Consistent with the objectives of the UN System-wide Special Initiative on Africa, the government of Ethiopia has made advances in basic education and health among its highest development priorities. At a Consultative Group (CG) meeting held in Addis Ababa from 10-12 December – the first time an African country has hosted its CG meeting on its own soil – the government put its sector investment programmes (SIPs) for education and health on the table.
"Ethiopia told the donors: We want to raise enrolment rates from 25 to 50 per cent in five years and these are our plans. How will you support us?", said Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Special Initiative Steering Committee co-chair. The Initiative, he pointed out, is designed precisely "to help governments achieve these goals."
Donor countries and institutions responded favorably, pledging a total of $2.5 bn over the next three years in project, technical assistance and programme support for food security and education and health sector improvements – more than was originally requested by Ethiopia for implementation of its medium-term reform programme.
Ethiopia's long internal conflict has led to a deterioration of the education sector and social indicators. Its health status is poor, due to the prevalence of potentially preventable infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and a high rate of population growth. Its education profile is equally weak: only one in six children of primary school age is currently enrolled in school, less than one out of 10 is enrolled in secondary school, and one out of a hundred in tertiary education. Rural areas and girls have lower participation ratios. There is also a lack of adequate teaching materials and teacher training.
The CG meeting endorsed the government's Education Sector Development (ESD) Programme, a five-year strategy to expand educational opportunities towards the longer-term goal of universal primary education by 2015. The ESD will double current expenditure on education, about 73 per cent of which will go to primary education.
The government also gained approval for its 20-year Health Sector Development Programme, the first five-year phase of which will provide for the expansion of facilities and programmes to attain universal access to essential primary health care services within the next two decades. The emphasis of the programme will be on communicable diseases, common nutritional disorders and environmental health and hygiene. The UN system is collaborating with donors in building the necessary capacity for implementation.