Remarks from the Conference Chair of the 5th ICEDS 2009
A Multidisciplinary Conference on the Challenges & Opportunities for Sustainable Development in Ethiopia& the Greater Horn of Africa
Adama German Hotel, AdamaUniversity, Adama City, Ethiopia.
November 12-14, 2009
Greetings Participants. Selam! Akkam Jeertu! Negumma!
1. A Personal Story and Welcoming Remarks
Let me start my remarks with sharing a personal story briefly as a self-introduction. My name is Sisay Asefa, born and grew in Ethiopia and left for America 40 Years ago at the age of 19. I have come a long way having been born in Arssi in 1950, near Assela about 40 KM from AdamaCity. So, Adama is like coming back to my roots. Today, a large number of my maternal ancestors live in rural Arssi near RobeTown with no clean water or no indoor toilets. My ancestors are among vast rural Ethiopians that make their livelihoods below absolute poverty of line of $1 a day per year or 12Birr per dayin local currency. This figure may over estimate the income they earn in engaging in subsistence farming from which 85% of Ethiopians make their livelihoods. But, in spite of income poverty,I found them to be happy from their rich social and cultural capital in the village they live in rural Arssi near Robe town.In 1994, I made a surprise visit since there was no telephone to contact and inform them about myvisit. When we met, they gathered in the village and received me with great joythat they expressed in dances and songs in Amharic and Oromiffa languages, in which they are fluent in both languages. This was one of the happiest daysof visits toEthiopia. I recorded the event on a videotape. Perhaps, this experience of my roots drives the passion to work on poverty and development problems of Ethiopia and her people and manage to isolate thiseffort from partisan elite driven politics, in spite of living for 40 years in United States. You can take an Ethiopian out of his land, but you cannot take his motherland out of his mind!
Welcome distinguished Participants: Ethiopians and Friends of Ethiopia to the 5th International Conference on Ethiopian Development Studies (ICEDS). The general theme of the 5thICEDS is on “Multidisciplinary Conference on Peace and Development in Ethiopia and Greater Horn of Africa.” Greater Horn is a sub-region of Africa that constitutes seven countries in Northeast Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan and Eritrea. Among the Greater Horn States, Ethiopia is the most populated and most diverse both in languages, culture, ethnicity and religion, not to mention with its long history and being the origin of humankind. This diversity and rich historical and cultural is to be cherished and celebrated. It can be a powerful engine for economic and social dynamism and transformation, if managed wisely to promote unconditional Unity within diversity and cooperation regionally as a guiding principle.
2. The History and Experience of ICEDS Conferences: 2001-2009
The 5th ICEDS continues the tradition of four successful multidisciplinary research conferences primarily in the social sciences and economics that address critical issues of human development in areas such as Agriculture, Economic Development, health, education, politics, governance and conflict management issues. The first conference convened at WesternMichiganUniversity on August 16-18, 2001, and achieved immediate success.In the 2001, the key note lecture was delivered by Professor Gebissa Ejetaof PurdueUniversity in Indiana, USA, who has recently received the World Food Prize for his scientific research break through in tropical food crop research such as Sorghum necessary for food security in Ethiopia and Greater Horn States and beyond. Several papers were published in Northeast African Studies, a social science journal by Michigan State University Press, while other accepted papers were published in the proceedings.The 2001 conference was followed by two conferences in 2003 and 2005 both in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The 2003 conference convened with the co-sponsorship of the Institute of the former Development Research (IDR) that has now evolved to the College of Development Studies (CDS) at Addis Ababa University (AAU) and the Ethiopian American Foundation (EAF), a Michigan-based non-profit organization focused on higher education. The 2005 conference was co-sponsored by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and Ethiopian American Foundation (EAF). Both of these conferences were successful in meeting their objectives. The Local organizing staff and collaborative institutions were very helpful and cooperative. Some veteran participants of these conferences are among us today. The primary motivating factor of these conferences is to provide a forum for informed dialogue about key human development issues in Ethiopia and Greater Horn in addition to its academic value to contributing researchers. It is also motivated by the fact sustainable development and poverty alleviation is the greatest challenge of the 21st century for Ethiopia in particular and Africa in general.
3. The Significance of Ethiopia and Potential leadership of Ethiopia in Africa
Ethiopia today is nation of about 80 million people, and the second most populated country in Sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria. It is a key African country that led the de-colonization of Africa, and later tried to fosterunity among African states. The country was a co-founder of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) or the African Union (AU) aimed at promotion of political and economic unity among African states following independence. Ethiopia is the home of important international organizations such as the African Union and the United Nations of Africa (UNECA). The United States has significant diplomatic presence that includes the engagement in the development and democratization of Ethiopia. The United Statesis represented by two Ambassadors, one to the Country and another to the African Union (AU); both with headquarters in Addis Ababa.
