ETHIOPIA has been rated as a priority country for Irish Overseas Aid since 1993. In 1994, a Development Co-operation Office was opened in Addis Ababa to establish a programme for Irish aid and development. It. was decided to concentrate on two areas - Tigray in the north, and Sidama in the south. A third project was also established in conjunction with a medical school in the south western city of Jima.
During the civil war, the already limited infrastructure was almost totally destroyed, and the damage to social and physical environments was particularly acute in rural areas. Long-term sustainable growth is now the aim, and the participation of local communities and local expertise is a lynchpin of the Irish Aid programme.
In Sidama, an agricultural credit and development scheme is now under way, while in Tigray the concentration has been on restoring agricultural productivity, water and sanitation.
In Jima, the medical school is committed to community health development. Irish aid enables the medical students there to work more closely with rural communities. The Irish funding allows the students to actually build the clean wells, incinerators and latrines they had previously only theorised about. The aim of this kind of training is to encourage doctors to remain in community work once their training is completed, instead of leaving for the cities and studies abroad.