Ministry Preparing Ten-year Roadmap to Empower Emerging States

Addis Ababa June 04/2018 A ten-year roadmap that empowers emerging regional states and some pastoralist areas to develop their own institutional capacity is under preparation, Ministry of Federal and Pastoral Development Affairs disclosed. The roadmap under preparation covers pastoral areas in Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples states, and Somali, Benishanguel-Gumuz, Gambela and Afar regional states. Federal and Pastoral Development Affairs State Minister Kaydakey Gezahegn told ENA that the roadmap will build the institutional capacity of the regions with special needs. Kaydakey said it has become necessary to design a ten-year roadmap that helps to enhance the institutional capacity of the four emerging regional states in particular as they have failed to bring change by utilizing the budget subsidy allotted to them. The implementation of the roadmap being prepared with 7.5 million USD fund secured from World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and USAID will start after three months. Although efforts have been made to build the institutional capacity of the emerging regional states by establishing a comprehensive system as part of the country’s efforts to become a middle income country by 2025, the expected result fell short of expectations justifying the need for putting in place a roadmap to build the institutional capacity of the regions, the State Minister explained. The emerging regional state Gambella has, for instance, failed to tap and use the abundant ground water and fishery resources in the region, while Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz states also failed to make use of the abundant virgin lands for the benefits of the peoples in the region. The cause of the failures is lack of institutional capacity that enables them to effectively utilize their natural resources, Kaydakey stressed. Thus the need for a roadmap that ensures economic, social and political benefits of the emerging regions. World Bank and IFAD have extended 550 million USD loan for the implementation of the plan over a period of six years, it was learned.