IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v4y2016i4p1-15.html

Decentralised Local Governance and Poverty Reduction in Post-1991 Ethiopia: A Political Economy Study

Author

Listed:
  • Yeshtila Wondemeneh Bekele

    (Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway)

  • Darley Jose Kjosavik

    (Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway)

Abstract

After 1991, Ethiopia has introduced an ethnic federal governance system constituting nine regional states and two autonomous city administrations, Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. The restructuring of the state seemingly led to the decentralisation of power to the regions and Woreda (district authority) levels local governance structure in 1995 and 2002 respectively. The purpose of this article is to examine the practices of decentralised local governance in Ethiopia in general and the local governance performance at the level of peasant association (Kebele) in particular. The article also analyses the link between the local governance and poverty based on three indicators: decentralisation and self-rule (DSR), local capacity for planning (LCP), and effectiveness of local governance system (ELGS). Data was collected from eight selected Kebeles of three different regional states through household survey, qualitative interviews and focus group discussions. The study shows that while the power and control of the central government is well established, the Kebeles lack the capacity and resources to deliver development. The LCP at Kebele level is weak because of organisational incapacity and institutional constraints related to DSR. The ELGS is also poor since Kebeles do not have any fiscal rights and administrative power for the reasons associated with DSR and LCP. The government has been implementing poverty reduction strategies using productive safety net programmes and farmer training centres. These, however, have not had the desired outcome due to organisational and institutional incapacitation of Kebele administrations.

Suggested Citation

  • Yeshtila Wondemeneh Bekele & Darley Jose Kjosavik, 2016. "Decentralised Local Governance and Poverty Reduction in Post-1991 Ethiopia: A Political Economy Study," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(4), pages 1-15.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v4:y:2016:i:4:p:1-15
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v4i4.590
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/590
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v4i4.590?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Dercon & Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott & Tassew Woldehanna, 2009. "The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads on Poverty and Consumption Growth in Fifteen Ethiopian Villages," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1007-1021.
    2. Serdar Yilmaz & Varsha Venugopal, 2008. "Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Ethiopia," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0838, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yeshtila Wondemeneh Bekele & Darley Jose Kjosavik, 2016. "Decentralised Local Governance and Poverty Reduction in Post-1991 Ethiopia: A Political Economy Study," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(4), pages 1-15.
    2. María Priscila Ramos & Estefanía Custodio & Sofía Jiménez & Alfredo J. Mainar-Causapé & Pierre Boulanger & Emanuele Ferrari, 2022. "Do agri-food market incentives improve food security and nutrition indicators? a microsimulation evaluation for Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(1), pages 209-227, February.
    3. Sardorbek Musayev & Jonathan Mellor & Tara Walsh & Emmanouil Anagnostou, 2021. "Development of an Agent-Based Model for Weather Forecast Information Exchange in Rural Area of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Derek Headey & David Stifel & Liangzhi You & Zhe Guo, 2018. "Remoteness, urbanization, and child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 765-775, November.
    6. George W. Norton & Jeffrey Alwang, 2020. "Changes in Agricultural Extension and Implications for Farmer Adoption of New Practices," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 8-20, March.
    7. Iimi,Atsushi, 2022. "Estimating the Impacts of Transport Corridor Development in Kazakhstan : Applicationof Dynamic Panel Data Models to Firm Registry Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10196, The World Bank.
    8. Cohen, Marc J. & Lemma, Mamusha, 2011. "Agricultural extension services and gender equality: An institutional analysis of four districts in Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 28, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Mossie, Mengistie & Gerezgiher, Alemseged & Ayalew, Zemen & Nigussie, Zerihun, 2021. "Welfare effects of small-scale farmers' participation in apple and mango value chains in Ethiopia," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 60(2), May.
    10. Dillon, Andrew & Sharma, Manohar & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2011. "Estimating the impact of rural investments in Nepal," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 250-258, April.
    11. Asian Development Bank Institute, 2017. "Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note: Rural Roads and Access," Working Papers id:11782, eSocialSciences.
    12. Dorosh, Paul A. & Schmidt, Emily, 2010. "The rural-urban transformation in Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 13, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Musa Hasen Ahmed & Kassahun Mamo Geleta & Aemro Tazeze & Hiwot Mekonnen Mesfin & Eden Andualem Tilahun, 2017. "Cropping systems diversification, improved seed, manure and inorganic fertilizer adoption by maize producers of eastern Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Yanyan Gao & Xinping Wang, 2023. "Chinese agriculture in the age of high‐speed rail: Effects on agricultural value added and food output," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 387-405, March.
    15. Josephson, Anna Leigh & Michler, Jeffrey D., 2015. "To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Persistence in Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212459, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Jan Willem Gunning & Pramila Krishnan & Andualem T. Mengistu, 2024. "Fading choice: transport costs and variety in consumer goods," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(363), pages 1100-1123, July.
    17. Kansiime, Monica K. & Alawy, Abdillahi & Allen, Catherine & Subharwal, Manish & Jadhav, Arun & Parr, Martin, 2019. "Effectiveness of mobile agri-advisory service extension model: Evidence from Direct2Farm program in India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 25-33.
    18. Berhane, Guush & Abate, Gashaw T. & Wolle, Abdulazize, 2021. "Agricultural Intensification in Ethiopia: Trends and Welfare Impacts," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315313, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Fiona Burlig & Andrew W. Stevens, 2024. "Social networks and technology adoption: Evidence from church mergers in the U.S. Midwest," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1141-1166, May.
    20. Hazrana, Jaweriah & Mishra, Ashok K., 2024. "Effect of input subsidies and extension services: Evidence from rice productivity in Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v4:y:2016:i:4:p:1-15. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.