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Ethiopia – Sweden G5 Etiopien.Qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 3 g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 2 50 Years of Partnership Against Poverty Ethiopia – Sweden g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 3 Production: Sida and Global Reporting Cover photo: Petterik Wiggers/Silver. Nomadic woman from the Borana tribe. Printed by Edita, 2004 Art.no.SIDA3890en g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 1 Foreword During 2004 we are celebrating 50 years of development cooperation between Ethiopia and Sweden. Our longstanding partnership covers a wide range of areas of which develop- ment cooperation has played a primary role. Most Ethiopians know about the Swedish Primary School Programme, which led to the construction of 6,000 primary schools, equal to half the present number of schools in the country. Also known to many Ethiopians is the CADU project in Arsi, which contributed to a substantial increase in agricultural produc- tion in this area. Development cooperation has continued in these fields but has also expanded to areas such as health, democracy and human rights, research cooperation, roads, humanitarian assistance and civil society cooperation. In 2003 Sweden and Ethiopia agreed on a five-year develop- ment cooperation strategy, which will lead to a substantial increase in our cooperation, introducing four new areas: budget support, food security, justice sector reform and pri- vate sector development. The objective of this booklet is to present the diversity of the Ethio-Swedish partnership from the arrival of the first Swedish missionaries in Ethiopia to present day development cooperation. I hope you will enjoy reading it. Håkan Åkesson Ambassador of Sweden to Ethiopia 1 g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 2 Historic Review – Missionaries paved the way Ethio-Swedish relations began in 1866 employ more Swedish experts to pro- when the first Swedish missionaries land- mote development in Ethiopia. The loan ed in Massawa. Swedish missionary soci- was the first credit granted by Sweden eties offered education and medical care for development work. in areas where there were no govern- A Swedish diplomatic mission was ment schools or hospitals. In 1904 Pastor established in Addis Ababa in 1946 and Karl Cederqvist – as the first Swedish the present Swedish embassy residence missionary ever – reached Addis Ababa was a gift from Emperor Haile Selassie and started a school and a medical clinic. to King Gustav V. In 1947 Ethiopia The relations between the royal opened a diplomatic mission in Stock- courts in Ethiopia and Sweden develop- holm. By 1954 the Swedish colony com- ed during the early twentieth century. prised of 350 people working within the Emperor Haile Selassie visited Sweden administration or doing missionary work. in 1924. Crown Prince Gustav Adolf The first Ethiopian Olympic team made a reply visit to Ethiopia in 1935. (marathon and cycling) was sent to That was the first time a member of the Melbourne in 1956, headed by Bertil Swedish royal family came to visit a Larsson, a physical fitness teacher in the country in Africa. city of Debre Zeit. In the 1930’s and 40’s many Swedes By 1958 the number of Swedes in were recruited by the Ethiopian govern- Ethiopia had increased to more than ment. This recruitment included army 500. Grouped in falling numbers they officers, medical staff, teachers, police- were: air force personnel, missionaries, men and lawyers. telecommunication and technical assis- In 1945, Sweden granted Ethiopia a tance personnel, army officers and loan of sek 5 million, which made it pos- teachers. sible for Emperor Haile Selassie to 2 g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 3 The Swedish Evangelical Mission in Addis Ababa, 1935. From left to right: Joelson, an Abyssinian monk, chaplain Nils Nilsson and his wife. Photo: Red Cross photo collection in The National Archives g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 4 Ethio-Swedish Development Cooperation – 50 years of close relations Ethiopia and Pakistan were the first first certificates at the Building College. developing countries to receive Swedish A new development cooperation government-to-government support. For project – a children’s nutrition unit – Ethiopia an agreement was signed in was added in 1962. The research for this October 1954 for the construction of a project was partly carried out in Sweden, Building College in Addis Ababa to train and finally resulted in nutritional food engineers for among other things pri- for children called “Faffa”. mary school construction. The detailed In the 1970’s and 80’s the pioneering plans for the college were developed by years were followed by support to the Swedes who were already working with- building of primary schools throughout in the Ministry of Education. A year the country with the help of Swedish after the agreement was signed, the first volunteers and support to the Elementary students were admitted to the Building School Building Unit (esbu). Through College. The college was officially opened this support more than 6,000 primary by the Emperor in early 1957. In 