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TTHHEE PPRRAAXXIISS AACCCCOORRDD

THE NECESSARY & SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS FOR SUSTAINING DEVELOPMENT & REDUCING POVERTY IN ETHIOPIA

www.PraxisEthiopia.org

A summary of the processes, discoveries, and outcomes of the PRAXIS-ALLIANCE Meeting held 27 to 30 September 2005 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

& an overview of the PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL for understanding and responding to

extreme poverty

NOVEMBER 2005

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA FOUNDATION Board of Directors would like to acknowl-edge Ethiopian Airlines and the Sheraton Addis Hotel for their generous support of the Praxis-Alliance meeting. Ethiopian Airlines assisted with travel costs and provided extraordinary levels of service to Board members and presenters. The Sheraton Addis provided accommodations for Board members and to presenters, and the Sheraton Addis provided meeting space, arrangements, meals, and recep-tions for the attendees. The highest levels of professional assistance and the ex-ceptional levels of service contributed significantly to the outstanding success of the conference.

The Board would like to thank the many professionals from across Ethiopia who participated during the four days of the PRAXIS-ALLIANCE meeting. Farmers, healthcare workers, educators, students, government ministers, members of the diplomatic community, representatives of business, and representatives from non-governmental and international organizations contributed their time and talents to ensure the success of the meeting.

The Board would like to extend our highest respects and gratitude for the sub-stantial support and encouragement from His Excellency President Girma Wolde Giorgis. His Excellency has supported PRAXIS ETHIOPIA from its beginnings and his encouragement strengthens the organization.

The Board would also like to extend our highest respects and gratitude to His Ex-cellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. His Excellency is the Founding Patron of PRAXIS ETHIOPIA and he has been instrumental in the successes of that organiza-tion. His Excellency also serves as the Founding Honorary Chairperson of THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA FOUNDATION Board of Directors. His continuing support and on-going commitment to sustainable development through a frontal attack on poverty at the household level, and his focus on natural resource management, food security, disease control, and education and information, all well grounded in technically sound, science-led innovation have been major shaping forces of PRAXIS ETHIOPIA—thank you, Your Excellency.

His Excellency Dr. Aseffa Abreha Chairperson THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA FOUNDATION Board of Directors

Dr. David A. Blankinship President & Chief Executive Officer THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA FOUNDATION

CONTRIBUTORS

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CONTRIBUTORS

The following people presented at the Praxis-Alliance meeting and their presen-tations have been summarized in this document (names listed alphabetically).

Mr. Herbert Acquay—Senior Country Operations Officer & Portfolio Manager, The World Bank [Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]—see World Bank’s Perspective on page 6

His Excellency Dr. Aseffa Abreha—Manager (with rank of Minister), Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund [Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]—see ESRDF’s Experience in Ethiopia on page 5

Dr. Johann Baumgärtner—Head, Population Ecology & Ecosystem Science Department, International Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology [Nairobi, Kenya and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]; Associate Director, Center for Analysis of Sustainable Agricultural Systems [Kensington, California USA]—see Eco-social Management: Principles and Applications on page 10

Dr. David A. Blankinship—President & C.E.O., The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation [Oswego, Kansas USA]—see Education—“Yeha Approach” on page 11

Dr. Horacio Ferriz—Certified Engineering Geologist, HF Engineering [Waterford, California USA]—see Water—“Solution to the Water Challenge” on page 8

Mr. Paul H. Geffert, Ventus International Corporation [Bethesda, Maryland USA]—see Energy—“Rural Energy and Reforestation Solutions” on page 8

Dr. Getachew Tikubet—President, BioFarm Systems of Ethiopia [Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]—see Education—“Yeha Approach” on page 11

Dr. Hans R. Herren—President, The Millennium Institute [Arlington, Virginia USA]—see Dynamic National Plan Model on page 12

Dr. Donald C. Johnson—World Health Organization (retired) and Adjunct Professor (Public Health), California State University, Stanislaus [Turlock, California USA]—see Human Health on page 10

Professor Sarah E. Randolph—Professor of Parasistology, Oxford University [Oxford, UK]—see Cactus Mapping, Case Study in Northern Ethiopia one page 7

Professor David J. Rogers—Professor of Ecology, Oxford University [Oxford, UK]—see New Approaches to an Old Problem on page 7

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ethiopia is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and it is one of the poorest. The people of Ethiopia are recovering from years of war, drought, famine, and disease. During the past decade, the people of Ethiopia have made noteworthy progress; however, Ethiopia continues to suffer the tragic human and environ-mental losses associated with extreme poverty.

In September 2005, members of the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance and other profes-sionals involved with poverty reduction in Ethiopia held a conference to inaugu-rate the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance & Foundation and to identify the 'way forward.'

His Excellency President Girma Wolde Giorgis made the opening address inau-gurating the Alliance and the Foundation. In his talk, His Excellency stated that he was pleased to inaugurate the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance and Foundation as a “World Bank of ideas and innovations” that will serve Ethiopia.

His Excellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was the keynote speaker. His Ex-cellency noted that while the Alliance is relatively young, its members have al-ready made important contributions to Ethiopia. His Excellency expressed his full confidence that Ethiopia’s partnership with Praxis Ethiopia will play a mean-ingful role in the country’s fight against extreme poverty.

At the conclusion of the Opening Events, participants began the consultation phase of the conference. During this phase of the conference, farmers discussed some of the challenges of increasing land productivity, the threats of disease (par-ticularly malaria and sleeping sickness) and the need of additional energy inputs for land tillage (i.e., power tillers and tractors). Participants learned of some of the circumstances and challenges that women face when they work to improve food production and they learned about the challenges of having a physical dis-ability (i.e., vision impairment). One of the highlights of this first day of the con-ference was learning about the persistence of a farmer who worked for many hours building a water harvesting and storage system. While he worked, many of his friends and neighbors ridiculed his efforts. Today, everyone recognizes this man's wisdom. His fruit trees are productive, his produce is in demand, and he is one of the wealthiest men in his community.

The meeting provided the opportunity to discuss many of the challenges to reduc-ing poverty in Ethiopia. It also provided a venue for presenting and discussing solutions to these challenges. Day two focused on presenting possible solutions. Collectively, these solutions reflect the values of “community-driven,” “science-led,” “technology-focused,” “educational,” and “sustainable.”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Community-driven poverty reduction provides an approach to designing and im-plementing projects that will ensure a community’s commitment to supporting the project. The Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund (ESRDF) has extensive experience with community-driven approaches. The ESRDF operates as a funding agency that provides support upon request (i.e de-mand driven). These community-based, participatory development approaches work successfully in Ethiopia, particularly to expand infrastructure in rural areas, to meet needs of the poor, and to reduce poverty.

Community-driven development approaches represent a paradigm shift, from top-down to bottom-up. Community-driven development approaches empower communities and local governments, and they improve accountability.

Tsetse flies and the spread of Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) are major hu-man and animal health threats across Ethiopia and Africa. In the early 1970s, sci-entists discovered that tsetse flies were attracted to their hosts by smell—this revolutionized trap design and effectiveness and changed how communities could participate in reducing the tsetse fly threat: they could build and bait their own traps and become active components in the solution to the tsetse fly problem.

Food security development in Ethiopia could be substantially improved by creat-ing databases of distributions of important crops. Two scientists have applied sat-ellite imagery and global positioning system data to improve our understanding of the density and distribution of cactus in the Tigray region. They traveled around the area, plotted the locations of cactus, mapped the information against satellite imagery of the area, and used this information to predict, and then con-firm, locations where cactus was abundant. This technology holds potential for identifying locations of good food sources and for dispelling myths about the dis-tributions of sources that could mislead area planners.

Water is essential to sustain life and the lack of water is one of Ethiopia’s most pressing problems. One of the first steps to finding solutions to Ethiopia’s water challenge is to support the Ethiopian geologists and engineers working to im-prove the water supply and management. This help would include professional development activities and access to more experienced colleagues. Another step would be to set up ‘water districts’ with watershed councils and the resources and authority to design, implement, and manage water harvesting and distribution projects to serve the communities.

Extreme poverty is typically “consumptive” poverty, where resources are con-sumed faster than they can be replenished. Deforestation is one of Ethiopia’s ma-jor problems. Solar ovens are one solution to this particular challenge. They can be used to cook food and pasteurize water. Solar energy is free, non-polluting and there is an inexhaustible supply.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Food insecurity is a chronic problem across all of Ethiopia. The Addis BioFarm serves as a model of the levels of productivity that can be achieved by systematic approaches to land management, water use, energy production, pest management, and nutrient production. BioFarming works with nature to ensure that only mini-mal amounts of energy are used to control adverse situations and that the farmer takes every opportunity available on the farm to increase productivity. This ap-proach ensures resources are used to their full potential.

Sustainability requires effective management to ensure its continued success. This management begins with the design of the project and with the inclusion of people as a factor in the design. Sustainability enhancement is sought by apply-ing adaptive management procedures to ecosocial systems. Ecosocial approaches to designing environmental interventions overcome some limitations in tradi-tional human health and poverty reduction schemes by re-orienting management aims towards sustainability enhancement.

Community-driven approaches to healthcare and well-being marked a major new model of healthcare delivery services in developing countries. Listening to peo-ple is the basis for viewing health and well-being as a holistic enterprise. When community leaders identified sickness and deaths of oxen, weevils destroying teff crops, unsafe drinking water, lack of education and inadequate payment of farm-ers for their crops as priority problems, holistic healthcare professional respond to each of these needs as part of the total healthcare environment. The results can be dramatic improvements of the health and economic status of the communities.

Food shortages, scarcity of water, degraded land, and the need to generate and manage energy are four of the major problems facing Ethiopia and they stand as significant obstacles to Ethiopia’s progress. The Yeha Natural Resource Man-agement Institute would strengthen natural resource management in Ethiopia by preparing citizens to assume increasingly productive roles in the development, use, and management of Ethiopia’s natural resources, and by conducting research that informs policy development, improves management practices, and increases efficiency in using natural resources.

Science led development holds tremendous potential for both accelerating the progress of a country and for minimizing seriously adverse consequences of a decision or sets of decisions. The Millennium Institute has a model software package—the T21—that permits sophisticated planning and analysis among various options. The Institute works to develop and provide advanced analytical tools that may be used to enhance national and global sustainable development. The package can address generic analytical problems, as well as some socio-political issues typical of development planning in the world today. The T21 package is currently in use around the world helping scientists and policy makers to assess carious courses of action to help with social, environmental, and eco-nomic development.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Toward the conclusion of the conference, the planners and attendees developed an overall plan and model for poverty reduction that would serve to guide pro-gram development within the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance. To help achieve poverty reduction in Ethiopia, the Alliance will work to: 1) Mobilize existing expertise and ideas from national and international sources, and 2) Generate new expertise and ideas within Ethiopia through education, training, and dissemination.

This expertise will be aimed at meeting Ethiopia’s Sustainable Development Poverty Reduction Program, meeting the Millennium Development Goals, strengthening food security and environmental restoration, improving health and well-being, promoting education, and facilitating interactive technology transfer.

Following extensive discussion with representatives from the Ethiopian govern-ment, non-governmental and international organizations, and other development professionals, the working committee developed a diagram to detail the principle aims of the Alliance.

