The Impact of Millennium Development Goals, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and 4th High Level Forum on Developing Countries

Introduction

In the field of development, there is no perfect strategy which can satisfy the needs of all the actors involved and solve the world poverty likewise. All methodologies and approaches which have been implemented so far have their own strength and weaknesses. However, what makes a development strategy “best” is that it exerts potential capability to include most of the needs and varieties of development obstacles from all sides (donors and recipient countries) and strive to achieve better progress.

Various strategies were formulated and implemented in different epoch since development became the global issue, nevertheless, most of them failed to make happen the targeted goal in a given period to our world. Various reasons can be raised for the failure of these strategies, yet, their incompatibility with the nature and characteristics of the real problems of each developing country is considered to be the main factor. This problem still exists in the global development strategies like the Millennium Development Goal, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and the High Forum for Aid Effectiveness.

The Millennium Development Goal is considered to be one of the best among the other strategies which globally implemented in order to realize better development. The goals appear to have been more influential than most other attempts at international target setting in the field of development, at least at the level of international discourse (R. Manning, 2010, pp.1). With its eight major goal, 21 targets and 60 indicators, the millennium development goals are influencing the policies and implementations of recipient and donor countries in different ways. However, there are some groups which are strongly criticizing the nature and formation of MDGs in the way that the goals potentially determined on specific areas of development and neglected other parts concurrently.

The Progress of Ethiopian Health Sector in line with Sustainable development and Poverty Reduction Strategy

   INTRODUCTION

Melesse Zenebework

In the field of development, there is no perfect strategy which can satisfy the needs of all the actors involved and solve the world poverty likewise. All methodologies and approaches which have been implemented so far have their own strength and weaknesses. However, what makes a development strategy “best” is that it exerts potential capability to include most of the needs and varieties of development obstacles from all sides (donors, recipient countries and other development actors) and strive to achieve better progress.

Various strategies were formulated and implemented in different epoch since development became the global issue, nevertheless, most of them failed to make happen the targeted goal in a given period to our world. Various reasons can be raised for the failure of these strategies, yet, their incompatibility with the nature and characteristics of the real problems of each developing country is considered to be the main factor. This problem still exists in the global development strategies like the Millennium Development Goal, the High Forum for Aid Effectiveness and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (which some scholars considered as the other face of structural adjustment policies).

Typically covering a three to five-year planning horizon, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) have become the prime vehicle for both providing priorities for public expenditure by the governments of developing countries and delivering international aid for poverty reduction. According to the World Bank, these strategy papers are primarily formulated in order to bring about country driven (of the developing countries) development plans with broad participation of people and civil societies. In spite of its influential dimension and structure, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers have still faced strong criticism from various individuals and development actors. They say, the PRSPs are no different from the former Structural Adjustment Policies in the sense that they are set by the donors and thrown on to the developing countries so that Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPSs) must ensure the ownership (P. Tharakan and M. McDonald, 2004, pp.8).

A Book Review on the book, "Non-Governmental Organizations and Development"

By Melesse Zenebework

To Dr. Rasmus Karlsson

Environment and Sustainable Development Class

HUFS, 2013

Non – Governmental Organizations and Development, by David Lewis and Nazneen Kanji, New York, Routledge Taylor Francis Ltd, 2009, xv + 239 pp., index, $43.44 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-415-45430-8

David Lewis is professor of social policy and development at London School of Economics who specializes in development policy and management, with a particular interest in Non-Governmental Organizations and civil society, and whose work has mainly had a geographical focus on Bangladesh. He has also written on rural development, organizational issues in development agencies, and anthropological approaches to development. Likewise, Nazneen Kanji is a social policy specialist who worked with the government of Mozambique throughout the 1980s and then moved into policy research, teaching and consultancy work after completing a PhD at the London School of Economics on structural adjustment and urban poverty in Zimbabwe. She has carried out field research in various Sub-Saharan African countries and in South and Central Asia, including work with many NGOs. Her main research area is related to gender and livelihoods, in rural and urban contexts. Both of them have long time experience in the field of development research and practice.

The Impact of MDGs, PRSPs and 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness on the Developing Countries

By Melesse Zenebework

The three development documents have their own strength and weaknesses that, while some countries and donor organizations are in favor of them, others still find it difficult to deal with them. For instance, as most donor organizations and agencies are supporting the MDGs and started investing huge amount of finance on programs related to the millennium development goals throughout the developing countries, other donor organizations like the Netherland and UK preferred to stick to their own programs. They argue that, the MDGs are highly concentrated on health issues and neglected the other development sectors like infrastructure and capacity building.  This is sometimes seen as a promotion of welfare and aid dependence over growth and self-reliance 

It’s All the Same by Bewketu Seyoum

FICTION

Ethiopia

Bewketu Seyoum

In this tongue-in-cheek story from Ethiopia, a man ponders his spending habits, his proposal to regulate Ethiopian beggars, and whether to end his own life. 

1. 

