(August 25, 2023, Adama) Ethiopian Cities Association’s (ECA) 2015 E.C. fiscal year performance report and 2016 E.C. fiscal year plan were presented to its Executive Board of and discussed and approved today at Adama city.
During the discussion, the 2016 budget of ECA is approved to be 40,506,251.59 Birr (Forty Million Five Hundred Six Thousand Two Hundred Fifty One Birr and fifty Nine cents).
In this discussion, Honorable Ato Alemayehu Assefa, Bishoftu city mayor, chaired the meeting and the Executive Board mentioned that ECA’s work performance in 2015 E.C. was mostly successful and accordingly directed that ECA should play its part in the next fiscal year to continue the sucessful works, that has been accomplished last year on the urban development sector, more than ever.
In particular, it was discussed that one of ECA’s best performance, that is taking member city mayors within the country and various foreign countries to visit and broaden their knowledge and experience in the field of urban development should be continued enormously.

(August 22, 2023, Addis Ababa) Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) and Forum for Social Studies (FSS) signed Memorandum of Understanding today at the FSS’s office to work together on various issues.

The bilateral agreement was signed by the Director General of ECA, Mr. Andualem Tenaw and Forum for Social Studies Executive Director, Dr. Yeraswereq Admasie.

According to the memorandum of understanding, both institutions have agreed to work together for sharining knowledge and expertise on urban governance, urban planning and sustainable development practices.

In particular, it was stated at the signing ceremony that they agreed to hold various workshops, seminars and trainings to build the capacity of city leaders, policy makers and researchers.

It is suggested that the signed Memorandum of Understanding between Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) and Forum for Social Studies (FSS), which has been known for its policy consultation and various social research activities for the past 25 years, will be helpful for the development of the urban development sector and the efforts to create qualified leadership.

(July 10, 2023, Addis Ababa) Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) and the Addis Ababa City Administration Mayor’s Office, Internal and External Relations Directorate signed a memorandum of understanding regarding on sister cities twinning and to compile any domestic and foreign experiences exchange in the field of urban development today here in Addis at the hall of the mayor’s office.

This memorandum of understanding was signed by the General Director of ECA, Ato Andualem Tenaw, and the Director of the Internal and External Relations Directorate of the Mayor’s Office, W/ro Metti Tamrat.

At the signing ceremony, W/ro Metti, announced that Addis Ababa, which is ranked third among the cities that are the seat of diplomats in the world, has a desire to connect and grow together with the cities in the country and abroad, but outstanding works have not been done in this regard.

However, she said that making an agreement with ECA that has a lot of experience in promoting new concepts in the field of urban development and sister twinning will solve our many challenges.

The General Director of ECA, Ato Andualem Tenaw, on his part said that ECA is ready and happy to work in collaboration with the Addis Ababa city administration in any urban development works and sister city twinning.

Two weeks before (from May 31- June 3, 2023) Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure were organized a four-day training workshop in Mekelle city so as to resume public services that had been interrupted in the cities of Tigray Region.

Accordingly Regional, Zonal and City leaders and Mayors, who are recently appointed by the Interim Administration of Tigray Region, as well as experts, were participated in this sensitizing training workshop.

Besides at the opening ceremony of this sensitizing training workshop, the Honorable Mrs. Almaz Gebre Tsadiq, Head of the Tigray Region Interim Administration, Urban and Construction Office, and the Head of the Region’s Infrastructure Sector, the Honorable Mrs. Alem Tsegai, Honorable Mr. Fenta Dejen, State Minister of the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure, and as well as Ethiopian Cities Association General Director, Mr. Andualem Tenaw, were attended.

In her speech as the guest of honor, Mrs. Alem Tsegai said that the infrastructure of most of the cities of Tigray had been destroyed during the 3-year war. She said that the leadership and the people should come out of in this psychological damage and try to take advantage of the peace that has been achieved to bring our cities to a better level.

The other guest of honor was Mrs. Almaz G/Tzadiq who said in her speech that we are fortunate to be able to discuss urban development agendas after that terrible war. The Pretoria’s peace agreement has made a big contribution for putting aside our differences and agreeing to discuss on various urban development agendas.

The State Minister, Honorable Mr. Fenta Dejen, who gave the opening speech on the day, said that this motivational training workshop is one of the beginnings of the elimination of the terrible war that happened in the country for the past three years and led us to discuss on our urban development agendas. Therefore, he announced that the ministry will help the cities of Tigray Region to resume their work.

The Director General of the Ethiopian Cities Association, Mr. Andualem Tenaw, while speaking about the general aspect of ECA, said that he was happy to have organized the workshop in cooperation with the ministry in Mekele City and to meet with the mayors of the cities that were members of the Association before the war. He also said that he is ready to work with non-member cities in order to have them the new member cities of ECA.

He promised that ECA will provide the necessary assistance to make the cities of Tigray region beautiful and clean and convenient for the residents. In addition he emphasized that ECA is always with cities to support them in resuming the municipal provisions service.

More than 300 regional, zonal, and city leaders and experts attended the four-day training workshop, and 15 of them were mayors from different cities of Tigray region and in this valuable event, documents were presented and discussed on the nature and Application of Municipal Service Standards, Urban Land Management Procedures, City Plan Preparation and Implementation Procedures and similar agendas.

As can be understood from the comments of the participants, they recalled that the war was terrible and caused extensive damage to people and property. They said that the peace agreement that was made allowed them to breathe the air of peace and that the training workshop helped them a lot to restart the closed public services and brought them out of their psychological trauma.