The Alliance will focus its efforts on supporting policy makers and promoting the implementation of policy to accelerate advances in environment, agriculture, health, and education in Ethiopia. The Alliance will also work in improve net-working and partnerships among NGOs, ministries, communities, the private sec-tor, and research & development organizations.

Praxis Ethiopia grew out of the recognition that Ethiopia needs the help of ex-perts who can help bring these plans to reality. This ‘intellectual capital’ is essen-tial for helping Ethiopia achieve its sustainable development goals.

Extreme poverty is the result of extreme circumstances. Extreme poverty is the result of drought, degraded land, widespread and severe diseases, loss of human life, animals dying from dehydration and sickness, education systems that cannot preserve and perpetuate the culture, and the lack of tools and technologies that can help people prevail against the threats to their lives. Extreme poverty is the loss of natural capital and it is the loss of social capital.

Sustainable development requires that any actions taken to improve food secu-rity, water supplies, healthcare, and well-being, must be incorporated into the educational activities of a community and the resources to maintain the activity must be available to the community. Ethiopia must develop and sustain the pro-duction of the goods and services needed to keep people alive and healthy; oth-erwise, it will be dependent on the social and natural capital of other countries to meet their basic human needs and it will never rise to a level of education and production that supports ‘prosperity.’

CONTENTS

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. I CONTRIBUTORS............................................................................................ II EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................III CONTENTS ..................................................................................................VII THE PRAXIS ACCORD ....................................................................................1 PART I. THE PRAXIS-ALLIANCE MEETING ....................................................2

Opening Ceremony ....................................................................................2 Connecting the World with Ethiopia: The Praxis Ethiopia Story .........................2

Strengthening Our Understanding of the Problems ...................................3 Some Solutions to the Problems.................................................................5

ESRDF’s Experience in Ethiopia........................................................................5 World Bank’s Perspective...................................................................................6 New Approaches to an Old Problem...................................................................7 Cactus Mapping, Case Study in Northern Ethiopia.............................................7 Water—“Solution to the Water Challenge”.........................................................8 Energy—“Rural Energy and Reforestation Solutions”........................................8 Biofarm—“Sustainable Food Production and Wealth Creation”.........................9 Eco-social Management: Principles and Applications ......................................10 Human Health .................................................................................................10 Education—“Yeha Approach” .........................................................................11 Dynamic National Plan Modeling....................................................................12

Accord......................................................................................................12 The Aims of the Alliance ..................................................................................13

PART II. THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL.....................................................14 Extreme Poverty Kills...............................................................................14 Natural & Social Capital..........................................................................14

Net Losses in Capital—Poverty........................................................................15 Net Gains in Capital—Prosperity.....................................................................16

The Model................................................................................................17 Sustainable Development.................................................................................17

PRESENTATION REFERENCES......................................................................18 ATTACHMENT A. ETHIOPIA.........................................................................19 ATTACHMENT B. PRAXIS ETHIOPIA ............................................................21 ATTACHMENT C. ECOSOCIAL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT...............................23 ATTACHMENT D. ETHIOPIA’S POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAM................34 ATTACHMENT E. THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS .....................37 ATTACHMENT F. THE MDGS & THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL ................38 ATTACHMENT G. ELABORATIONS ON THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL........39

THE PRAXIS ACCORD

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Additional information on the country of Ethiopia appears as an attachment to this report beginning on page 25.

THE PRAXIS ACCORD

The Necessary & Sufficient Conditions for Sustaining Development and Reducing Poverty in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and it is one of the poorest. The people of Ethiopia are recovering from years of war, drought, famine, and disease. During the past decade, the people of Ethiopia have made noteworthy progress; however, the world must champion and maintain these gains at every opportunity.

Ethiopia continues to suffer the tragic human and environmental losses associated with extreme poverty. This report summarizes the discussions and consensus building that occurred at a conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 27 to 30 September 2005. This report serves to promote dialog and action that will reduce the debilitating affects of extreme poverty and improve the quality of life for eve-ryone in Ethiopia.

This report appears in two parts. Part I (beginning on page 2) provides a sum-mary of the processes, discoveries, and outcomes of the Praxis-Alliance Meeting. Part I concludes with the presentation of the Praxis Accord and details the aims of the Alliance (page 13). Part II (beginning on page 14) provides an overview of the Praxis Ethiopia model for understanding and responding to extreme poverty.

PART I. THE PRAXIS-ALLIANCE MEETING

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In September 2005, members of the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance and other profes-sionals involved with poverty reduction in Ethiopia held a conference to inaugu-rate the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance & Foundation and to identify the 'way forward.' This conference provided vital information and insights on many of Ethiopia's most pressing problems and it provided a venue for discussing and setting prior-ity areas for future poverty reduction work.

Opening Ceremony

His Excellency President Girma Wolde Gior-gis (seated on the left in the picture appearing to the left) made the opening address inaugu-rating the Alliance and the Foundation. In his talk, His Excellency stated:

I am pleased to inaugurate Praxis-Ethiopia Al-liance and Foundation as an additional input to the overall development of our nation as a World Bank of ideas and innovations.

It is clear that the unique feature of the Praxis-Ethiopia Alliance, which was born during the Ethio-Forum 2002 conference, is commitment to promote inno-vative, knowledge-based, and community-driven poverty reduction and restora-tive development in Ethiopia.

His Excellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was the featured keynote speaker at the inaugural meeting (pictured above, seated on the right). His Excellency serves as the Patron of the Alliance and as the Honorary Chairperson of The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation Board of Directors. In his keynote address, His Ex-cellency noted that while the Alliance is relatively young, its members have al-ready made important contributions to Ethiopia's fight against poverty. The Prime Minister also expressed his full confidence that Ethiopia's partnership with Praxis Ethiopia will play a meaningful role in Ethiopia's effort to fight against extreme poverty.

Connecting the World with Ethiopia: The Praxis Ethiopia Story

Dr. David Blankinship, co-founder of the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance and founding president and chief executive officer of The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation, provided the introductory presentation on the creation of the Alliance and the development of the Foundation. In his presentation, he traced the history of Praxis Ethiopia from its beginnings at the conclusion of the Ethio-Forum 2002, through the ac-


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tivities of the Alliance, and on to the creation of The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation. Praxis Ethiopia connects the world with Ethiopia. (Additional information on the creation of Praxis Ethiopia and The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation appears at Attachment B. Praxis Ethiopia beginning on page 21.)

Dr. Blankinship emphasized that Praxis Ethiopia is dedicated to community-driven poverty reduction in Ethiopia and that the organization is very grateful for the leadership and commitment of His Excellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

He also talked about the Foundation's model of making awards to reduce poverty, documenting the successes that lead the way to identifying best practices in strengthening food security, improving healthcare and well-being, promoting education, and facilitating technology transfer. These processes will all contribute to improving the effectiveness of poverty reduction and will help to accelerate Ethiopia's recovery.

Dr. Blankinship concluded the conference's opening events with the observation that Ethiopia is not a helpless country; Ethiopia is a country that needs help.

Strengthening Our Understanding of the Problems

At the conclusion of the Opening Events, participants began the consultation phase of the conference. This phase provided the opportunity to strengthen a col-lective understanding of the many problems and challenges that exist in Ethiopia as people work to improve the quality of life in the country.

Representatives from the farming community, the government, international and non governmental organizations, and specialty groups made brief presentations, posed questions, or provided answers regarding many of these problems con-fronting Ethiopia and those who are working to reduce poverty and improve the quality of life.

Professor David J. Rogers and Dr. Getachew Tikubet served as the Co-Chairs of this portion of the conference (Professor Rogers is seated on the left and Dr. Getachew is seated on the right in the photograph that appears to the right).

During the consultation and problem understanding phase of the conference, farmers discussed some of the challenges of increasing land productivity, the threats of disease (particularly malaria and sleeping sickness [trypanosomiasis]) and the need of additional energy inputs for land tillage (i.e., power tillers and tractors).


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We must continue to learn about and respect the tremendous quality and quantity of the indigenous knowledge in Ethiopia.

Ato Nuredin Ahmed, a farmer learning about sustainable farming techniques at the Addis BioFarm (pictured at the left) spoke to the conference attendees about some of the problems listed above.

W/to Zewditu Dessalegn (pictured on the right) helped attendees to understand some of the circumstances and

challenges that women face when they work to improve food production. Women are increasingly better represented in both farming and in training to become farmers, and their challenges must be recognized and accommodated in planning for effective poverty reduction.

In Ethiopia, food production is an essential condition for life and this requirement remains constant, regardless of one's physical situation.

Ato Yohannes Mesfin (pictured to the left) spoke with the conference participants about the special challenges of people who have lost, or are losing their vision. Ato Yohannes is training in sustainable farm-ing techniques and everyone at the conference was inspired to learn that visual impairments do not stop determined people from becom-ing farmers who can be as productive as their 'sighted' colleagues can. [Many people in Ethiopia become visually impaired from tra-choma infections that damage the eyes and lead to progressive levels of blindness.]

While attendees enjoyed many memorable moments and insights during the con-ference, Ato Adam Mohammed provided one of the most memorable pre-sentations. Ato Adam told his story of working to create water-harvesting canals and holding wells so that he could trap water to nour-ish his fruit-bearing papaya trees (Ato Adam is pictured to the right). With the assistance of Ato Million Alemayehu Gizaw (Head of the Liai-son Office of the Organization for Rehabilitation & Development in Amhara), Ato Adam told his story of perseverance in the face of adver-sity. While he worked each day to create his water harvesting and stor-age system, many of his friends and neighbors ridiculed his efforts and

doubted both the likelihood of his success and the future rewards for his efforts. Today, everyone recognizes this man's wisdom. His fruit trees are highly productive and his produce is in high demand in his area; he is one of the wealthiest men in his community and he has trained many more families in water management.

Ethiopia must continue to learn about and respect the tremendous quality and quantity of the indigenous knowledge in the country. It has been a great, un-tapped national resource and respecting and using this knowledge holds great po-tential in the work to reduce poverty.


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Some Solutions to the Problems

The Praxis-Alliance Meeting provided the opportunity to discuss many of the major challenges to reducing poverty in Ethiopia. It also provided an important venue for presenting and discussing solutions to these challenges and the para-mount considerations in applying these solutions. Day two of the conference fo-cused on presenting possible solutions. Collectively, these solutions reflect the values of “community-driven,” “science-led,” “technology-focused,” “educa-tional,” and “sustainable.”

ESRDF’s Experience in Ethiopia

Community-driven poverty reduction provides an approach to designing and im-plementing projects that will ensure a community’s commitment to supporting the project. The Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund (ESRDF) has extensive experience with community-driven approaches. In describing the ESRDF, His Excellency Dr. Aseffa (2005) noted that the Fund is:

community-based participatory demand driven and bottom-up, and integrated

The ESRDF reaches the “unreached,” and brings the community into full partici-pation in the poverty reduction efforts by ensuring that the community takes part in decision-making at all stages of the project cycle and the community shares in project costs (10% of costs in terms of labor, material/cash, or a combination thereof).

The ESRDF operates as a funding agency that provides support upon request (i.e demand driven). The Fund promotes community participation, cost sharing, and supports small community managed projects. The agency works to builds capac-ity, and add flexibility and efficiency while maintaining low administrative costs (Aseffa 2005).

