The Challenge of Local Democratic Governance

The Ethiopian Government has undergone massive change over the last few decades, transforming from a centralized Dictatorship to a decentralized “Democracy” (keep in mind, it’s a work in progress). Grassroots empowerment has become Ethiopia’s revolution and the terms “citizens voice” and “local governance” have become its slogan.

My work with the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) has thus far taken me into the slums, low corridors and high towers of Institutional Governance in Addis Ababa. I have rummaged through hundreds of reports, City proclamations and governance manuals. I have meandered through the display cases and best practice tents of Ethiopia’s Great Cities Competition. I have even interviewed Officials and Woreda Council Managers on local urban governance. Throughout it all, one reality resonates – Woredas have increased in scale and capacity, they have more discretionary funds and interaction with the people than ever before.. yet there exists a glass ceiling of unclear vision, uncoordinated dissolution of responsibility and, most of all, a need for manpower. The Municipality is prescribing more powers to the local Woreda Authorities and they are faced with a severe shortage of capacity to exercise this power.

Good local governance is not just about creating the right legal and political frameworks, it’s also about long-term transformations and investment in people. It’s about the overarching themes (Effectiveness, Accountability, Participation and Equity) and the everyday tasks of listening to people, surveying their needs, and developing long term plans that meet the challenges of today and the values of tomorrow. If there is a shortage of skilled and knowledgeable manpower, however, the system can only fumble forward.

While the physical and infrastructural landscape here never stops changing, it is an opportune time to teach people and their systems to evolve with this change. Local leaders with the vision, foresight and guts to plan 100 years down the road and start building a culture of innovators and visionaries is what is needed. At the rate Addis is developing and re-developing, investing in human capital seems like one of the better long-term solutions with the potential to ripple down the generations.

Part of CUI’s mandate in Ethiopia is to do just that – build capacity. Typically, there are three main areas of capacity building: (1) Strengthening Governance and its ability to perform functions (i.e. provision of basic services), (2) Building Sub-sector capacity to plan and implement programming, and (3) Investing in civil society to help people identify their own needs and carry out development.

While these are general areas of development, there are real pitfalls and gaps in capacity building that need to be addressed before diving in. Some of these I have learnt here in Addis and wish to impart:

(1) Avoid Generic Training. To be effective, it must be clear in purpose, targets and development from the outset. It’s not just about imparting knowledge, but also instilling independent ways of thinking, working and problem solving.. a.k.a. the West is not always best.
(2) Start small - build small teams of experts that can mentor their greater office and have peer to peer training
(3) Organizational change takes time; therefore, capacity building must give it time and incorporate long term initiatives
(4) Make sure to avoid training that meets funders criteria and not that of the people being trained.
(5) Experts are way more beneficial if they incorporate the local context and the needs of beneficiaries
(6) Capacity building is NOT just training – it’s action planning, small discussion groups, deliverables in the work place and real life, and performance management. It’s making sure people learn by seeing, doing, hearing, discussing and creating.
(7) Think outside the box – institutional support comes in many shapes and sizes, such as through resources, centers, mentorship programs, partnerships, networking, transferring knowledge and the list goes on.
(8) Take it step by step – deal with the immediate demands of the people then build upon this foundation… For example, if people want greater access to employment opportunities, work on it..
(9) Look for opportunities to bring the local government together with community members. Bridge the gap.

I hope this information is helpful to anyone investing in capacity building. It’s opened my eyes to societal change.

Till next time…

Krystie Babalos

Yeut?

Approaching the UN headquarters, I come across yet another reminder that while things seem different here, they are in a lot of ways the same. Urban agriculture still exists. At home it takes the form of community gardens, while here; herds of sheep and goats, each displaying the color of their herder, take over the road. Addressing also takes on its own unique form. When I first arrived, I found it difficult to distinguish where I was and especially to give directions on how to get somewhere. Very quickly though and without realizing it, I’ve taken on the local tactics. In a city where most streets lack names and addresses are nonexistent, landmarks are the way to go, “Across from this, down the street from...., just past....” are now my replies. In the office, I am linking the addresses of Kebele houses to surveys given to residents last year. The only problem? Most people don’t use addresses. As a result, what is standardized in the computer, doesn’t actually exist on the ground. It is easy to understand why. Even myself, raised living at exactly 2936 West 31^st avenue in a city laid out in a grid, no longer know exactly where I live. When clearing UN security for the first time, I was asked to list my current address. My answer: “ummm.... I’m not sure….Wallo Sefer??” (My neighborhood), “.....Down the street from Biomedical college???”. This was the closest I got to conveying my place of residence for over a month. Without realizing, I have been converted. My house by the way does indeed have an address. It’s even listed on the front gate, but do I know it? No. Will I learn it while I live there? Probably not. The guard didn’t seem too fussed about it in the end. It probably would have been stranger if I had actually had given an exact location.

-Krista