A HAND-UP NOT A HANDOUT

27/03/2006

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

At a Conference held in the Clarion Hotel Liffey Valley on 23rd March South Dublin County Council launched its Partnership Development Project with Ethiopia and signed a memorandum of agreement formalizing a three year programme 2006-2008.

Opening speakers included Minister of State Conor Lenihan, Dept of Foreign Affairs for Development Cooperation & Human Rights,   and Mayor Therese Ridge. They were joined by Ato Ghoitan Khasey, Charge d’Affair with the Ethiopian Embassy, Philip Lee of Ethiopian Connections, Fr Pat Coogan from Respond and Hilary McDonagh, CEO Self Help Development International.

Minister Lenihan congratulated SDCC who had taken this first step in initiating this important project and producing such a comprehensive and constructive programme with the aim of;-

Technical expertise and training / skills transfer / capacity building:
 An annual summer school to be held in Ethiopia - this will be a key component to allow municipality staff to take ownership. The considerable expertise, knowledge and experience of the council staff will be harnessed to train for delivery of key aspects.
•    Project planning and management skills to include baseline data collection, mapping, surveying, strategy development and procurement
•    Community consultation and participation
•    Training in technical skills
•    Project monitoring and evaluation

Corporate governance / models of best practice:
Ethiopia’s current NCBP Programme is aimed at ensuring that municipalities have more fiscal and administrative autonomy to respond to the needs of their constituencies. There will be opportunities for all partners to exchange information on models of best practice to enhance mutual learning.

ICT / e-government / technical resources:
In line with the Ethiopian Government’s Information Technology Solutions for e-government, SDCC will work with municipality staff in developing the areas of IT training; Digital / on-line services; web design; ICT equipment and resources.

Cultural Exchanges / Awareness Raising;
SDCC will undertake an awareness raising campaign both within and outside of the Council particularly in schools. The purpose of the campaign is to raise the awareness of our staff, elected members and the population of South Dublin County and beyond to the overall objectives of the project and assist where possible to achieve those objectives. Cultural events promoting aspects of Irish and Ethiopian art and culture will be held annually.
Grant Assistance:
Funds for the Project will be raised both within SDCC, through fundraising events and the salary deduction scheme and externally via corporate donations and grant assistance from Irish Aid.  

Community Development:
The SDCEPP will promote and support the principles and practice of community development throughout the Project. The two municipalities will be encouraged and supported to work with each other and their communities to improve social, economic and cultural conditions in Werabe and Butajira.


Mayor Ridge spoke of her pride in her Council in being the first local authority to develop such an initiative and expressed her hope that other local authorities would use this model developed in South Dublin County to create a ripple effect throughout the Country and indeed the world.
She spoke of the economic wealth in Ireland and specifically in South Dublin County, its Capital and Revenue programmes and the fact that this is an opportunity to share with a Country using the Self Help principles to give them a Hand Up not a Hand Out.

Self Help Development and Trocaire representatives throughout the Conference congratulated the Council, the Manager and staff involved in leading this programme and offered their assistance, advice and expertise as needed

The Conference was accompanied by a Pictorial Exhibition ‘Images of Ethiopia”

A copy of the Strategic Plan for the Project 2006-2006 is attached

Statistics:

•    Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries on Earth
•    82% of its population of 74 million live on less than $1 a day
•    The UN Human Development Index which measures poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy and other factors ranks Ethiopia 170th out of 177 countries listed.
(Ireland is listed in 8th position)
•    There is less than 50% adult literacy
•    The infant mortality rate is 112 per 1,000 live births
•    Life expectancy is 47.6% years