The ESRDF has faced a number of challenges, including:

slow progress in accepting and internalizing ESRDF procedures and ap-proaches,

low capacity at all levels, and a shortage of funds and lack of capacity in ESRDF.


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In addition to the many projects funded and completed by the ESRDF, the Fund has contributed to strengthening a collective understanding of the types of ap-proaches that work to reduce poverty in Ethiopia. Community-based, participa-tory development approaches work successfully in Ethiopia, particularly to ex-pand infrastructure in rural areas, to meet needs of the poor, and to reduce pov-erty. Projects initiated by the community that address priority needs are imple-mented quickly and less costly, exhibit increased and willful participation, have higher rates of contribution, and allow implementation of a large number of lower cost projects that reflect reality. Focused and need-based capacity building is necessary to build confidence, to promote participation, to improve work effi-ciency of partners, and to ensure functionality and sustainability. Integrated ap-proaches to planning help to address problems in a comprehensive way and bring changes to the community (Aseffa 2005).

World Bank’s Perspective

Community-driven development approaches represent a paradigm shift, from top-down to bottom-up (Acquay 2005). Community-driven development ap-proaches:

empower communities, empower local governments, reform central government - local government

relationships, improve accountability, and support capacity development.

The World Bank increased its support to Ethiopia from $325 million in 1996 to $2 billion in 2003 to support community-driven development (Acquay 2005). This dramatic increase reflects the Banks assessment that community-driven de-velopment approaches are cost-effective ways to address poverty and service de-livery. They allow for better targeting of the intended beneficiaries and distribu-tion of benefits and increase the likelihood of sustainability because:

a community is aware of project design choices and the capital and recurrent implications from the outset, and

the community contributes to the capital and recurrent costs of a project.

Community-driven development approaches create linkages with local govern-ment planning processes that facilitate sustainability and therefore, they provide a cost-effective way to address poverty in Ethiopia (Acquay 2005).


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New Approaches to an Old Problem

Tsetse flies and the spread of Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) are major hu-man and animal health threats across Ethiopia and Africa. Professor David J. Rogers reported on the problems encountered, efforts made so far, the way forward, community-based adaptive management approaches, and the holistic approach/ biofarm system.

Citing data from BioMedNet, Rogers noted that there were more than 60,000 cases of human sleeping sickness in Africa in 1930 and that the number of cases declined steadily through to 1958. Unfortunately, the number of cases of sleeping sickness has been rising steadily since the 1980s and in 1998, there were more than 40,000 cases.

Early approaches to tsetse fly control have included crinoline traps, electric traps, and spraying chemicals. Rogers reported that in the early 1970s, scientists dis-covered that tsetse flies were attracted to their hosts by smell—this revolution-ized trap design and effectiveness. It also changed the extent to which a commu-nity could participate in reducing the tsetse fly threat. With efficient odorant-based traps, communities could build and bait their own traps and thereby be-come active components in the solution to the tsetse fly problem.

Some solutions to problems just do not work and others do not last for very long, holistic, community-based adaptive management holds the greatest potential for solving problems effectively and sustainability (Rogers, D. J., Getachew T., Randolph, S. E., & Baumgärtner, J. 2005).

Cactus Mapping, Case Study in Northern Ethiopia

Food security development in Ethiopia could be substantially improved by creat-ing databases of distributions of important crops.

Professor Sarah E. Randolph (2005) described how she and Professor David J. Rogers used satellite imagery and global positioning system data to improve our understanding of the density and distribution of cactus in the Tigray region. They traveled around the Tigray area and plotted the locations of cactus, mapped the information against satellite imagery of the area, and used this information to predict, and then confirm, locations where cactus was abundant.


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This technology holds tremendous potential for both identifying the locations of good food sources, and for dispelling myths about the distributions and densities of food sources that could mislead area planners, farmers, and families.

Water—“Solution to the Water Challenge”

Water is life. Water is essential to sustain life and the lack of water is one of Ethiopia’s most pressing problems. Dr. Horacio Ferriz (2005) described some of the important steps that Ethiopia could take to harvest and secure its water as a primary natural resource.

Ferriz noted that one of the first steps to finding solutions to Ethiopia’s water challenge is to support the Ethiopian geologists and engineers working to improve the water supply and management. This help would include professional development activities and access to more experienced colleagues.

This recommendation could be achieved by having specialists visit projects in Ethiopia for about two weeks, twice per years (e.g., January and July). The spe-cialists could visit projects, assist the Ethiopian professionals in field work, re-view maps and designs, advise on ways to improve the water projects, and pro-vide on-going training.

These specialists should be drawn from the disciplines of hydrogeology, geologi-cal engineering, civil engineering (both earthwork and hydraulics), irrigation, and water conveyance and distribution.

Ferriz (2005) also recommended setting up ‘water districts’ with watershed coun-cils and the resources and authority to design, implement, and manage water har-vesting and distribution projects to serve the districts and their communities.

Energy—“Rural Energy and Reforestation Solutions”

Extreme poverty is often characterized by ‘consumptive poverty,’ where in the effort to survive, longer-term resources are consumed faster than they can be re-plenished. Deforestation is one of Ethiopia’s major problems; trees are being harvested faster than they are growing back; less than 5% of Ethiopia’s original forests remain. Globally, more than half the trees cut down are used for cooking fires and the emissions from these fires contribute to global warming.


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Mr. Paul Geffert (2005) offered a compelling solution to this particular challenge: solar ovens to cook food and pasteurize water. Solar energy is free, non-polluting and there is an inexhaustible supply.

As Geffert (2005) reported, the Solar Oven Society has a solar oven that is weather resistant, durable (currently in use in 31 nations), attractive, affordable (when mass-produced), portable, and lightweight.

In addition to cooking food and pasteurizing water, energy from the sun also has the potential to provide electricity to Ethiopia. As Geffert (2005) noted, about 13% of Ethiopia’s population has access to electricity. By using photovoltaic electrical generation, the portion of the population with electricity could grow substantially, either by using central or stand-alone generating systems. Addition-ally, hybrid systems that combine solar energy with wind or biogas could speed up the electrification process substantially.

Biofarm—“Sustainable Food Production and Wealth Creation”

Drought and famine have plagued Ethiopia for decades. Each year Ethiopia must import food to feed its people. Food security is another major, chronic problem across all of Ethiopia. Dr. Getachew Tikubet (2005) presented a model of farming and energy production that is highly efficient and sustainable. His training facil-ity—the Addis BioFarm—serves as a model of the levels of productivity that can be achieved by systematic approaches to land management, water use, energy production, pest management, and nutrient production.

As Getachew (2005) reported, the BioFarm approach works with nature to ensure that only minimal amounts of energy are used to control adverse situations (e.g., nuisance insects) and that the farmer takes every opportunity available on the farm to increase productivity. For example, tsetse flies are carriers of Trypano-somes that cause sleeping sickness in humans (trypanosomiasis) and livestock (ngana). Traditional approaches to reducing the prevalence of tsetse flies include spraying pesticides or other approaches that increase risk to humans and animals. However, at the BioFarm, tsetse flies are trapped in passive collection tents that do not use any form of pesticides. The tsetse flies die in the traps (pesticide-free) and are suitable for feeding to the chickens (the flies are high in protein).

The BioFarm approach also ensures that resources are used to their full potential. All dung and urine from livestock becomes the raw material for biogas produc-tion and scarce water resources are conserved using drip irrigation systems that are used on crops (Getachew 2005).

The BioFarm in Addis is an outstanding example of the levels of efficiency and productivity that can be achieved with thoughtful planning and implementation.


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Eco-social Management: Principles and Applications

Sustainability requires effective management to ensure its continued success. This management begins with the design of the project and with the inclusion of people as a factor in the design. Sustainability enhancement is sought by applying adaptive management procedures to ecosocial systems. Ecosocial approaches to designing envi-ronmental interventions overcome some limitations in tra-ditional human health and poverty reduction schemes by re-orienting management aims towards sustainability en-hancement.

As Dr. Johann Baumgärtner reported (Baumgärtner & Gilioli 2005), Ecosocial approaches provide concepts that have proved to be use-ful and may be necessary, but may be insufficient to meet a given objective. The overall purpose of ecosocial systems approaches is to enhance sustainability in ecological, social, and economic dimensions. Their article appears at Attachment C. Ecosocial System Management on page 23.

Human Health

Community-driven approaches to healthcare and well-being marked a major new model of healthcare delivery services in developing countries. Listening to peo-ple became the basis for viewing health and well-being as a holistic enterprise. As Dr. Johnson has reported, in 1958 he helped Gondar Public Health college staff and students coordinate experimental community involvement projects. When community leaders identified sickness and deaths of oxen, weevils destroying teff crops, unsafe drinking water, lack of education and inadequate payment of farmers for their crops as priority problems, the staff and students as-sisted in bringing the Veterinary Service, the Agricultural Department, environmental engineers from the College, Department of Education community educators, and entrepreneurial innovators to the solutions of these problems. The result was dramatic improvement of the health and economic status of the communities where this took place. This was a seminal activity, along with such initiatives as the barefoot doctor initiative in China and other community-driven programs around the world, in which community driven ini-tiatives became the modus operandi of the worldwide Primary Health Care movement (Johnson 2005). Community-driven approaches not only improve communities; they help to shape delivery systems that are more effective.


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Education—“Yeha Approach”

Food shortages, scarcity of water, degraded land, and the need to generate and manage energy are four of the major problems facing Ethiopia and they stand as significant obstacles to Ethiopia’s progress. Dr. David A. Blankinship and Dr. Getachew Tikubet (2005) have pro-posed the development and operation of an institute for natural resource management that would serve Ethiopia and Africa by educating students from the diploma level through to the doctorate in the sustainable use of the coun-try’s natural resources. This institute—The Yeha Natural Resource Management Institute—would strengthen natural resource management in Ethiopia and sub-Sahara Africa by preparing citizens to assume increasingly productive roles in the development, use, and management of Ethiopia’s natural resources, and by conducting research that informs policy development, improves management practices, and increases efficiency in using natural resources.

The Institute will be committed to

Strengthening food security in Ethiopia and sub-Sahara Africa, Improving all aspects of water management and use in Ethiopia and across

Africa, Serving as champions of environmental stewardship, and Advancing the health and well-being of Ethiopians and the people of Africa.

The Institute will provide countrywide consultation programs, diploma and de-gree programs (offered in conjunction with accredited schools and universities in Ethiopia), research and development programs, and intensive certification pro-grams. Additionally, the Institute will recognize and respond to Ethiopia’s sig-nificant demographic trends—particularly the need to attract and retain women as students, faculty, researchers, and administrators; apply blended financing mod-els that distribute costs across beneficiaries; incorporate meaningful healthcare and well-being instruction—including units on the prevention of HIV/AIDS—throughout the curriculum; and work to ensure that administrators have the train-ing and skills to set goals and meet them cost effectively (Blankinship & Ge-tachew 2005).

The Yeha Institute is developing in close cooperation with several major partners, including

The Addis BioFarm, The Bioeconomy Association, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation,


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Helvetas Ethiopia, and International Centre of Insect Physiology & Ecology—Addis Office.

The Yeha Institute will use technologies whenever feasible to extend the educa-tional reach of the Institute and provide asynchronous learning; and set clear and rigorous standards for academic quality and help all students, faculty, research-ers, and administrators to meet those standards in teaching and research.

