Regional Reports - the European External Action Service

� the creation of staff position in the office of the regional president for facilitating
interactions and dialogue with civil society,
� the willingness in inviting NSA to observe council and sectoral meetings, and
� the displayed performance in allocating available resources to support NSA operation and
participation.
The resource allocation and sharing experience is a best practice worth sharing. All of the major
regional NGOs and MBAs have their own office complexes constructed on land allocated by the
regional city administration. Even the emerging RNGOs like Mums for Mums (MfM) and HAB
are able to acquire and develop urban-plots for expanding service delivery to their target groups.
Efforts of the above two RNGOs us also boosted by the financial and material supports from the
regional government. The only old vehicle of MfM, which is used for the outreach to the target
towns, is a donation from the population Bureau. Likewise, HAB gets occasional financial
support from the BOLSA, which delegated it to implement the OVC programme supported by
UNICEF.
According to the CSO advisor, the regional government is interested to delegate more social
service oriented activities to NSA. The conviction is that: one has to be delegated to play the role
where it has comparative advantage in terms of effectiveness. To this effect the ongoing
networking endeavour is expected to facilitate such negotiations in role allocation, and further
strengthen and formalize resource allocation and sharing.
Some of the NSA leaders consulted pointed that there is a relative lull in the consultation between
regional regulatory bureaus and NGOs implementing sectoral programmes at local levels. The
scaling-down of DPP profile, from a self-standing bureau to that of a section within a bureau
(Agriculture), is partly blamed. On the other hand, the woreda decentralization is said to have
contributed to enhanced interaction and dialogue between the NGOs and local administration,
thus shadowing the dialogue with regional Bureaus. Implications of this trend are further
discussed in the next section.
7. Engagement in Policy Dialogue
Information collected from the different regional actors shows that there is no doubt on the
importance of roles and contributions of NSA. According to the deputy head of the BOFED 10 , the
government is working on a strategy how best to involve NSA in the regional development
coordination processes. The view expressed by the civil society advisor of the regional president
(insert below) is also consistent with the above direction of the regional government.
No doubt that they are participating and contributing to the development process. Hence, we
should provide them with the opportunity to speak/reflect to us on their experiences'.
Ato Zemichael G/Medhin, Advisor to the Regional
President
Much is expected from the regional CSO network (ACSOT) in this regard. However, as it stands
now the policy dialogue engagement of NSA at regional level is undeveloped. Sector-based
consultation frameworks between NSA and bureaus are rare. For example, the Potable Water
Development division 11 of the Water, Mine and Energy Resources Development bureau has
acknowledged the weak coordination and integration with NSA efforts. Even where organized,
NSA participation is not coordinated (and rather is in individual capacity).
10 Ato Yemane Yosph
11 From the discussion with Ato Kiros Negash
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