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Ethiopia

Uncomfortable Truths

 DfiD never saw the 'need' to help much more than it did with Community Economic
Development in the furthermost regions of Ethiopia. That might have gone some way to
help reduce the potential for social conflict.
 It’s important that FCDO properly understands the need to provide the means for that

Community Economic Development.

Are we in the 'Aid Business' or are in the business of 'Aid' that leads to an acceptable level
of 'self-sufficiency'?
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Personal Memories of Ethiopia

My memories of Ethiopia bring back pictures of an Africa and Africans so very different

from you find in much of Sub-Saharan Africa'

A country and people defined by its own history, a history which, unlike most of
Africa, did not leave the legacy of colonial rule.

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And so it is that the m'zuŋ u is not a m'zuŋ u in Ethiopia, here a m'zuŋ u is a faranj.
Unlike the much smaller Rwanda, the key features are long-distance and poor provincial
infrastructure. Politics and armed struggles outside Ethiopian borders have led to a capital-
centric development which has made Addis Ababa one of the largest of African cities.
But Ethiopia triumphs where others have fallen short.

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During the time of Meles Zenawi, that much m'zuŋ u maligned African leader, they
experienced substantial development whilst still retaining the mosaic of diverse ethnic
identities and languages. The government of that time succeeded in boosting an economy

based on growing the revenue at a grass-roots level.
But even as they were doing this, Meles Zenawi led the development and

implementation of the Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). A vision that

belies the starting point that was the starting point that emerged from long time feudal
rule under Haile Selassie, years of oppression under the extreme Derg regime and civil war.

Just two features of this visionary GTP were the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam and the

transformation of the Ethiopian universities.
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Ethiopian Universities

I came to understand just how big the transformation of Ethiopian universities was when I
met Poojah in the grounds of the government guest house that sits on the lakeside in Bahir

Dar. For reasons that will go unexplained, I and others ended up spending days, and in my