Dynamic National Plan Modeling

Science led development holds tremendous potential for both accelerating the progress of a country and for minimizing seriously adverse consequences of a decision or sets of decisions. Dr. Hans R. Herren (2005) of the Millennium Institute presented a model software package—the T21—that permits sophisticated planning and analysis among various options.

The Institute works to develop and provide advanced ana-lytical tools that may be used to enhance national and global sustainable development. These tools also contrib-ute to formulating values-related questions and analyses on the consequences of alternative development strategies. The T21 package permits some of the most sophisticated analysis possible. The package can address ge-neric analytical problems, as well as some socio-political issues typical of devel-opment planning in the world today. The analytical problems are typically ad-dressed by simulating alternative development options, and by focusing in on the process of creating and institutionalizing the model, the package can also assist with socio/political issues. The T21 package is currently in use around the world helping scientists and policy makers to assess carious courses of action to help with social, environmental, and economic development.

Accord

The meeting provided a venue for exploring problems, discussing solutions, and building on the wisdom of the many participants. Toward the conclusion of the conference, the planners and attendees developed an overall plan and model for poverty reduction that would serve to guide program development within the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance and serve as a general model for poverty reduction.

To help achieve poverty reduction in Ethiopia, the Alliance will work to

1. Mobilize existing expertise and ideas from national and international sources.


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To support policy-makers and promote the implementation of policy to accelerate advances in environment, agriculture, health, and education

Build Natural Capital Build Social Capital Build Economic Capital

To restore and maintain the natural environment through management of:> reforestation> human, plant and animal population densities> water, health & education catchment areas> rural, urban and national nutrient loss> renewable energy> biodiversity> ecosystem services

To mobilize indigenous knowledge by valuing, collecting and disseminating it.

To promote extension services to escort and scale-up successes at local and national levels in:>organic agriculture>education>health

To generate relevant new knowledge through:>research & education within centres of excellence>linking research institutes, universities and ministries>vocational training, including for the disabled

To promote poverty reduction by:>identifying resources to remove constraints>facilitating public-private partnerships>micro-credit schemes>incentives to reward success>income generation

To empower at the grass-roots level through a community-based approach to promoting equal opportunity and health, with special attention to:> women’s associations and reproductive health> orphans, youths, farmers, prisoners, elders, social and self-help associations

To improve networking and partnerships to promote successes:* NGOs * ministries * communities * private sector * R&D organisations

The Aims of the Praxis Ethiopia Alliance

2. Generate new expertise and ideas within Ethiopia through education, training, and dissemination.

This expertise will be aimed at meeting Ethiopia’s Sustainable Development Poverty Reduction Program (see Attachment D. Ethiopia’s Poverty Reduction Program beginning on page 34), meeting the Millennium Development Goals(see Attachment E. The Millennium Development Goals beginning on page 37), strengthening food security and environmental restoration, improving health and well-being, promoting education, and facilitating interactive technology transfer.

The Aims of the Alliance

Following extensive discussion with representatives from the Ethiopian govern-ment, non-governmental and international organizations, and other development professionals, the working committee approved the following diagram to detail the principle aims of the Alliance:

The Alliance will focus its efforts on supporting policy makers and promoting the implementation of policy to accelerate advances in environment, agriculture, health, and education in Ethiopia. The Alliance will also work in improve net-working and partnerships among NGOs, ministries, communities, the private sec-tor, and research & development organizations.

PART II. THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL

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PART II. THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL1

The Millennium Development Goals (see page 37) and Ethiopia's Sustainable Development Poverty Reduction Program (see page 34), outline goals and plans for reducing poverty. Praxis Ethiopia grew out of the recognition that Ethiopia needs the help of experts who can help bring these plans to reality. This ‘intellec-tual capital’ is essential for helping Ethiopia reduce poverty and achieve its sus-tainable development goals.

Extreme Poverty Kills

On our planet, more than one billion people live with less than one dollar each day to meet their needs for food, medicine, clothing, shelter, and education. Each year six million malnourished children die before their 5th birthday. Every 30 seconds an African child dies from malaria (more than one million children every year). In North America, a woman has a 1 in 3,700 risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth; in sub-Sahara Africa, it’s 1 in 16.2 In extremely poor counties, poverty is not an ‘inconvenience,’ it is a death sentence.

Extreme poverty is the result of extreme circumstances. Extreme poverty is the result of drought, degraded land, widespread and severe diseases, loss of human life, animals dying from dehydration and sickness, education systems that cannot preserve and perpetuate the culture, and the lack of tools and technologies that can help people prevail against the threats to their lives. Extreme poverty is the loss of natural capital and it is the loss of social capital.

Natural & Social Capital

Every country has natural capital. Every country has land, plants, water, minerals, and a claim to use these resources in support of the people living there. In many ways, a country is the area of natural resources claimed by a group of people.

Every country has social capital. Every country has people of all ages, at various stages of their physical and intellectual development. Every country has babies

1AUTHOR’S APOLOGY: This model simplifies many constructs and assumes straightforward, lin-ear relationships among many other variables; I offer my apologies to those professionals who have made important contributions to strengthening our understandings of the sophisticated theory that underpins modeling poverty reduction. This model serves as a common language that bridges eco-nomics, biology, business, education, industry, healthcare, agriculture, and all the other vital profes-sional services and research activities subsumed under the broader heading of ‘civilization.’ In an effort to be general, the model lacks the specifics of a rigorous scientific treatment. The model fo-cuses on developing understanding and compromises prediction and control. David A. Blankinship 2 For more information go to www.unmilleniumproject.org/press/press2.htm


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Social Capital

Natural Capital

Net Gain

Change in

capital

Net loss

Social Capital

Natural Capital

The people and the land are the country

who are vulnerable to environmental threats, children learning to participate in the culture through speaking, reading, and writing, adults who have the skills to produce goods and services that can be exchanged in local, regional, national, or international economies, and the elderly who help to preserve and pass on the wisdom of the ages.

Every country has natural capital and every country has social capi-tal. These are the two fundamental dimensions of a country’s exis-tence; if either one disappears then the country disappears. If all

the people leave, the country does not exist. If the land, water, plants, animals, and minerals sink beneath the ocean, then the country does not exist.

At the end of each day, month, or year, the social capital and the natural capital will have either increased or decreased. As a group of people, the residents of the country will be collectively healthier or more ill; they will be typically more edu-cated or less educated. The land will produce more food or less food; there will be more water that is potable or less potable water. Social and natural capital are dynamic variables and when they improve the country improves and when they decline the country declines.

Net Losses in Capital—Poverty

Some countries have net losses in natural capital. There is increasingly less food and safe wa-ter, and the degraded, eroding land does not support the people. In these coun-tries, the challenge is to SURVIVE. The people living there need food, water, and the necessities of survival.

Some countries have net losses in social capital, where people are ill or malnourished, or dying from diseases. In these countries, the challenge is to be healthy enough to THRIVE.

In countries with significant losses in social and natural capital, people wage war against the life forms that are antithetical to human survival. Insects swarm across the land consuming crops, tsetse flies spread sleeping sickness, and mos-quitoes carry malaria. Bacteria in tainted water invade the bodies of infants, and children are chronically ill. AIDS/HIV infections debilitate adults and reduce the productive lifespan of its victims.


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In the course of the many interactions among living things, ‘people are losing the contest.’ Everything related to the defeat of the people living in an area is an in-dicator of extreme poverty.

Net Gains in Capital—Prosperity

Prosperity is the triumph of human knowledge, adaptation, and cooperation in the struggle to survive and thrive. To achieve net gains in social capital, people must CONNECT. Social capital grows as the result of people connecting with each other. Social capital is the preservation and advancement of the culture through formal and informal education. Educated people are more productive.

Education is the foundation of strengthening the work force and building up a country in which people produce more than they consume. While the educated person may have the knowledge to strengthen food production, improve health-care, or promote educational skills. Simple technologies will both improve the ef-ficiency of productivity and accelerate growth. To improve their quality of life, the people of a country must PRODUCE more than they consume. Education pre-pares people to produce; technology helps them to be productive.

Social Capital

Natural Capital

Net Gain

Net loss SET I. SURVIVESET II. THRIVE

SET IV. PRODUCESET III. CONNECT

Indicators of prosperity

Social Capital

Natural Capital

Net Gain


Indicators of extreme poverty


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The Model

The Praxis Ethiopia Model of poverty and prosperity proposes four sets or areas of exploration and intervention. SET I. SURVIVE and SET II. THRIVE are poverty indicators. SET III. CONNECT and SET IV. PRODUCE are prosperity indicators.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development requires that any actions taken to improve SURVIVE or THRIVE situations must be incorporated into the CONNECT and PRODUCE areas. For example, organic fertilizers derived from livestock waste and drip irrigation techniques that conserve scarce water can remedy a community’s acute food shortage. While this may provide a harvest to reduce the food shortage, the peo-ple living in the community must learn how to make the compost (i.e., CONNECT) and they must be able to continue to obtain the tools and equipment to maintain the increased production (i.e., PRODUCE). An intervention is sustainable only when the community develops the Social Capital and can obtain the Natural Capital to meet the needs of SURVIVE and THRIVE situations.

A country must sustain the production of the goods and services needed to keep people alive and healthy; otherwise, it will be dependent on the social and natural capital of other countries to meet their basic human needs. The country will never rise to a level of education and production that supports ‘prosperity.’

These four areas are mapped against the UN Millennium Development Goals at Attachment F. The MDGs & The Praxis Ethiopia Model on page 38.

Additional information on the Praxis Ethiopia Model (including appropriate sup-porting activities and using the model to characterize countries) appears at Attachment G. Elaborations on The Praxis Ethiopia Model on page 39.

Social Capital

Natural Capital

Net Gain


SET IV. PRODUCESET III. CONNECT

PRESENTATION REFERENCES

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PRESENTATION REFERENCES

Acquay, H. (2005). Seeking Solutions to Pov-erty and Local Development—The World Bank’s Experience with the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by contacting [email protected]

Aseffa A. (2005). ESRDF’S Experience on Community Driven Poverty Reduction Effort in Ethiopia. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by con-tacting [email protected]

Baumgärtner, J. & Gilioli, G. (2005). Ecosocial System Management for Sustainability En-hancement—From disease vector control to human health improvement and poverty alle-viation. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by con-tacting [email protected]

Blankinship, D. A. & Getachew T. (2005). The YEHA Natural Resource Management Insti-tute—Water, Food, & Energy for Africa’s Fu-ture. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by con-tacting [email protected]

Ferriz, H. (2005). Water—Solution to the Water Challenge. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by con-tacting [email protected]

Geffert, P. (2005). Rural Energy and Reaffore-station Solutions. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethio-pia. A copy of this presentation is available by contacting [email protected]

Getachew T. (2005). Biofarm—Sustainable Food Production and Wealth Creation. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by contacting [email protected]

Herren, H. R. (2005). Dynamic National Plan Modeling. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by con-tacting [email protected]

Johnson, D. C. (2005). Human Health. Speech delivered at The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Additional information on Dr. Donald C. John-son appears at www.PraxisEthiopia.org.

