The Relevance of Community-Based Development to Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia (A Case Study on the Experience of Esrdf in the Amhara Region)
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Date
2000-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
By any standard Ethiopia is the least developed country in the world. The feature of
poverty in Ethiopia is complex and multidimensional. Almost half of its people are
living under the absolute poverty line. In addition to income poverty, majority of the
people have been suffering from lack of basic social and economic services such as
education, health, safe drinking water, and housing. The prevalence of these aspects
of chronic poverty has been attributed both to manmade and natural factors;
intermittent draught, protracted war and policy distortion of the previous regime
are often cited as the major ones. The centralized and top-down development
planning system that prevailed for years so has been condemned for its inability to
reduce poverty and bring development in the country.
This led Ethiopia to enact a new long-term development and poverty alleviation
strategy. This strategy emphasizes the adoption of a bottom-up and participatory
development approach with the primary focus of poverty reduction and sustained
economic growth to be achieved through a combination and mutually reinforcing
programs at various fronts. The strategy is believed to generate significant payoffs
by removing central bottlenecks, fostering community participation and ownership,
and improving the efficiency of development program implementations. This is the
essence and objective of community-based development (CBD). Currently, (CBD)
strategies are being widely applied by governmental and non-governmental
organizations. These agenCies translate CBD strategies into action programs
through the implementation of development projects
Despite vCllying arguments Oil the application of CBD, the approach is universally
recognized as the best means to fight poverty in its full dimensions and to ensure
sustainable development. For this reason the Government has established an
independent CBD facilitating agency called the "Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation
and Development Fund-ESRDF" to operate throughout the Country. ESRDF has
come through a pilot test, which was reported to be effective in promoting CBD.
Moreover, reports show that this agency is bringing significant changes upon the
lives of poor rural communities by financing various demand driven development
projects. Such success reports can draw the attention of researchers or commentators to prove whether CBD approach is worthwhile to the development
needs and realities of Ethiopia.
Accordingly, this research was intended to test the validity of this widely propagated
approach by taking the experience of ESRDF in the Amhara Region. For this
purpose, primmy and secondary data have been collected through fieldwork from
various sources. Results of obtained information have been analyzed in line with
basic theoretical and conceptual arguments of the subject. The points of references
employed for the assessment of the relevance of CBD approach mainly include the
proper application of popular participation and empowerment, and other
embodiments of these core concepts
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Keywords
Based Development to Poverty Reduction