ADDIS ABABA-Forum for Social Studies (FSS) a local and independent policy think tank group in Ethiopia recently launched a new public dialogue project on current developments in Ethiopia.
The project involves organizing a series of six monthly public dialogue events on selected topics around the theme Ethiopia’s democratic reforms, actions, impacts and options (ዲሞክራሲዊ የለውጥ ጉዞ በኢትዮዽያ ፤-የለውጥ እርምጃዎች፤ እንድምታዎቻቸውና አማራጮች) covering June to November, 2019).
The objective of the public dialogue project is to provide a platform for informed and democratic debates on the current socio economic and political reforms underway in the country.
The project was officially launched on Thursday, June 6, 2019 with the first evet on Democratic Reform, Ethnic base Federalism and The Constitution,(ዲሞክራሲዊ የለውጥ ብሔር ተኮር ፌደራሊዝምና ህገመንግስት at the Sapphire Addis Hotel.
In his opening remarks during the launch of the dialogue project, FSS Executive Director Dr. Yeraswork Admassie noted that organizing forums for discussion and debates on issues of national concern was at the heart of FSS ideals in building a democratic and economically viable state. He said since its establishment around 21 years ago, FSS has organized several public dialogue programs. He added that FSS has too often published results of these discussions and disseminated same for wider access and readership.
The Executive Director noted that FSS recognizes that Ethiopia is currently under a fast reform process where informed debates on important issues of concern are necessary; hence the new dialogue series dealing with current developments in the country. The project involves organizing public dialogue events on six different topics, of which the first event was the one organized on that day.
Dr. Yeraswork thanked participants for making the time to attend the event and discuss on the timely issue and the speakers for willing to prepare and present the papers.
He then declared the event opened, after which two papers revolving on the theme of the day (ሕገመንግስት ብሔር ተኮር ፌደራሊዝምና ፖለቲካዊ ሪፎርም) were presented by two senior scholars namely Dr. Assefa Fisseha and Dr. Zemelak Ewnetu from the Addis Ababa University. Professor Kassahun Berhanu chaired the speakers presented their paper highlighting on their findings and recommendations for discussion by the audience.
Both highlighted on the need to preserve the Constitution with some corrective measures to amend when necessary.
During the lively discussion session that ensued, participants reflected on the topic, forwarded comments ad asked questions for which responses were given from the panel.
The event brought together some 65 participants drawn from political parties, Civil Society Organizations, academics and the media.
Similarly, and as per the schedule, the second dialogue event was organized on Thursday, July 4, 2019 dealing with Political Parties, National Election and Peoples Representation in Ethiopia (የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች ህዝባዊ ምርጫና የህዝብ ውክልና በኢትዮዽያ )was successfully organized on Thursday June 25, 2019, and July 4, 2019 respectively at the Sapphire Addis Hotel.
Around 60 participants drawn from political parties, higher institutions, Civil Society and the media attended the dialogue event.
The third dialogue in the series is scheduled to be organized on Thursday, August 8, 2019 at Saphhire Addis Hotel
The topics and the schedule for dialogue events planned to be organized over the next four months is as shown hereunder:
- Macro-Economic Policy and the role of the state in the economy (የማክሮ ኢኮኖሚ ፖሊሲ እና በኢኮኖሚ ውስጥ የመንግሰት ሚና)
- Privatization and he economic reform (የመንግስት የልማት ድርጅቶችን ወደ ግሉ ክፍለ ኢኮኖሚ ማዛወር ናየኢኮኖሚ መዋቅር ማሻሻያ)
- Ethiopia’s foreign policy on the horn of Africa and the Middle East ( የኢትጵያ የውጭ ጉዳይ ፖሊሲ በአፍሪካ ቀንድና መካከለኛው ምስራቅ)
- Utilization of the Nile Resources and Ethiopia’s Foreign Policy (የአባይ ወንዝ ውሀ አጠቃቀምና የኢትዮጵያ የውጭ ጉዳይ ፖሊሲ)