Randolph, S. E. & Rogers D. J. (2005). Cactus Mapping, Case Study in Northern Ethiopia. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 Septem-ber 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by contacting [email protected]

Rogers, D. J., Getachew T., Randolph, S. E., & Baumgärtner, J. (2005). New Approaches to an Old Problem. The Praxis-Alliance Meeting, 27 to 30 September 2005: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A copy of this presentation is available by con-tacting [email protected]

ATTACHMENT ETHIOPIA

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ATTACHMENT A. ETHIOPIA3

Ethiopia is located in Eastern Africa. The country is about 111.5 million hectors or just slightly smaller than England, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Germany, combined. The country shares borders with Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, and the Sudan. Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. More than 70 million peo-ple live in this country and half of them are less than 17 years old. Obtaining suf-ficient food and water is a major problem for Ethiopians. Ethiopia is a large country with many agro-ecological zones that range from rainforests to deserts.

Despite its reputation for drought, Ethiopia is the water tower of East Africa; un-fortunately, due to the rugged terrain and steep mountain ravines, the rainy sea-son creates rushing torrents of water that crash through the mountains, enter the Blue Nile and then flow north to the Nile River. Ethiopia needs the technical re-sources to assist in building practical retaining devices that can be used to water arid land and quench the thirst of the people. Water for livestock and people, and the small-scale irrigation necessary to grow food is the beginning of the food-security cycle. As the Walta Information Center reported on 10 June 2002, 72% of Ethiopian households live without potable water.

Despite its reputation for famine, Ethiopia has tremendous food production po-tential. Approximately 74 million hectors or about 66% of all Ethiopian land is arable: Ethiopia has the land to produce food. Currently, only about 16.5 million hectors or 22% of the total arable land is under cultivation. In 2003, the World Food Program estimated that Ethiopia needed to import food to save the lives of 14 million people. The Bioeconomy Association in Ethiopia is pioneering regen-erative farming techniques and integrated pest management approaches that quadruple existing food production and more than 50 million additional hectors of land could be cultivated in Ethiopia; yet millions of people are hungry—Ethiopia needs food-security.

Disease is a major problem for Ethiopians. On average there is one physician for every 150,000 people; one hospital for every one million people. The average life expectancy is 41 years, more than 2 million people have HIV/AIDS, and about 160,000 people die each year from AIDS. Ethiopians carry a heavy disease bur-den, at any given time up to 80% of the population suffers from an illness, infec-tion, or chronically debilitating condition—Ethiopia needs health and well-being.

Less than half of the population aged 15 years and older can read and write. Ethiopia has very few universities and the public schools struggle to obtain and maintain the instructional materials that are so critical for literacy education. Mil-

3 By David A. Blankinship, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation

ATTACHMENT ETHIOPIA

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lions of Ethiopians do not have the education that allows them to be fully produc-tive members of society and this disadvantage is particularly evident in women who have a literacy rate of about 35%—Ethiopia needs education.

The world has many technologies that could substantially improve the quality of life for Ethiopians. In many cases, technologies already exist within Ethiopia; un-fortunately, many people do not know of these technologies or they do not have access to them. Many of these technologies are simple, inexpensive or can be easily manufactured. Flytraps, solar ovens, and biogas digesters can be adapted and adopted across the country to reduce disease, facilitate cooking, and provide a renewal energy source for heating and lighting. Most importantly, electronic communication and data sharing through remote telecommuting centers holds unprecedented promise for helping the people of Ethiopia to access information that is reliable and practical for solving problems related to food security, health, and education—Ethiopia needs technology transfer.

Ethiopia Is the Key to Africa

The problems in Ethiopia are the problems of sub-Sahara Africa and the solutions for Ethiopia are the solutions for sub-Sahara Africa. Ethiopia serves two vital functions: first, it is a living laboratory for innovation and development; and sec-ond, it is the center for disseminating the knowledge adapted or discovered in service to improving the human condition.

Ethiopia is one of the most exciting countries in the world for implementing ca-pacity-building activities in service to humanity. It is particularly fitting that this ancient country provides educators, scientists, entrepreneurs, and technical advi-sors with unprecedented opportunities to contribute to their respective profes-sions and to the quality of life for people in Ethiopia and sub-Sahara Africa. The entire country presents the opportunity to design small or large-scale develop-ment projects to improve food security, strengthen health care, promote educa-tion, and implement technological applications to improve lives.

Ethiopia is Africa’s bell-wether country. Addis Ababa is the headquarters of the new African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the Desert Locust Control for Eastern Africa. Addis Ababa is also home to sev-eral multi-lateral organizations including the United Nations Environmental Pro-tection Agency, the World Food Program, the United Nations Food and Agricul-tural Organisation, the United Nations Development Program, the World Health Organisation, and more than 200 other Non-Governmental and bi-lateral organi-zations. All of these organizations serve as catalysts in the development and ap-plication of improvements for Ethiopia and they are important conduits for dis-seminating information through their respective networks of professionals and re-lated organizations. Addis Ababa is the communication hub of Africa.

ATTACHMENT PRAXIS ETHIOPIA

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ATTACHMENT B. PRAXIS ETHIOPIA4

In January 2002, the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund sponsored a major international forum on poverty reduction and restorative de-velopment. This meeting—the Ethio-Forum 2002—provided a unique opportu-nity to apply the national development framework to integrating a holistic ap-proach with appropriate technologies. The forum had three major parts: an exhi-bition, a four-day plenary conference, and weeklong workshops. The Forum was a national success and served as a major catalyst for substantial and continuing improvements across Ethiopia. One of the major recommendations from the Ethio-Forum was that the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund needs to strengthen and maintain a strong and diversified pool of national and in-ternational scientific and technical backstopping.

This recommendation was achieved by developing a cadre of professionals who are familiar with Ethiopia’s community-driven philosophy; have expertise in an area related to poverty reduction; and are prepared to participate in exchange programs. The Praxis Ethiopia Alliance was created on 21 January 2002. The Al-liance is an autonomous international coalition of educators, scientists, entrepre-neurs, and technical advisors dedicated to community-driven restorative devel-opment and poverty reduction in Ethiopia. His Excellency, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is the patron of Praxis Ethiopia.

Members of the Alliance5 help Ethiopians in their quest to reduce poverty and re-store Ethiopia to a prosperous world-trading partner. Members believe that good health, food security, education, and technology contribute to the strong social and business infrastructure necessary for restoring this great nation to its proper role in the world economy. Ethiopia’s restoration contributes to a peaceful and prosperous Africa. Alliance members work to achieve the following objectives:

Develop a network of educators, scientists, entrepreneurs, and advisors. Promote the central importance of community-driven development ap-

proaches. Raise awareness of community-driven poverty reduction projects in Ethiopia. Promote student and faculty exchange programs. Promote educational, scientific, healthcare, and simple technology transfer

activities. Recognize and reward projects that advance the quality of life in Ethiopia.

4 By David A. Blankinship, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation 5 The Praxis Ethiopia Alliance operates under the sponsorship of The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation.

ATTACHMENT PRAXIS ETHIOPIA

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The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation

Each of the activities outlined above reflect varying personal, professional, and financial commitments. Many Alliance members dedicate their personal time and private resources to help Ethiopia. The Alliance needed an effective and highly reliable process for mobilizing the world’s intellectual capital in support of the vital development activities in Ethiopia. To meet this need, we created the Praxis Ethiopia Foundation. The Foundation assists Alliance members in meeting the objectives outlined above and provides the critical financial resources that pro-mote and support specific community-driven, high demand food security, health-care, educational, and technological projects in Ethiopia. The Foundation has one, very clear mission: To promote and support community-driven capacity building to reduce poverty and create wealth in Ethiopia.6

6 See www.PraxisEthiopia.org

ATTACHMENT ECOSOCIAL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

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ATTACHMENT C. ECOSOCIAL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT7

SOME CONCEPTS IN ECOSOCIAL SYSTEM MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY ENHANCEMENT

ABSTRACT

To overcome some limitations in traditional human health and poverty reduction schemes, we introduced the ecosocial system concept into our work and re-oriented management aims towards sustainability enhancement. Here, we present a few concepts that proved to be useful and may be necessary but probably insuf-ficient to meet the objective. During project execution, we increasingly took into account the interactions between actors and ecological systems. Thereby, we re-placed the concept of external operators acting on an independent ecological sys-tem by the concept of ecosocial systems that includes compartments of both eco-logical sub-system and social sub-systems. The addition of natural science input into the facilitation model used in agricultural extension allows key constraint identification, efficient integration of technologies into ecosocial system man-agement and priority setting for management activities. Moreover, we rely on adaptive management to deal with complexity and limited predictability of ecosocial systems dynamics and accept complementary methodologies to meet the objective. Because of unclear objectives, limited predictability of ecosocial system dynamics and complementary methodologies for study and management we are unable to specify in precise quantitative terms a target for management ac-tivities and focus on changes in sustainability instead. Accordingly, management practices should keep the ecosocial system on a trajectory to enhanced sustain-ability in ecological, economic, and social dimensions. This concept is related to the navigation concept used in adaptive planning where a safe voyage is more important than a predefined destination. The concepts listed in this paper are seen as components of an emerging conceptual framework for ecosystem study and management.

INTRODUCTION

The overall objective of projects jointly executed by Ethiopian communities, Ethiopian institutions, the Addis Ababa Regional Office of the International Cen-tre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), ICIPE’s Population Ecology and Ecosystem Science Department and its international partners was to improve human health and contribute to poverty reduction (Baumgärtner et al., 2001). It was recognized that the villagers at the Gurage project sites, Southwestern Ethio-

7 Johann Baumgärtner (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Nairobi, Kenya) and Gianni Gilioli (University of Reggio di Calabria, Reggio di Calabria, Italy)


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pia, suffered from multiple constraints, and an attempt was made to integrate technologies and approaches for improving their livelihood at the community level (Asseffa, 2003). Rather than focusing on one sector, the projects aimed at meeting the objective by simultaneously addressing multiple constraints includ-ing human health, animal health and supply of resources like food and water (phase A). However, changing priorities and operational constraints created im-balances in resource allocation and negatively affected a coordinated develop-ment of respective sectors.

In response to priority changes and resource allocation problems, the stake-holders decided to limit the work to the Luke Woreda in the Gurage zone and adopt a two-stage project implementation procedure that relies on 1) to set the stage for development by the identification and reduction of key constraints, and 2) to place the system on a trajectory to enhanced sustainability. As in many other areas in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, animal health is seriously affected by tsetse transmitted Trypanosomiasis (Kettle, 1995). In the case of Ethiopia’s Luke project site (see below), animal health improvement was selected as entry point for the second phase (B) lasting from 2002 to 2005 (Herren et al., 2005). Animal health was selected because both the Luke community and the project team con-sidered it, together with human health, as a key constraint to development. The priority given to animal health was further supported by historical developments. In fact, the Luke community clearly stated that their livelihood dramatically changed during the last three decades because of an increase in animal disease transmitting and reduced animal health. As an aside, no satisfactory explanation can currently be given to this increase and the tsetse infestation of the entire Luke area. Already at the beginning of phase (A), experts of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) recommended reliance on mass trapping of the tsetse vector as key technology to reduce Trypanosomiasis incidence. The selection of the technology was based on positive results previously obtained by ICIPE in different parts of southern Ethiopia (Getachew et al., 2003), and on the requirement of selecting an efficient technology that is economically viable, so-cially acceptable and environmentally friendly (Baumgärtner et al., 2005). The mass trapping technology was also in adopted in phase (B), but an attempt was made to make the technology more cost efficient by adopting the below de-scribed adaptive management procedures (Baumgärtner et al., 2003, Gilioli and Baumgärtner, 2005a,b). Briefly, Comiskey et al. (1999) describe adaptive man-agement as a systematic, cyclic process for continually improving management policies, strategies and tactics based on lessons learnt from operational activities. Consequently, the response of systems to management is the source of informa-tion for improving the knowledge and for rationalizing management.