1962 schools were built in Ethiopia (which is the Building College was incorporated equal to half the present number of pri- into the then newly established university. mary schools). Other large programmes The first health project began in in the 1970’s and 80’s were the integrat- 1957, when the Ethio-Swedish Paediatric ed rural development programmes Clinic was built as an extension to cadu and epid. Research Cooperation Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital. A began in 1979. The emphasis for Swedish commercial initiative from this time was cooperation has recently shifted from the production of milk powder, “Bar projects to programme support. Sweden”, later “Scandmilk”. At the end In 2004 there are approximately 150 of 1959 Prince Bertil of Sweden opened Swedes living in Ethiopia. the Paediatric Clinic and handed out the 4 g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 5 Left: Mother and child of Hararge. Photo: Sean Sprague / PHOENIX Right: Merchants transporting goods on a Balsa boat on Lake Abaya to the Saturday market at Merab Abaya. Photo: Håkan Pohlstrand Why Does Sweden Cooperate with Ethiopia? The following arguments motivate cur- Efficiency: rent Swedish development cooperation Ethiopia has a relatively efficient public with Ethiopia. sector and acceptable systems for man- aging public funds and for follow-up and Poverty: monitoring. Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries and resource needs are Partnership: immense at every level. The Ethiopian There is a strong sense of Ethiopian government has drawn up a strategy for ownership in all relations with the inter- combating and reducing poverty in the national community. Sweden as a mem- form of a sustainable development and ber of this community cooperates on the poverty reduction programme (sdprp). financing of programmes coordinated The programme clearly prioritises by the federal government. A real part- poverty reduction and has been accept- nership has begun to emerge. ed by Sweden as a good basis for develop- ment cooperation. Pluralism: There is a need in Ethiopia for contin- Low levels of donor flows: ued progress on democratisation, includ- Despite the fact that Ethiopia is extreme- ing greater transparency to facilitate ly poor and an important partner coun- public participation in political decision- try to most donors, the volume of assis- making. tance received is small in relation to the country’s population and level of poverty. 5 g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 6 The Country Strategy – a dynamic dialogue with Ethiopia The overall aim of development cooper- vital importance to the achievement of ation with Ethiopia is to contribute to development cooperation objectives. the reduction of poverty by helping to remove the factors that create or perpet- The dialogue issues are: uate poverty. To that end, development 1. Democratisation and governance cooperation on the basis of the newly 2. Gender equality launched sdprp will focus on three 3. Human rights and reform of the main, mutually reinforcing, areas. judiciary 4. hiv⁄aids • Democratic development and respect 5. Land ownership and security of for human rights tenure • Social development 6. Favourable climate for the private • Economic growth sector Special consideration will be given to Sweden will take an active part in har- gender equality and environmental con- monisation and coordination efforts. cerns in all programmes. Sweden intends to limit the number of The country strategy is contingent projects supported and instead extend on Ethiopia’s ability to maintain peace direct budget support and support to with its neighbours, preserve internal sector development programmes. stability and promote human rights. The total funds made available for Ethiopia’s strong sense of ownership development cooperation with Ethiopia of the development process provides the during the first three years of the strategy conditions for a dynamic political dia- period are estimated at sek 1,500 million logue with Sweden. Thus, development – about the same amount in etb – of cooperation should be used for contin- which sek 200 million will be channelled ued political dialogue about issues of to civil society and the private sector. 6 g5_Etiopien.qxd 04-06-11 12.24 Sida 7 Women working with road construction in Addis Ababa. Photo: Pietro Cenini/PHOENIX Budget Support – donors, dialogue and development Ethiopia experienced relatively good The progress in poverty reduction will macroeconomic stability during the be followed up yearly by monitoring 1990’s. The systems for managing public indicators, agreed between the donors funds work well and corruption is rela- and the government. Some of the indi- tively limited. cators are school enrolment, access to During the early 1990’s, Sweden gave health care, reforms in the public sector import support to Ethiopia. Via foreign and progress within private sector exchange auctions, importers gained development. access to foreign exchange, which con- By providing budget support, Sweden tributed to the revitalisation of the could play an active role in the dialogue Ethiopian economy after the civil war.
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