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Ethiopia
Conference on the “Dynamics of Urbanization in Africa and Ethiopia, for the anniversary of the Franco-German friendship treaty.
French and German cooperation agencies have co-organized an event on Urban Development, a common sector of intervention in Ethiopia. The event was organized as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty that sealed the Franco-German reconciliation. 80 people selected for their involvement in the urban sector were gathered, coming from public authorities, academy, civil society, private sector and donors.
Key note speeches were delivered by the ambassadors of Germany and France and by the Ethiopian state minister of Urbanism and Construction, H.E. Ato Hailemeskel Tefera.
Below: the state minister (left) delivers his speech to guests including (from left to right) Didier Grébert, AFD Regional Director, Sam Sternin, moderator, Michel Biontino, deputy head of mission of the German Embassy, Brigitte Collet, ambassador of France, and Liselore Cyrus, ambassador of Germany.
Then a presentation was given on the challenges of financing subsaharan African cities in a context of overwhelming expansion, by Mr Thierry Paulais, international expert in urbanism and current deputy director of AFD’s Africa Department.
A panel discussion and an exchange with the audience took place. Key subjects of the discussions were: the roles of private sector and the diasporas in financing urban development, the challenges of capturing land value as a means of urban policies, the types of urban development models best suited to Ethiopia, the country’s housing policies, the importance of secondary cities and rural localities, and the role of civil society as a partner for the municipalities’ investments.
Below, the panel. From left to right: Ms Perrine Duroyaume, from Paris 8 University, specialist in Ethiopia’s urbanism, Mr Fasil Giorgis, from EiABC (Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building construction and City development), M. Kai Hoffman, architect and urbanist from GiZ, M. Sisay Dejene, director of the Association of Ethiopian Cities, and Mr Thierry Paulais from AFD.
CEPF launches its Eastern Afromontanes Hotspot Investments in Ethiopia
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) launched officially its activities in the Eastern Afromontanes Hotspot. The French Development Agency (AFD) contributes 19.5 M USD to this initiative, jointly with 6 other donors.
9.8 M USD are earmarked for the Afromontanes Hotspot, and Ethiopia should be the first beneficiary as it concentrates most of the Key Biodiversity Areas, and as Ethiopia’s rural population livelihoods mainly depend on the services provided by the ecosystems.
This event gathered representatives from civil society, as well as delegates from the Ethiopian Authorities and various donor agencies - including the French Development Agency. It took place at the Ethio-French Alliance in Addis Ababa.
CEPF will call for grant proposals from civil society groups ranging from small farming cooperatives and community associations to international organizations. CEPF is currently seeking proposals for projects aimed at (i) mainstreaming biodiversity into wider development policies, plans and projects in order to deliver the co-benefits of biodiversity conservation, which are improved local livelihoods and economic development, and (ii) initiating and supporting sustainable financing for the conservation of priority sites.
A Savoir n°15 | The Governance of Climate Change in Developing Countries
A Report on International and Domestic Climate Change Politics in China, Brazil, Ethiopia and Tuvalu
David HELD, Eva-Maria NAG & Charles ROGER (LSE Global Governance)
CONTACT: Fabio GRAZI Research Department, AFD
Climate change has become the most important global issue of our time and now occupies a key place on the global governance agenda. Recent attempts to create a concrete framework for mitigation have fallen short. However, large developing countries, such as China and Brazil, are now widely considered to be the vanguard of climate change policymaking, taking actions that are comparable to anything being done by Annex 1 states. The emergence of new climate leaders warrants a study of the trends in their domestic policies and policymaking.
This report evaluates the approaches of four significant developing and emerging economies to climate change governance, describing both the evolution of institution building and policymaking processes, and analysing the political and economic drivers of change.
Education and training in Africa: What challenges? What new tools?
Where does Sub-Saharan Africa stand today in terms of education and vocational training? Does it have the capacity to help its future generations move toward employment? What strengths and tools does it have? Four experts from the Education Division provide us with insight.
In Africa, two-thirds of the population is under 24. This youth is the continent’s greatest hope, but also poses a huge challenge for Africa’s development as 20% of young people are unemployed.
Basic education, but also vocational training
To address these challenges, over the past ten years AFD has invested over €1bn in the education/training sector, 2/3 of which in Africa. Over the next three years, its financing for education is expected to exceed €500m, again mainly in Africa. (Summary of the interview with Virginie Bleitracht).
School enrollment has risen by 31% in ten years
Over the past ten years or so, huge strides have been made in terms of access to primary school. Sub-Saharan Africa has had the highest results over the past ten years: school enrollment has risen by 31% (i.e. 58 million additional pupils).Vocational training finally becoming a priority for public policies.
On average, only 5% of the National Education budget is allocated to vocational training, which is by no means enough. Vocational training is a rapidly developing sector in most Sub-Saharan African countries. Most African leaders have made vocational training and youth integration one of their priorities. That being said, we have come a very long way, as many countries have training systems that are undersized, with outdated facilities and trainers who have not benefited from continuous refresher training for a very long time.
Match supply and demand on the labor market
AFD is increasingly helping to build partnerships between training centers and companies (public-private partnerships) in order to better match training to business needs. (Summary of the interview with Christian Fusillier)
NICTs, a solution to improve access to education and training and its quality?
The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows the strong link between the use of digital tools and student performance. Generally speaking, the problems identified are the need to improve both access to education and its quality. Digital tools are ideally suited to meet these challenges. Many obstacles have now been removed. The digital market is reaching maturity and mobile phone penetration rates have seen a substantial increase over the past ten years. In the early 2000s, the geographical coverage rate stood at 10% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, it has reached 80%. This also represents 30% of the population.
(Summary of the interview with Jean-Christophe Maurin)
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