Community Participatory Development (CPD) creates a sense of ownership and makes development projects a public property, guaranteeing more security and protection, says Ministry of Urban Development and Housing.
The Ministry has been striving to promote CPD in various cities and towns. The ultimate goal is to enable communities to actively take part in development by claiming ownership and without longing for government or other non-governmental institutions’ initiatives.
Mengisteab Teklu, Community Participation and Decentralized Administration Director at the Ministry tells The Ethiopian Herald that the initiatives focus on providing some help and enabling communities to develop their own city, town and villages with local capacities including finance, labor and knowledge.
CPD is one of the priorities in the nation’s Growth and Transformational Plan II (GTP II) and therefore, says Mengisteab, the Ministry has been supporting states in terms of knowledge dissemination, financial and material assistance to promote the practice.
“CPD is not all about constructing something. It has also peace and security dimensions. When the communities come together, they would be able to solve their socio-economic and political problems. They become alert on the issues of security. Moreover, development projects constructed with the participation of communities would stay longer as the people protect them.
“So you see building a ditch is not a big deal for the government but by inviting the society in the project would bring about multifaceted advantages,” he adds.
Recently, the Ministry has selected Adigrat, a city in Tigray State as a model city in practicing CPD in 2017. The development activities undertaken in the city through CPD in the last three years account for 80.3 million Birr.
A national conference on CPD was also held recently in Adigrat where representatives of all states attended discussions and paid field visits to the development projects built by the city’s communities.
Yeshiwas Tesfaye, Community Participation and Decentralized Administration Senior Expert at the ministry, indicates that Adigrat was selected as a model after series of procedures.
The Ministry organized a group of experts on the issue to visit the works done. Then, the reports were deeply evaluated and field inquiries were
undertaken to prove it from grassroots levels.
Eden Teklay, Public Relation Officer of Adigrat City Administration says on her part that the through CPD, the city managed to solve prolonged natural and human made problems.
“Flood was a major problem of the city causing huge damage. The city administration faced problems related with waste management, greenery, and drainages. But now, we no more face these problems thanks to diligent hands of our communities.”
According to Eden, the city administration has prioritized the benefits, demands and quests of the residents.
“For instance, there is a place called ‘MedaAgaame’ near the city market place and was prone to several natural disasters. But now the city administration, through the financial, material and labor support of the residents, businesspersons and others, has built ditches and planted trees that help prevent the damage caused by flooding.”
Yeshiwas underlined that the community participatory development has created linkages with different institutions. “There were some places known to be the most unhygienic part of the city. The city small and micro-institutions gave those areas to graduated students without a job. The youths have built several parks in those areas and made them attractive.”
The construction of roundabout by the community in one of the roads known for high rate of traffic accidents is also exemplary as such incidents have been significantly reduced.
According to the expert, Adigrat is also model in mobilizing its residents from all walks of life in CPD without regard to gender, living standard and age. Yet, the women play a leading role in almost all projects. “Generally speaking, Adigrat is selected to introduce a very simple, affordable, and sustainable community participatory development for our country,” stresses Yeshiwas.
It was also learnt that the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing has planned to identify five cities with best CPD experiences before the conclusion of GTP II.