The project was coordinated by two Leiden University professors: Jon Abbink, at the African Studies Centre Leiden (project leader), and Madeleine Hosli, at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, and was supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ethiopia. The local coordination partner for the StRA programme in Addis Ababa was the Centre for Governance and Security Studies (CGSS). 

The reports as listed below were written by the participating Ethiopian researchers who were engaged in the policy development and implementation. They wrote the reports based on their field research and in addition to their regular jobs/positions as administrators/policy advisors/academics. The projected reports were all completed and will  provide input for ongoing discussions on improving policies. The StRA project was negatively impacted by violent conflict and the deterioration of consensus politics in the past years. The ultimate full uptake of the results, insights, and recommendations of the project reports will depend on the wider policy environment in Ethiopia and on the durable restoration of stability, rule-of-law, and improvement of ‘good governance’ practices in the wake of the armed conflicts that have marked Ethiopia in the past five years and still await satisfactory resolution.  

While major editorial assistance was provided by the StRA project leaders, the authors alone are responsible for the content of their Reports.

(Photo credit: TAAT)