Bart Minten of IFPRI-ESSP participated in a half day workshop organized by Policy Studies Institute (PSI) in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on September 4, 2019. The main aim of the workshop was to share and discuss preliminary results of the report on "New Rural Development Paradigm" pilot study in Ethiopia.
Rural development has been the main policy target area of the government of Ethiopia. Multiple policy packages such as; Poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP), Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP), Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP I) and GTP II were formulated and implemented in the past decades in order to boost; poverty reduction, agricultural growth, rural service provision (health, education, extension, water, electric power), road access, market linkage, etc.. which in turn contributed to the economy's double-digit growth rate in the past decade.
However, the traditional sectoral based rural development approaches seems to have now reached their limits to capture the new and recurring challenges facing rural areas in Ethiopia. Some of these challenges include: increasing youth unemployment, increasing vulnerability to climate change, low agricultural productivity and growing food insecurity. Addressing these challenges will require having broad, robust and innovative strategies that go beyond a traditional sector-based approach. In light of this, the workshop was a platform to share key insights from the "New Rural Development Paradigm" pilot study which will be coming out soon.
Please subscribe to receive regular updates on ESSP’s work and its quarterly newsletter.