The experiences made in the tsetse control operations undertaken in phases (A) and (B), i.e. between 1994 and 2005, can tentatively be expressed by the change in a number of variables that have been selected and measured because they were thought to be important for demonstrating the response to the intervention of the


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animal health system. From 2002 to 2005, tsetse trap catches decreased by a fac-tor of more than 2000 and resulted to a reduction in Trypanosomiasis prevalence by a factor of 2. Despite of a continuing prevalence of close to 10%, animal health, including Trypanosomiasis infestation and productivity was considerable improved. For example, the calving rate per cow and year increased by a factor of 8 and milk production per cow and per day by a factor of 9 resulting to more than 1 l. During the same period, the number of cattle, including oxen, increased by a factor of 3 and the area ploughed by a factor of about 40. Undoubtedly, fur-ther work is required to verify these numbers and to ascertain the precise re-sponse of the Luke system to the intervention. Nevertheless, the order of magni-tude in the responses indicates a substantial improvement in animal health and productivity with consequences for the entire agricultural sector including crop production, and human livelihood. In fact, the project contributed to improved human nutrition and increased the income that among others, allows families to send their children to school (Mr. Peter Lüthi, Biovision Foundation, Zurich, un-published report). The response appears to confirm the validity of the selection of both the key constraint (animal health) and the control technology (mass trap-ping). However, three aspects expressed in questions turned out to be a major hindrance for further evaluations of the project:

1. Are the results predictable? 2. Do we have a sufficient understanding of the relationship between the

different variables as to satisfactorily assess and generalize the impact of the intervention?

3. Did we meet the objectives of the project?

It appears at this stage in project execution, that only the qualitative but not the quantitative outcome could have been predicted. In other words, the experience of the team might have allowed the prediction of the direction of change in the selected variables but not their response in quantitative terms. We currently ex-perience difficulties in linking the variables and explain their responses on a solid basis of ecological, economic and social principles. Finally, we may tentatively conclude that the objective of animal health improvement has been met, but have doubts whether we meet the overall human health improvement objective at long term. This is because currently, we do not know whether and for how long the Luke system is able to sustain both livestock and land use development without negatively affecting the natural resources of the Luke community. For example the intensification of animal and crop production may increase the already seri-ous erosion and degrade the soil that sustains agriculture. However, the response of the system may be more complex than derived from by the variables under current consideration and hence, project evaluations with respect to human health improvement should not be done on the exclusive basis of animal health and pro-ductivity data.


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In both an attempt to find answers to these questions and in response to the inter-est of Ethiopian institutions in science-based development (Asseffa, 2003), we increasingly rely on a system approach and give attention to the development of a conceptual framework that allows efficient planning and coordination of activi-ties on the basis of an adequate understanding of system dynamics. This frame-work should allow the evaluation of technologies with respect to ecological, eco-nomic and social criteria, the setting of priority given to the development of dif-ferent sectors, and the assessment of management contributions to meeting the overall objective of human health improvement. In this paper, we present some separate concepts that we found useful and that we consider as necessary but probably not sufficient to undertake the relevant activities. In other words, the experiences made so far only allows a tentative discussion of some separate con-cepts but not the proposition of a comprehensive conceptual framework in that they would eventually fit. Noteworthy, some of the concepts have been detailed in the literature and the reader is referred to the respective papers, while others are the subject of submitted publications; however, both are considered as parts of an emerging conceptual framework (Baumgärtner and Gilioli, 2005; Gilioli and Baumgärtner 2005a, 2005b). In general, the concepts first refer to a more precise definition of the objects of management and management objectives than done so far. Second, they refer to the definition of the object and management ob-jectives whose presentation will precede the listing of additional concepts that so far, have been proven useful in our projects.

OBJECT DEFINITION

In an earlier paper, we represented the object for study and management as an ecosystem and relied on Tansley (1935) for its definition (Baumgärtner et al., 2001). Accordingly, the object consists of organisms and chemical-physical com-ponents. During project execution, we found that the definition of Jørgensen (2002) is particularly appropriate for the purpose of our work. Accordingly, eco-systems are biotic and functional systems or units, which are able to sustain life and include all biological and non-biological variables. Noteworthy, spatial and temporal scales are not specified a priori, but are entirely based upon the objec-tives of the ecosystem study.

In phase (A), we basically looked at the Gurage project sites, i.e. the object, as ecosystems managed by external actors. For example, the animal health system can be seen as an entity composed of tsetse vector populations, cattle populations and their environment. The external actors include the Luke community and its representatives, national institutions and non-governmental organizations as well as a team of facilitators and scientists. Aiming at animal health improvement, they undertook vector control actions in an adaptive management framework de-scribed below.


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In phase (B), we increasingly took into consideration the interactions between ac-tors and ecological systems and replaced the concept of external operators acting on an independent ecological system by the concept of ecosocial systems that in-cludes compartments of both the ecological sub-system and the social-subsystem represented by a structured actor community (Waltner-Toews et al., 2003). Noteworthy, the ecological system also includes epidemiological systems as briefly mentioned above and the social sub-system introduced this concept. Walt-ner-Toews et al. (2003) introduced the ecosocial system concept to emphasize that a) actors of ecological systems do not operate externally, b) people are firmly embedded into the object as integral elements, c) there is a need to manage hu-man interactions within an ecological context.

MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES

In phase (A), we aimed at human health improvement and poverty alleviation in the Gurage area. In response to recommendations of the international community (The Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and Devel-opment of the United Nations) and the Ecological Society of America (Christen-sen et al., 1996), we began to focus on sustainability as an overall ecosystem management objective.

Unfortunately, there is no generally accepted definition of sustainability and the concepts remains unclear and elusive (Ulgiati and Brown, 1998; Gilioli and Baumgärtner 2005a, 2005b). In our work, the definitions and concepts given by Goodland (1995) proved to be a useful starting point. Accordingly, sustainability is represented by capital in ecological, economic and social dimensions. A sus-tainable system operates within its biophysical limits, the sources for resources are not depleted and the capacity of the sinks is not exceeded. Although much work remains to be done to define ecological, economic and social capitals, we see in their accumulation a useful objective for ecosocial system management. In our view, capital accumulation can be achieved by minimizing the costs associ-ated with ecosocial system functioning in the three dimensions (Gilioli and Baumgärtner, 2005a, 2005b).

MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS

Facilitation and natural science contribution

The introduction of the tsetse mass trapping technology into the Luke ecosocial systems is not seen as a linear technology transfer operations in which science is the source of innovation and makes available technologies to end users. Rather, the Luke community and the ICIPE Ethiopia team jointly identified key con-straints and selected as well as implemented the appropriate technology. Hence, the concept corresponds to a facilitation model as defined by Röling (1995). Ac-


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cordingly, the ICIPE team facilitates mass trapping operations, knowledge acqui-sition by the community and re-structuring of the social organization to respond to the need of tsetse control. We see the establishment of tsetse control teams by the community as a contribution to institutional diversity, which has been identi-fied as basic element for sustainable systems (Becker and Ostrom, 1995).

The facilitation model has been considered in the Farmers’ Field School approach (Röling and Wagemakers, 1998). Recently, Feder et al. (2004) evaluated the ap-proach and recognized the need to re-vise priority setting. Possibly, the introduc-tion of natural science within the adaptive management framework discussed be-low allows prioritization of management procedures and allocation of resources to different sectors. Thus, it may contribute to further development of the facilita-tion model.

Complexity and adaptive management

The response of the ecosocial system in the ecological, economic and social di-mensions to tsetse operations reflects the complexity of the system. Limited pre-dictability and difficulties to explain the relationship between the response vari-ables on the basis of ecological, economic and social principles are seen as a product of complex system dynamics.

To address complexity, adaptive management has been introduced in work aim-ing at improvement of knowledge and planning management procedures (Holl-ing, 1978; Walters, 1986; Gundarson et al., 1995; Baumgärtner et al., 2003, Gilioli and Baumgärtner, 2005a, 2005b). In our view, we can adopt adaptive management in both precision target interventions or placing the ecosocial sys-tem towards enhanced sustainability. To illustrate the first possibility, we refer to the adaptive tsetse control system that enabled us to considerably improve the standard mass trapping strategy. In fact, continuous acquisition, processing and use of monitoring information allowed reduction of monitoring traps and de-ployment of control traps to areas of high tsetse occurrences in space and time (Baumgärtner et al., 2003, Gilioli and Baumgärtner, 2005a, 2005b; Sciaretta et al., 2005).

The adaptive management concept has been proven cost-efficient in our work, but its applicability is limited by the flexibility of institutions and facilitators to timely respond to new needs and to participate in information exchange. Initially, the establishment of monitoring and data processing systems is costly and diffi-cult because of limited experiences by all project partners. Since sharing of ex-periences and information between partners is an important component of adap-tive management of ecosocial systems, this aspect should receive more attention in the future than given until now. Noteworthy, the adaptive tsetse management system has shown that cost-efficiency can be increased as soon as data become available and used for decision support. Possibly, we could go as far as to use


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adaptive management for translating non-linear complexities of ecosocial sys-tems into linear management rules (Carlman, 2005).

Complementarities of methodologies

In a previous section, the objective of sustainability enhancement for manage-ment has been described as generally accepted and useful but unclear and elu-sive. According to Röling and Wagemakers (1998) unclear objectives render dif-ficult the selection of adequate methods. Moreover, there may be need to re-consider the methodologies from an epistemological standpoint, i.e. with respect to the nature of knowledge. Specifically, the object of management may no longer be seen as a reality independent from the actor but as a reflection of his way of looking at it. In other words, there may be a need to add constructivism to currently predominant realist/positivist views on nature (Röling and Wagemak-ers, 1998). If so, we agree with Golinski (1998) that this should be reflected in a methodological re-orientation and reliance on complementary rather than com-peting methodologies (Baumgärtner and Gilioli, 2005).

Evaluation of change

Ecosocial system complexity, the resulting limited predictability and unclear ob-jectives render difficult the specification of long term management objectives in quantitative terms. Therefore, we aim at change in sustainability rather than at predefined targets and adopt adaptive management procedures to achieve this goal. In other words, we attempt to keep the system on a trajectory to enhanced sustainability in ecological, economic, and social dimensions (fig. 1).

Ecological dimension

Economic dimension

Social di-mension


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Fig. 1 The objective for ecosocial system management: placing the ecosocial sys-tem on a trajectory to increased sustainability in ecological, economic and social dimensions (‘navigation’).

Thus, emphasis is given to change and balanced capital accumulation in the three dimensions rather than targeting an elusive objective. This concept is related to the navigation concept used in adaptive planning (Carlman, 2005). Here, the ul-timate goal is unlimited with respect to time; sustainability is more like a safe voyage without permanently fixed destination; it implies economizing with lim-ited resources subjected to the laws of thermodynamics.