4. US and International Community Engagement with Ethiopia
The US and the International Community including the Diaspora should constructively engage the current and future governments of Ethiopia. Any attempt to isolate Ethiopian governments for political reasons may have negative effect on the country and the people. The issue is whether the international engagement is genuine and focused on sustainable development and poverty alleviation,and whether Ethiopia has the capacity to benefit from that engagement targeted its poorest population groups.
For example, historically the greatest damage on Ethiopian society and economy occurred when Ethiopia was isolated from the United States and a large part of international community of democratic nations during 1974-91, following the end of the government of Emperor Haileselassie Government and the rise of the military regime of Colonel Mengistu’s Military Dictatorship that ended in 1991. This happened during the cold war days primarily due to geopolitical reasons when Ethiopia along with a few countries such as Somalia became victims of the Cold War global power confrontation between the west and the East or the former Soviet Union until its collapse into 15 independent states in 1991.
Before 1974, the United States and international community was constructively engaged with Ethiopia, and that period also included Country’s best days in spite the rule by absolute monarchy, due reasons such as relatively low population of 25 million and faced its demise due to rigid refusal to reform in key areas such as governance and land reform. This happened in spite of rigid imperial bureaucracy that resisted change and failed to reform that led to its demise in 1974. It is encouraging that the US and international community is now constructively engaging Ethiopia in various areas of development ranging from education, health, agriculture, food security including helping combat against HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia since 1991. During my last extended to Ethiopia in 2005 in a short Fulbright Program, I learned that the Peace Corp Program is back with some 40 volunteers working in various parts of the country, primarily in the area of public health. In the 1960s, Ethiopia had one of the largest Peace Corp Program in the world that brought important great benefits to the country in areas such as secondary education, agriculture and rural development. I am a living beneficiary of Peace Corp program that started by President John F. Kennedy. In the 1960s Peace Corp Volunteers housed and gave home to the lowest income secondary school students based on their academic achievements. My friend and secondary school class mate, Professor Endashaw Bekele of Addis AbabaUniversitywho is in this audience can relate this story. He was head of the “Portage Club” in Assela’s former RasDargaySecondary school now renamed ChilaloTeraraSecondary School). More future US and international community of states need to engage secondary and higher education and agriculture as key areas priorities of Ethiopia’s potential for transformation. Agriculture and Tourism are Key areas where Ethiopia has comparative advantage and can achieve rapid economic growth under enabling institutional and policy environment that supports private investment in these areas. Ethiopia can also capture the benefits of Globalization and Knowledge Economy if proper investment made is made in areas such as effective ICT and Tourism. It will be impossible to provide quality higher education without fast ICTand Internet access. The best way to deliver effective ICT services is to attract private service provider with proper support by the Government in physical infrastructure such as in roads and airports. It is commendable the current government has made majoradvances in road building and airport services. More roads that connect towns in the country are needed.
Perhaps the best model for Ethiopia is India a large multi-ethnic country that opened its economy and society to the world and effectively invested in agriculture and ICT to become competitive globally under freely elected multi-ethnic democratic governance. Ethiopia currently is food insecure, can adopt lessons from India on how transform agriculture to achieve food security.
5. The Concept and Challenge of Sustainable Development in Ethiopia and Africa
Sustainable Development means to different things to different persons. Even the Wall Street talks about Sustainable Development! Sustainable Development(SD) is about the relationship economic development and environment including quality of human life over generations. Specifically, it was first defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development report in 1987, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland entitled “our common future”. In this report SD is defined “as development that meets the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. (Asefa, S. 2005). SD requires an interdisciplinary approach aimed at studies that generate knowledge of enhancing the processes for improving the quality of human life by reducing mass poverty and hunger and improving education, health.It also includes promoting good governance and strengthening the rule of law to protect individual and human rights. Sustainable development is also focused on the need to minimize the cost of environmental decline in the course of economic growth.
Sustainable development in Ethiopia and other African countries can be enhanced by application of careful policy studies that address the each country’s realities and their historic devolution as well as the comparative experiences of other developing countries that have succeeded in alleviating poverty and promoting human progress. SD is a development strategy aimed at protecting the livelihoods of the future generations and the environment to be no worse than the current or past generations.
