The Addis Ababa Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation has recently received an appreciation letter from the Ministry of Education of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for its extensive support to the “Education Sector Development Program” (ESDP).
ESDP is a multi-donor program aimed to provide access to quality and equitable education to all Ethiopian children. With a financial contribution totaling 28.5 MEUR, the Italian support focused around three main components, namely:
- Institutional Capacity Building and Primary Education;
- Upgrading of Secondary Schools to Junior Technical Vocational Education and Training College (TVETC);
- Post Graduate Program of Addis Ababa and Haramaya University.
In the context of the Institutional Capacity Building and Primary Education, 45 experts from different departments of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and of the regional Education Bureaus received Master-level trainings in Educational Policy and Planning from the College of Education of the Addis Ababa University. In addition, capacity building activities focusing on communications and procurement of office equipment were carried out in the Somali, Afar, Tigray and Oromia Regions of Ethiopia.
Thanks to the contribution from the Italian Government, four Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges (Tegbared and General Winget in Addis Ababa, Diredawa and Dessie W/ro Sehin) were supported through the realization of civil works (e.g. construction of new rooms, libraries, workshops and laboratories) and the procurement of equipment, books, laptops, as well as furniture within the scope of the TVET component of the Program. Moreover, the TVET college based in Diredawa has been renamed “Ethio-Italy TVET College”, due to the considerable support received by the Italian Government.
In the framework of the Post Graduate Program , the Italian contribution aimed to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ethiopian Universities of Addis Ababa and Haramaya by covering its management costs, as well as by providing research grants, laboratories equipment, and teaching sessions by consortium of universities identified through international tenders. To date, the Italian Universities of Sassari, Naples “L’Orientale”, Padua, and Ferrara have worked closely with four departments of the Addis Ababa University, namely the Natural Sciences, Archeology and Heritage Management, Veterinary Medicine, Economics.
The Italian contribution was critical to achieve the results set in the ESDP plan and therefore to improving the education sector in Ethiopia.