The concept of sustainability enhancement or navigation appears to be useful in ecosocial system management. From a scientific standpoint, however, we should clarify the nature of the capitals accumulated in the three dimensions (Fig. 1), and specify indicators that could be used for assessing the state of the system and placing it on the trajectory towards enhanced sustainability. From an operational standpoint, all members of the social system including communities, farmers, scientists, facilitator, national institutions and non-governmental organizations should shift their attention from elusive targets to influencing change in ecologi-cal, economic and social dimensions.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

To overcome some limitations in traditional human health and poverty reduction schemes, we introduced the ecosocial system concept and management aiming at sustainability enhancement in ecological, economic, and social dimensions. The new model appears to be useful but requires among others, a methodological re-orientation of system management and flexibility among project partners. To ex-tend its applicability, the members of the social system including communities, farmers, scientists, facilitators, national institutions, and non-governmental or-ganizations should agree on both the re-orientation of the traditional methodol-ogy and the emphasis given to change in sustainability rather than to predefined targets. In particular, the reluctance of institutions and facilitators to allow flexi-bility in management operations, to continuously exchange information, and to operate according to the rhythm of nature have been identified as major obstacles in project execution. The concepts presented here may be necessary but probably insufficient for a conceptual framework that may be useful for navigating the ecosocial system towards enhanced sustainability.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation Board Members for stimulat-ing discussions. The ICIPE Ethiopia team lead by Dr. Getachew Tikubet kindly made available the preliminary data presented in this paper. The projects were


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supported by the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund (ESRDF), the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC), the Swiss Develop-ment Cooperation (SDC), donors to ICIPE’s core fund, and the Swiss BioVision and Helvetas Foundations.

REFERENCES

Asseffa Abraha, 2003. Ethio-Forum 2002: Community-driven poverty eradica-tion. In: Asseffa Abraha, Getachew Tikubet & Johann Baumgärtner (eds.), Re-source Management for Poverty Reduction Approaches & Technologies: Ethio-pian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Pp. 1-6.

Baumgärtner J., Bieri J., Buffoni G., Gilioli G., Gopalan H.N.B., Greiling J., Ti-kubet G. & van Schayk I.M.C.J., 2001. Human health management in Sub-Saharan Africa through integrated management of arthropod transmitted diseases and natural resources. Cadernos de saúde pública (reports in public health) 17: 17-46.

Baumgärtner, J, Getachew Tikubet, Melaku Girma, Sciarretta, A., Shifa Ballo & Trematerra, P., 2003. Cases for adaptive ecological systems management. Redia LXXXVI: 165-172.

Baumgärtner, J. & Gilioli, G., 2005. Perspectives in ecosocial systems. Agricul-ture, Ecosystems and Environment (subm. 2005).

Baumgärtner, J. Achola O. Pala & Trematerra, P., 2005. Sociology in IPM. In: Koul, O. & Cuperus, G., (eds.), Ecologically-based Integrated Pest Management. CABI (in press).

Becker, C.D. & Ostrom, E., 1995. Human ecology and resource sustainability: the importance of institutional diversity. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 26: 113-133.

Carlman, I., 2005. The rule of sustainability and planning adaptivity. Ambio, 34, 163-168.

Christensen, N.L., Bartuska, A.M., Brown, J.H., Carpenter, S., D’Antonio, C., Francis, R., Franklin, J.F., MacMahon, J.A., Noss, R.F., Parsons, D.J., Petersen, C.H., Turner, M.G. & Woodmansee, R.G., 1996. The report of the ecological So-ciety of America committee on the scientific basis for ecosystem management. Ecological Applications 6: 665-691.


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Comiskey, J.A., Dallmeier, F.& Alonso, A., 1999. Framework for assessment and monitoring of biodiversity. In: Levin, S. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Vol. 3, Academic Press, New York.

Getachew Tikubet, Shifa Ballo & Amare Birhanu, 2003. Community-based tsetse control: a model project within a sustainable agriculture framework. In: Asseffa Abraha, Getachew Tikubet & Johann Baumgärtner (eds.), Resource Management for Poverty Reduction Approaches & Technologies: Ethiopian Social Rehabilita-tion and Development Fund, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Pp. 153-164.

Gilioli, G. & Baumgärtner, J., 2005a. Adaptive Ecosystem Sustainability En-hancement in Sub-Saharan Africa. Global and Environmental Change (subm. 2005).

Gilioli, G. & Baumgärtner, J., 2005b. Ecosocial system management for sustain-ability enhancement. Front Ecol. Environ (for submission, 2005).

Golinski, J., 1998. Making Natural Knowledge. Constructivism and the History of Science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Goodland, R., 1995. The concept of environmental sustainability. Annual Rev. Ecol. Syst.: 26: 1-24.

Gunderson, L.H., Holling, C.S. and Light, S.S., 1995. Barriers & Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions. Columbia University Press, New York.

Herren, H.R., Baumgärtner, J. & Gilioli, G., 2004. From agricultural pest man-agement to ecosystem sustainability enhancement: the way forward. In: Scherr, S. (ed.), The State of the Art of Ecoagriculture (provisional title), www.ecoagriculture.org .

Holling, C.S., 1978. Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. Wiley, Chichester.

Jørgensen, S.E., 2002. Integration of Ecosystem Theories: a Pattern. Kluwer, Dordrecht.

Kettle, D.S., 1995. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. CAB International, Wal-lingford.

Röling, N.G., 1995. What to think of extension ? a comparison of three models of extension practice. Article for the francophone issue of AERDD Bulletin. Salamna N. (ed.), ICRA, Montpellier office, 7pp.


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Röling, N.G. & Wagemakers, M.A.E., 1998. A new tactique: facilitating sustain-able agriculture. In: Röling, N.G. and M.A.E. Wagemakers (eds.), Facilitating Sustainable Agriculture. Participatory Learning and Adaptive Management in Times of Environmental Uncertainty. Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-22.

Sciarretta, A., Melaku Girma, Lulseged Belayun, Getachew Tikubet & Baum-gärtner, J., 2005. Development of an adaptive Tsetse fly population management scheme for the Luke community, Ethiopia. J. Med. Entomol. (in press).

Tansley, A.G., 1935. The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms. Ecol-ogy 16: 284-307.

Ulgiati, S. and Brown, M.T., 1998. Monitoring pattern of sustainability in natural and man-made ecosystem. Ecol. Modell. 108(1-3), 23-36.

Walters, C., 1986. Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources, MacMillan, New York.

Waltner-Toews, D., Kay, J.K., Neudoerffer, C. & Gitau, T., 2003. Perspective changes everything: managing ecosystem from inside out. Front Ecol and Envi-ron 1, 23-30.

ATTACHMENT ETHIOPIA’S POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAM

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ATTACHMENT D. ETHIOPIA’S POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAM8

The Government of Ethiopia has prepared and published a comprehensive pov-erty reduction strategy program. 9 This plan states unequivocally that

Poverty reduction is the core objective of the Ethiopian government. Economic growth is the principal, but not the only, means to this objective (page i).

The Ethiopian government formulated the policies and strategies for the country to guide overall development with a focus on rural and agricultural development. The fundamental objective of the Ethiopian government is to build a free-market system in the country that will help the economy to develop rapidly, help the country to free itself from dependence on food aid; and make the poor the main beneficiaries of growth.

The country’s overarching strategies to meet these objectives are

1. Overriding and intentional focus on agriculture as the sector is the source of liveli-hood for 85 % of the population where the bulk of the poor live. The government gives overriding primacy to the welfare of rural populace. Agriculture is also be-lieved to be a potential source to generate primary surplus to fuel the growth of other sectors of the economy (industry);

2. Strengthening private sector growth and development especially in industry as means of achieving off-farm employment and output growth (including investment in nec-essary infrastructure);

3. Rapid export growth through production of high value agricultural products and in-creased support to export oriented manufacturing sectors particularly intensified processing of high quality skins/leather and textile garment;

4. Undertake major investment in education and strengthen the on going effort on ca-pacity building to overcome critical constraints to implementation of development programs;

5. Deepen and strengthen the decentralization process to shift decision-making closer to the grass root population, to improve responsiveness and service delivery;

6. Improvements in governance to move forward in the transformation of society, im-prove empowerment of the poor & set framework/provide-enabling environment for private sector growth and development;

7. Agricultural research, water harvesting and small scale irrigation; 8. Focus on increased water resource utilization to ensure food security.

The government’s plan details the required growth to meet the Millennium De-velopment Goals, a macroeconomic strategy to achieve the required growth, a plan for equitable growth, and the social impact of policies. Ethiopia’s strategy consists of four components:

8 By David A. Blankinship, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation 9 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia & Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (July, 2002). Ethiopia: Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program. Government of Ethiopia: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


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Agriculture-Development Led Industrialization Justice System and Civil Service Reform Governance, Decentralization, and Empowerment, and Capacity Building.

Collectively, these four components serve as the primary methods for reducing poverty and sustaining development in Ethiopia. Over the next few years, the government will focus on:

Agriculture Health Services Water and Sanitation

Food Security HIV/AIDS Gender and Development

Education Roads

The government’s plan10 envisions significant decentralization of the decision-making processes and an important role for non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia, specifically:

The Government is working towards effective mobilization and coordinated use of the resources of the public, private, NGOs and communities to ensure rapid, broad-based development and effectively attack one of the most serious chal-lenges that Ethiopia is facing-deep and wide poverty.

The Government has made a political choice to further deepen the democratiza-tion and devolution process by transferring a number of responsibilities from re-gional governments to Woredas and Kebles. This will be accompanied by fiscal empowerment. This is a fundamental shift in the history of Ethiopia, which man-dates communities through their elected councils to plan, allocate budget and implement to address their socio-economic problems. This is a key process that will unlock the energies of communities to face the challenge of poverty at its root. They will be provided with budget grants to make their empowerment effec-tive and complement their local resources, which for sure they will mobilize to address their own problems, by themselves.

The government recognizes NGOs as an important development force and part-ner. They are already involved in the core poverty oriented sectors-agriculture, health, education, water, rural roads and other rural development activities. The Government will facilitate so that these experiences and resources are brought in and coordinated with in the SDPRP framework. The donor community is also important development force and partner in Ethiopia. Donors have been and are

10 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia & Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (July, 2002). Ethiopia: Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program. Government of Ethiopia: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


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assisting Ethiopia’s development effort and have been active in the PRSP prepa-ration.

Given the level of poverty and the low level of per capita ODA Ethiopia cur-rently receives (below the Sub Saharan average), there is expectation for in-creased inflow of ODA resources to support the country’s strategy and priority programs for broad-based development and poverty reduction. It is also ex-pected that aid flows are not impeded by traditional aid delivery mechanisms. There is a clear and strong preference for budget support, which becomes an imperative with the ongoing decentralization from Regions to woredas and kebles.

Through its Sustainable Development Poverty Reduction Program, the govern-ment of Ethiopia is committed to reducing poverty, supporting agriculture and food security, and many other activities that will improve the quality of life in Ethiopia, and the government is committed to working closely with NGOs and the international community to achieve these goals.

ATTACHMENT THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

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ATTACHMENT E. THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS11

The dawning of the new millennium (Gregorian calendar) has been a time when world at-tention has focused on the plight of ‘developing’ countries. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and the country’s infrastructure cannot support its people. Ethiopia depends on other countries to help reduce the damaging impact of the cyclical droughts and famines that have devastated the country and compounded the adverse effects of war and disease. The United Nations has taken an important leadership role in making pov-erty reduction a global agenda and this organization has prepared and approved a set of development goals to be achieved by 2015.