I walked from Haya Hulet Mazoria to Arat Kilo. Walking is good for the health–it saves you from the headaches that come from having to pay for taxis. Another advantage is being able to admire God’s handiwork in making legs so sturdily–had God made legs from chalk, nothing would have remained below my waist after the walk from Haya Hulet to Arat Kilo.

Eldis - The culture of power in contemporary Ethiopian political life

Eldis - The culture of power in contemporary Ethiopian political life

ሬሳ እንኳ አልተማረከብንም” “አለመማረክ የጀግንነት ጉዳይ አይደለም”

አቶ ዘነበወርቅ በላይነህ

 ይህ የአዲስ አድማስ ጋዜጠኛው መልካሙ ተክሌ  ከአባቴ ከአቶ ዘነበወርቅ በላይነህ ጋር ስለ ኮርያ ዘመቻው እና ስለጦርነቱ ያደረገው ቃለ መጠይቅ ነው። ከአዲስ አድማስ ጋዜጣ ላይ እንደወረደ አቅርቤዋለው።

በአምስት ዙር ኮርያ ከዘመቱት 6037 ኢትዮጵያውያን መካከል 122ቱ በጦርነቱ ሞተዋል፡፡ አንዳቸውም አልተማረኩም ሳይማረኩ ግዳጃቸውን ፈጽመው ከተመለሱት  350ው የዛሬ 20 ዓመት የኢትዮጵያ ኮርያ ዘማቾች ማህበርን መስርተው ሰሞኑን የዘመቻውን 61ኛ ዓመት አክብረዋል፡፡ የአዲስ አድማስ ጋዜጠኛ መልካሙ ተክሌ ከአስር አለቃ ዘነበወርቅ በላይነህ እና ከየኢትዮጵያ ኮሪያ ዘማቾች ማህበር ፕሬዝደንት ኮሎኔል መለሰ ተሰማ ጋር አጭር ቃለምልልስ አድርጓል፡፡

THE MIXED EFFECTIVENESS OF FOREIGN AID IN ACHIEVING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN ETHIOPIA

Melesse Zenebework

Ethiopia is a predominantly rural and young society. The average age is 59, and 84% of the population lives mainly in densely populated highland settlements. It is also one of the poorest countries in the world, with 38.7% of the population being below the poverty line in the year 2004. In the year 2011-2012, Ethiopia accounted $31.7 billion of GDP. The recently achieved annual growth rate is 11.4%, which, if achieved would allow the nation to achieve its poverty reduction millennium development goal by 2015. Ethiopia is rich in natural resources, but they are underexploited. According to government’s recent survey in 2000, the country has natural resources like copper, platinum, gold, potash, salt, natural gas. However, the few and small industrial firms working on these resources are not capable currently of competing globally and exploiting those resources in a way sufficient to help the country.

Agriculture accounts for almost half of GDP and more than 90 percent of export earnings. However, the share of agriculture is declining steadily whereas the share of the service sector in GDP is rising. On the other hand, the share of the manufacturing sector has been relatively static at between only 13 and 14 percent. Despite the fact that the history of the growth performance was poor in the past, the country has experienced strong economic growth in the current period (especially, since 2003/04). According to Ncube, Lufumpa and Ndikumana (2010) real GDP growth averaged 11.2 % per annum during the 2003/04 and 2008/09 period, placing Ethiopia among the top performing economies in sub Saharan Africa. This growth performance well exceeded the population growth rate and the 7 percent rate required for attaining the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015.

This study tries to project the degree of effectiveness of foreign aid on Ethiopia in the struggle to accomplish the Millennium development Goals. In addition to government’s commitment and dedication in combating the challenges, what is the contribution and extent of foreign aid is the focus of this research paper. Similarly, it tries to show the amount of foreign aids implemented so far in order to realize the strategies and achieve the goals so far. Therefore,  the paper mentions only some of the Millennium Development Goals and the amount of money spent for each goals to effectively implement and the failures if found will be projected.

Deglobalization is More Human than Globalization

Introduction

The existence of organizations like the IMF and The World Bank could not bring about generous change on the development of the nations especially in the south and the East. The Foreign Policy in Focus columnist and a senior analyst at the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South, Walden Bello, explained the destruction of globalization as follows.

The current global downturn, the worst since the Great Depression 70 years ago, pounded the last nail into the coffin of globalization. Already beleaguered by evidence that showed global poverty and inequality increasing, even as most poor countries experienced little or no economic growth, globalization has been terminally discredited in the last two years. As the much-heralded process of financial and trade interdependence went into reverse, it became the transmission belt not of prosperity but of economic crisis and collapse (W. Bello, The Virtues of De-globalization, 2009)

“Governance” in Light of International Development

By Melesse Zenebework

The term governance has different meanings from different dimensions. A political organization may define governance in the sense of politics only and may even forget the importance of development. A humanitarian organization, similarly, define governance in the way they believe a government should stand and protect the right and freedom of a human being. Development organizations on the other hand, explain governance in their own ways of development aspects.