(June 7, 2023, Addis Ababa) Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) is participating in third civil society organization week exhibition that is organized by the Federal Civil Society Organizations Authority, in cooperation with the Council of Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations under the theme “Proactive Participation of CSOs for Lasting Peace, Protection of Human Rights and Building Good Governance” at Ghion Hotel.

This is the second time that ECA has participated in the Civil Society Organizations Week Exhibition, which is hosting many visitors and ECA is promoting many of its activities that are performed by in the field of urban development.

Most of the visitors said that the effort in which ECA is doing to make the city clean, attracting and convenient for the residents and the activities that ECA are doing to build the capacity of the mayors and administrative bodies who lead the city are encouraged.

It is known that 75 non-governmental civil society organizations, including Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA), are participating in the three-day Exhibition and 8 panel discussions on various topics will be held, and many people will visit it.

(June 8, 2023, Addis Ababa)

The Ethiopian Civil Society Week Exhibition has come to a successful conclusion today. The event brought together various civil societies to showcase their works and achievements. On the last day of the exhibition, Hon. Professor Birhanu Nega, the Ethiopian Ministry of Education Minister, delivered a keynote speech emphasizing the invaluable contribution of civil society in promoting both democracy and economic development in Ethiopia.

Ato Henock Melese, the Executive Director of the Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council, also expressed his gratitude towards the participating civil societies for their active involvement and dedication towards making a positive impact in the country. H.E Jima Dilbo, the Director General of the Authority for Civil Society Organizations also acknowledged the contributions of Civil Society Organizations in the economic and social development of the country and appreciated their efforts.

The exhibition also served as a platform for Civil Society Organizations to exchange their experiences with each other and learn from one another. The event proved to be a great success and helped to pave the way for better collaboration between various civil societies towards achieving a better and more prosperous Ethiopian society.

The Ethiopian Cities Association also used the platform to communicate its services delivered to cities for other civil societies and visitors. This helped the society in networking and collaboration, and also enhanced the visibility of the organization. The event provided an opportunity for ECA to share its experiences and learn from other CSOs.

Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure is being held four-day training workshop for regional, zone leaders and mayors today in Mekele city to resume public services that were interrupted in the cities of Tigray Region for the past 3 years.

Head of the Infrastructure Sector of the Tigray Region, H.E W/ro Alem Tsegay, said in her message that most of the cities in the region have been destroyed by the war in the past 3 years.

She said that the leadership and the people should come out of this psychological damage and try to take advantage of the peace that has been achieved to bring our cities to a better level.

The Honorable Ato Fanta Dejan, the State Minister of the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure, gave the opening speech at this training workshop, announced that the problems that have occurred in the country for the past 3 years have been resolved and that we should now focus on various urban development agendas.

Ato Fanta added that in order to create visionary cities in the Tigray region, he emphasized that it is necessary to work hard to make cities beautiful and clean, convenient for children and elderly, provide efficient services and distribute land equitably.

The General Director of Ethiopian Cities Association, Ato Andualem Tenaw, on his part, said that he is happy to be able to work again with the member cities of the region after a paused period of 3 years. He promised to support cities in restrengthening the public service provision.

It has been announced that this training workshop will continue in the coming days on the Nature and Application of Municipal Service Standards, Urban Land Management Procedures, City Plan Preparation and Implementation Procedures and similar agendas.

Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) in cooperation with the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG International) and with financial support from the European Union has started capacity building training to its staff today here in Bahir Dar city so as to make the institution’s five-year strategic plan successful and to create qualified implementers.

This capacity building training is being given to the management members and experts of ECA by Mr. Ferdi Heunius, a highly experienced expert from South Africa.

This training will help ECA staff to implement its strategic plan with success and it is expected that Mr. Ferdi will share with them many important points and different experiences related to the implementation of the strategic plan for the next four days.

The first round of training on communication and advocacy strategy for member cities’ communication heads in Bishoftu city for the past three consecutive days has been successfully concluded its end today.

According to the communication experts who participated on this training, they learned how to communicate with the stakeholders and how to advocate for a sensitive issue, which will enable them to do a successful job.

They also said that they have received scientific training that shows the techniques that can create public mobilization and carry out successful development works, and the techniques that can be used to change the image of an institution by using social media appropriately.

Tolera Regasa, the Mayor of Nekmet City, who closed the day’s program, in his speech said that they deserve great thanks to Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) and the workers who have played their part in helping us to get this kind of timely, modern and standard training.

Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA) in collaboration with the Association of Netherland Municipalities (VNG International) and with financial support from the European Union organized a one-day workshop today in Debre Birhan city.

The head of the mayor’s office and the representative of the mayor of Debre Birhan city, Ato Tsegaye Beyene, who gave a welcome speech on the day, said that Debre Birhan, which was the forefather of Ethiopian cities and was far from development for many years, has now become a model of efficient service at the national level where investment permits are obtained in one day.

In his opening speech, the Director General of ECA, Ato Andualem Tenaw, said that ECA is a learning platform for its member cities to generate new concepts in the field of urban development. He said this workshop is also raised new findings on urban housing and the member cities would exchange experience on it.

In this one-day workshop, the framework of the new urban housing development strategy was explained extensively by Ato Tsagaye Mushe, the Housing Development Executive of the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure.

The Netherland Municipalities Association (VNG International) commissioned a research paper on the impact of the establishment of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks in the cities of Yirgalem and Bulbula on the supply of housing.

At the conclusion of the workshop, a presentation was made on the best practices of Debre Birhan city through investment, and the factories in the city and the solid waste disposal start-up project were visited by the honorable mayors. The Mayors also said that they learned many experiences during the field visit.