In September 2000, leaders from 189 countries met and set an ambitious agenda for re-ducing poverty and improving lives around the world. In summary form, the eight goals have been collectively referred to as the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs. The report of this summit12 details the priorities for the United Nations, and the countries and areas that are in greatest need. The following list summarizes the goals and the target dates for accomplishment.

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger—Target for 2015: Halve the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education—Target for 2015: Ensure that all boys and girls com-plete primary school.

3. Promote gender equality and empower women—Targets for 2005 and 2015: Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

4. Reduce child mortality—Target for 2015: Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among chil-dren under five

5. Improve maternal health—Target for 2015: Reduce by three-quarters the ratio of women dying in childbirth.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases—Target for 2015: Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability—Targets: a) Integrate the principles of sustainable devel-opment into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources; b) By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water; and c) By 2020 achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

8. Develop a global partnership for development—Targets: a) Develop further an open trading and fi-nancial System that includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction – na-tionally and internationally; b) Address the least developed countries’ special needs, and the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States; c) Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems; d) Develop decent and productive work for youth; e) In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries; f) In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies – especially information and communica-tions technologies.

As these goals so clearly indicate, ending poverty, disease, hunger, and illiteracy are global priorities, and Ethiopia represents a major opportunity to develop and implement solutions to these pressing problems.

11 By David A. Blankinship, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation 12 The Human Development Report 2003 Millennium Development Goals: A compact among na-tions to end human poverty (copy available at http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2003/).

ATTACHMENT THE MDGS & THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL

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ATTACHMENT F. THE MDGS & THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL13

The following table provides a ‘cross-walk’ between the MDGs and the Praxis Ethiopia Knowledge & Skills Set Model. Note that several MDGs focus on proc-ess issues (i.e., developing partnerships or debt reduction) that are important to reducing poverty and that the Praxis Ethiopia Model is situation-orientated and therefore some goals do not align with the circumstances facing people in pov-erty.

SET MDG

I II III IV Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women (eliminate gender dis-parities in primary and secondary education) Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Ensure environmental sustainability a) Integrate the principles of sus-tainable development into country policies and programmes and re-verse the loss of environmental resources;

b) Reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drink-ing water; c) Achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers. Develop a global partnership for development a) Develop further an open trading and financial System that includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction – nationally and inter-nationally; b) Address the least developed countries’ special needs, and the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States; c) Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems;

d) Develop decent and productive work for youth; e) In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to af-fordable essential drugs in developing countries; f) In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies–especially information and communications tech-nologies.

13 By David A. Blankinship, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation

ATTACHMENT ELABORATIONS ON THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL

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ATTACHMENT G. ELABORATIONS ON THE PRAXIS ETHIOPIA MODEL14

This attachment elaborates on activities that support the Praxis Ethiopia model15 and it proposes a general understanding of how counties differ as a function of the percentage of population best characterized by each set.

Activities Supporting Development in Each Set

Each human situation represents sets of challenges for Ethiopia. Many of Ethio-pia’s most pressing needs are at SET-I. SURVIVE. Moreover, the scope and sever-ity of SET-II problems (health & well-being) poses substantial challenges to achieving and maintaining SET-III (education). Praxis Ethiopia establishes the following activities as important tasks to be accomplished within each situation. As these activities become typical across the country and people create changes in their circumstances as they progress, Ethiopia will progress.

SET-I. SURVIVE—Food, Water, & Environmental Restoration

People living in SET-I face threats to their survival. They are confronted with lack of food, lack of safe water, and an environment that is so degraded that it cannot support human life. They need to learn the skills of food security and safe water, and they need land that will support them.

Food security covers all aspects of food production, which includes land prepara-tion and maintenance, integrated pest management, stewardship of the growing food, and commercialization of farming to create personal wealth. It also in-cludes all aspects of food collection and preservation and methods for personal food preservation and commercial preservation. Food security projects must as-sist developers with all aspects of food distribution and safety, which includes methods for ensuring that foods remain free of contaminants and ensuring re-sources are not depleted (e.g., soil, water, etc).

Water resources make food and life possible. Water serves to keep people hy-drated so that they may digest food, carry away wastes, and enjoy good health. Water serves to irrigate crops and keep livestock and other animals healthy. Water is also the environment of aquaculture and related activities.

14 By David A. Blankinship, The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation 15 This ‘4-set’ model simplifies many hypothetical constructs and assumes straightforward, linear relationships among many other pairs of variables. This simplified model serves primarily as a common language that bridges professional services and research activities subsumed under the broader heading of ‘civilization.’ The model focuses on developing understanding and compro-mises prediction and control.


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Environmental restoration covers the range of activities that convert degraded land into land that effectively supports a variety of life. In some cases, the land degradation may be the result of human actions. In other cases, this degradation may be the result of natural phenomena (e.g., drought) that have fundamentally changed the characteristics of an area such that it no longer supports the variety of living things that previously thrived in the area.

SET-II. THRIVE—Health & Well-being

Health and well-being cannot be limited to a person, a family, or a place. The health & well-being of a country encompasses human health, animal health (in-cluding insects), plant health, and the health of the soil. Health and well-being is an overarching concept to describe both the lack of adverse conditions (disease or degradation) and the advancement of well-being. SET-II, Thriving describes the entire eco-system and emphasizes the paramount need for the knowledge and skills to promote harmony with the environment and the highest standards of stewardship in building symbiotic relationships that endure forever. The health and well-being of Ethiopia is the foundation for social and economic well-being.

SET-III. CONNECT—Education & Research

People need food to survive. People must be healthy to be able to work. Educa-tion is the foundation for improving productivity by helping people to share their knowledge and acquire the knowledge of others. Education is essential to reduc-ing poverty and creating wealth in Ethiopia. SET-III covers both learning and teaching literacy (i.e., reading, writing) and numeracy (i.e., arithmetic and mathematics), public school instruction, and higher education. It also includes lifelong learning and professional development. The lifelong learning model em-braces the identification and dissemination of new developments and ideas that affect the lives of people. Education serves as the basis for building the larger community, improving the efficiency of work, promoting entrepreneurship through training in small business development, and advancing the development of professionals and specialists through higher education and graduate training.

SET-III also includes the knowledge and skills of systematic discovery and shar-ing of new knowledge—research. Typically, research is conducted as part of the scholarly contributions of faculty at colleges and universities; it is also part of the work of extension agents who systematically and intentionally explore the reli-able differences that may result from changes in practices related to food produc-tion or natural resource management activities.

The knowledge and skills associated with research and innovation are essential ingredients for advancing a country. In fact, education and research are the foun-dations for progress in society. Education is the process of deliberately instruct-


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ing people on the continuation of a society and research is the process of evaluat-ing changes in the rates of progress.

SET-IV. PRODUCE—Technology Transfer

SET-IV covers the adoption or adaptation of technologies that serve food security, health & well-being, and education and research. Within our global community, innovative people have developed important and effective technologies that have substantially improved the lives of people. Currently, many innovative technolo-gies exist in Ethiopia; however, they have not been adopted countrywide. These various devices can improve life in Ethiopia. SET-IV activities focus on the use of low-energy, simple technologies that can be economically produced and distrib-uted. It also includes the deployment of communications technologies that in-crease the rates of dissemination of information related to food security, health & well-being, and education. SET-IV activities are essential for accelerating the res-toration of Ethiopia.

Characterizing Countries

People confront these four circumstances in every nation in the world. Every country can be described as having percentages of their population as best characterized by—or predominantly experiencing—one of these four sets of circumstances. The descriptors of SETS I & II, are clearly poverty indicators. The de-scriptors of SETS III & IV are prosperity indi-cators.

The figure16 to the right reflects a hypothetical country in which the population is evenly divided among the four sets, that is 25% of the country’s population can be characterized as confronting SURVIVAL issues, 25% of the population is dealing with THRIVING issues, 25% with CONNECTING is-sues, and 25% with PRODUCTIVITY issues. The country is one-half prosperous and one-half poor.

Beginning at this point, this hypothetical country could become prosperous or it could become poor. War, drought, disease, famine, natural disasters, and many

16 D Blankinship’s NOTE: In these ‘four-triangle’ figures, each triangle’s area is proportional to the whole. That is, the area under SET I. SURVIVE, establishes the base and the areas under the other three triangles represent increases or decreases relative to the area represented by SET I. SURVIVE. The total area (i.e., the sum of the four triangles) represents 100% of the population.


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other naturally occurring or human-made problems could significantly change the proportions of people experiencing each of the conditions. War redirects the social and economic productivity of a country. Disease, famine, and natural dis-asters reduce the number of people who can be productive and these events also reduce the number of people who achieve education and transmit knowledge. The top of the model shrinks and the bottom of the model swells.

Conversely, natural resource wealth (lumber, oil, or minerals), proximity to trad-ing lanes, favorable growing climates, and a healthy population supported by strong educational and innovation-oriented institutions will increase the top of the model as the bottom shrinks.

Developing Countries

In developing countries, most of the population struggles to meet the challenges of staying alive, and maintaining their health. They are continually confronted with SETS I & II. These circumstances mean that the country has many poverty

indicators and these indicators are high. It also means that as a share of the total population, relatively few people are being educated and fewer people have the skills to be productive workers. The figure to the left reflects a hypothetical de-veloping country that has 40% of the population confronting SURVIVAL issues—they do not get enough food to eat and they do not have sufficient or safe drinking water. Another 35% of the population is chronically ill with significantly de-bilitating diseases and their level of

nourishment is sufficient to sustain their lives; however, it is not high enough to help them rebound from sickness and participate in education programs or on-the-job training: essentially, three out of every four people live in poverty. In this country, about 15% of the population attends school and the remaining 10%—or one in ten people—holds a job. These burdens of hunger, malnutrition, and disease significantly undermine the human capital. At the same time, this developing country has a dramatic need for the very people who are in short sup-ply: those with skills in SETS III & IV. The country needs people who can educate others in food security, healthcare, and education. Additionally the country needs to take advantage of every form of technology that can be adopted and adapted to help the people who are confronted with threats to their survival and well-being.


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Developed Countries

Developed countries reflect the power of SETS III & IV. The figure to the right depicts a hypothetical developed country. A country where over half the popula-tion is well fed, healthy, educated, and productive. It is a country that can support having one-third of its population in public schools or in training. In this country, only about one in ten people are ill and only one in twenty confronts threats to their survival. (The estimates for SETS I & II are probably high for this country; however, with smaller numbers the triangles disappear from the figure.) Educa-tion and productivity are the defining features of a developed country. Even dur-ing times of a surge in indicators associated with SETS I & II (i.e., natural disaster or acts of war), these increases are anomalous, and the considerable resources of the country will be mobilized to reduce threats to survival and improve quality of life.

The Praxis Ethiopia Philosophy

The Praxis Ethiopia Philosophy views the top side of the model as the best source of help for people on the bottom side. People on the top side are not the sole province of any country and Praxis Ethiopia helps educated people who have skills related to community-driven poverty reduction to help people living in poverty in Ethiopia by strengthening food security, improving healthcare and wellbeing, promoting education, and facilitating technology transfer.

the praxis accordpraxisethiopia.org/pdf_files/praxis_accord.pdf · 2009-09-24 · the praxis accord...

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