Ethiopia

Norwegian cooperation with Ethiopia goes a long way back with links in politics, development and missionary work. Bilateral relations were established in 1948. The Norwegian embassies in Cairo and Nairobi played important roles in the relation between the countries before the Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa was opened in 1991. Strong bonds between Ethiopia's Emperor, Haile Selassie, and the Norwegian royal family were established in London during the Second World War. The Emperor visited Norway in 1958 and King Olav V visited Ethiopia in 1966. Norwegian missionary organisations were established in Ethiopia in 1948 and have played an important role in the country, especially in the south. The Royal Norwegian Navy supported Ethiopia in the development of their new navy in the 1950s, and in an early phase of Norwegian development cooperation involvement, Norway participated in infrastructure projects within the fields of hydropower and road building. However, it was not until 1995 that Ethiopia and Norway signed a bilateral agreement on development cooperation. For the past ten years, the annual amount of Norwegian development support to Ethiopia has been between NOK 200 million and NOK 280 million. In August 2007, Ethiopian authorities requested the Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa to reduce the number of Norwegian diplomats stationed there to three. The restrictions were withdrawn in September 2008, and the Embassy is now fully staffed.

Ethiopia has experienced strong economic growth, with an annual growth rate of around 11 per cent over the past five years. Expected growth in 2009/2010 is estimated to be approximately 7 per cent. This makes Ethiopia one of the world's fastest growing economies (source: The Economist). This provides opportunities for development cooperation as well as Norwegian business initiatives.

The Norwegian focus today:

• Genital mutilation
• Democracy
• Human rights
• Climate
• Conflict solving

Human rights

Ethiopian authorities have received harsh criticism for violating human rights. Norway has closely followed the political situation and human rights situation in the country, especially in relation to the 2010 general elections. The report from the European Union Election Observer Team, where Norway was represented, found reasons to question the political framework prevailing during the election period. Norway has also played an active role in the follow-up of the UN Human Rights Council review on Ethiopia.

Reduced genital mutilation

Ethiopia is a pilot country for Norway's international action plan against genital mutilation. Systematic work directed towards local authorities, religious leaders and circumcisers – including using the radio as an information channel – has caused a marked reduction in female genital mutilation in Afar, Somali, Amhara, Oromiya and South-Ethiopia.

This work is carried out in cooperation with Save the Children Norway and the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), local government and organisations. There is increasing understanding that genital mutilation is extremely harmful, and many local communities have made a commitment to stop the practice. A national survey from 2007 verifies a reduction in the number of genital mutilation operations in all regions. There is a 24 per cent reduction nationally, with the greatest progress in Tigray (53%), followed by SNNP (34%), Oromia (27%), and Addis Ababa (27%).

Within the work for gender equality Norway concentrates on four thematic priority areas: Women's empowerment, women's participation in society, women's right to be in control over their own body and sexuality, and women's right to live a life without violence. The main focus now is to provide professional assistance to support the work in these areas.

Action Plan for Women's Rights and Gender Equality

The strategy focuses on seven pilot countries. Five of these are African countries. The pilot countries are Angola, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Nepal and Nicaragua. These countries will be very closely followed up. The Norwegian government will also integrate women and gender equality aspects in other priority areas. This will apply in all areas, ranging from climate and environment to peace and reconciliation.

In May 2011, Norwegian Church Aid, Save the Children and the Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa signed a strategic framework agreement. The agreement provides a total of NOK 50 million over a period of five years towards work to end female genital mutilation in Ethiopia. The money will be distributed equally between Save the Children and NCA. This means that NOK 25 million will be channelled through NCA over the next five years, allowing their important work to continue.

"An African proverb says: "Be patient with your drumming, for the night is long". But for Ethiopian girls, the time for patience has past. We must, and we will, end the suffering of Ethiopian women and girls. We will continue to sound our drums loudly, the whole night through, for zero tolerance, and for a new day to dawn for Ethiopian girls", said Norwegian Church Aid's Country Representative Hans Birkeland after the agreement was signed.

This is the second phase of a strategic partnership with the Norwegian Embassy related to work with female genital mutilation in Ethiopia. For NCA Ethiopia, the agreement signifies a considerable increase in the economic framework for this work, compared to previous years.

Democracy building

Ethiopia has undergone the country's largest democratic experiment in history. New legislation for non-governmental organisations, anti-terrorism legislation and the parliamentary elections in 2010 have been vital in this regard. Norway and Germany were previously in charge of an ambassadorial group for democracy, human rights and good governance. This group assisted the government and the opposition parties, and provided support for electorate training before the elections.

Norway supports the Democratic Institutions Programme to strengthen public institutions and democracy building in the country. A U4 anti-corruption workshop has been conducted with participation from important partners in the country such as the Office of the Auditor General and the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Use of development funds

The Norwegian Embassies in Ethiopia and Malawi have received criticism over poor development fund control mechanisms from the Office of the Auditor General of Norway. Reviews were carried out to find out whether the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sufficient control over the funds disbursed to projects in Ethiopia and Malawi.

The Office of the Auditor General of Norway found that anti-corruption work had almost been ignored in the dialogue between the Embassies and the recipients in the two countries. External auditors had not reported on corruption in the development projects even though they are instructed to do so, and the lack of reporting had not been followed up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Clean energy

Ethiopia is one of several countries where Norway is increasing its efforts on clean energy. Norway's involvement includes the following:

• Norway is financing studies for the Beko-Abo and Mandaya multi-purpose projects in the Blue Nile Sub-basin.
• Ethiopia's Ministry of Water and Energy has entered into an agreement on capacity building with the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.
• An agreement with Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) is to promote the dialogue on resource sharing between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.
• The Embassy has started mapping higher education and research within clean energy in Ethiopia.
• Norway took over responsibility for cooperation with Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), an institution aiming at promoting energy trade in the region.

Environment

Climate changes, natural resource and food security have been priority areas for the Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa. Norway is considered a key actor in Ethiopia when it comes to drylands issues and the follow-up of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The cooperation between the Hawassa-Mekelle-University and The Norwegian University of Life Sciences has produced results despite some start-up delays. Support in establishing an eco-region around Bale National Park has resulted in more sustainable forestry management.

The Embassy has promoted Norwegian climate policy and presented Norway as an important partner for Africa in relation to the UN-REDD Programme and financing.

Miscellaneous:

• Norway has a leading position in the One UN process in Ethiopia, but the process is slow.
• In 2010 the Embassy in cooperation with other Norwegian partners produced a supplement to the country's leading newspaper to promote Norway as a good cooperation country.
• The Embassy has issued monthly newsletters on finance and business development.
• Norway has been involved in projects related to fish farming and the production of furniture.
• In addition, Norad has cooperated with several agents importing Ethiopian honey and Fair Trade roses.