When we use these criteria one cannot say the economic development and environment of Africa and Ethiopia have been sustainable. The facts are there has been a marked decline in environment driven by land and soil degradation and deforestation, and decline average per capita income and broader index of the Human Development Index (HDI) driven by rapid population growth and climate change and institutional failures and discontinuities rooted in misguided governance and policies. The evidence of research by social scientists points to the lack or weakness of enabling institutions of governance at all levels as primary driver of declining trends.
In the early 1960s, Ethiopia and Ghana were at the same level of development as South Korea in terms of per capital. Today, South Korea is a vibrant industrial giant while Ethiopia and many African states are among some of the lowest income countries of the world. These puzzling trends motivate the need to continue and sustain conversations and pursuit of applied knowledge through research that promotes inclusive dialogue on development issues in Ethiopia and in Africa at large that can be put into effective practice or implementation. Some of the results of this research may uncover uncomfortable truths and findings. But, the pursuit of truth that leads to factual findings is the task of a scholar and a scientist and should not be compromised. While such truths or facts may be uncomfortable in short run, they are likely free and transform societies and economies and polities toward progress, provided, there is an enabling institutional environment with effective governance and leadership.
6. Program Agenda of 5th the ICEDS 2009 Conference at AdamaUniversity
For the 2009 conference, about 64 abstracts were received from an open international call for papers released about one year ago. What appears on the Program is a list of about 30 papers selected for the conference. The papers are organized over two Full Conference days with the first day covering issues of Agriculture, Food Security and Education and second day focused on Economic Development, Environment, Conflict and Gender issues. Papers are organized into seven plenary sub-thematic sessions and two roundtable panels over two days.
The first day first day featured a Key Note Lecture delivered by MR.Girma Wake, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) on the topic of the “Role of Ethiopian Airlines in the Economic Development of Ethiopia”. EAL is the best Airlines in Africa and one of the best in developing world. EAL is the most successful Airline in Africa that connects Africa to the world. According to a recent report by Addis Fortune Magazine, EAL was named as by Airline African Business Awards group as “ Airline of the Year 2009”, winning over competitors such as Kenya and South Africa Airways for excellence in business and service (Fortune, July 12,2009). The second Key note was delivered by Dr. Berhanu Sisay, Acting President of Unity University College. Unity is the first established private higher education established in Ethiopia. Dr Berhanu’s Key note topic is the “The Role of Private Higher Education institutions in the Economic Development”.
The second day also features two roundtable discussion panels on two topics: 1. Will Ethiopia Lead the Greater Horn: Envisioning Ethiopia as an Engine of Socio-economic transformation in the Horn Africa? 2. Khat or chat Economy and Culture. Khat is the second in export revenue generation next to Coffee for Ethiopia. It is consumed widely in the Greater Horn states such as Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia including in the Horn Diaspora world wide.
7. The Guidelines for Presenters, Moderators and Reporteurs
Each session or panel moderator was allowed to give a maximum of 20 minutes for each presenter. Presenters were advised to use a clear outline using a power point or slides to complete their presentations on time. Moderators are advised to stop a speaker at the end of the 20 minutes to allow enough time for other presenters in the session, including for discussion and questions from the audience. Raporteur’s included Adama university graduate students and lecturers. They are to summarize presentations aimed at enhancing student learning engagement.
8. Conference Output: Proceedings, Published Articles, Policy Briefs & outreach
The conference chair will direct publication of the proceedings of papers contributed. Selected Papers will be reviewed and published in international journals in social sciences or in a book form that can be made available to each participant and sponsoring institution including policy makers. Brief policy briefs will be published that draw from the papers on how to enhance economic development, reduce food insecurity, improve crop and livestock productivity and poverty and build democratic institutions as well as implications for effective management of public and private businesses and organizations including how to promote sustainable development and by applying effective policies and leadership in public and private development organizations including Universities. The conference ended by featuring a cultural musical band from diverse linguistic and cultural groups of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.
9. The Choice of AdamaUniversity as Conference Venue and Fulbright Visit: Why Adama?
As noted earlier the ICEDS conferences have taken place in Addis Ababa two times with collaboration of AAU and other institutions. I was also a visiting scholar two times at AAU and most recently in 2005 on the same short Fulbright Program. The motivation to convene at Adama this time is the following: First, it is good to move around conferences around the Country in major regional universities. But, the most important factor is a meeting I had with Adama President and his colleagues that later made me take a closer look at Adama University and admire its aspiration and commitment to reach international standard in five years. I wanted to be a part of this noble effort and try how I can help during my short stay and in the future, through creative international academic linkages that engages teaching and research. Secondly, it is due to the four principles of Adama university posted on its website as follows: