Three years and nine months into one of the largest bilateral programs in the world and the cooperation between Ethiopia and Germany is still going strong and producing impressive results. The Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp), a comprehensive Ethiopian reform program, is on track and has already started to impact the economy.
On Thursday, July 23, ecbp hosted a press conference with presentations by H.E. Ato Wondwossen Kiflu, ecbp Director and State Minister of Education as well as Ethiopian and German managers of all of the components of ecbp.
The Engineering Capacity Building Program continues to move towards its overall goal of industrial development in Ethiopia. This has become even more of a reality during the past year as demonstrated during the annual evaluation with the Ministry of Capacity Building on July 16, 2009.
During the Ethiopian fiscal year of 2001, numerous accomplishments were realized in the planned overhaul of the University and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems. In the University Reform, study programs incorporating new curriculum, developed to international standards, have been put into practice at multiple universities throughout the country. These new curricula also incorporate the upgrading of training programs for TVET teachers. The reform of the TVET system has seen some major success in the past year, including the signing of MoUs with numerous cities throughout the country which will ultimately provide training and then jobs for about 40,000 people.
The National Quality Infrastructure Strategy, which was drafted by the Quality Infrastructure component of ecbp in conjunction with the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia, was endorsed by the Council of Ministers. As a result of this, proclamations have been prepared and sent to respective Ministries, opening the way for international competitiveness of Ethiopian products. A new ISO 9001 certification body, QSAE-Cert, is already in place and accredited by an international organization.
Company upgrading and matchmaking has led to significant increases in orders of textiles, leather products and pharmaceuticals which boost the foreign income earnings of the country. Selected value chains in the country are being upgraded as well, providing better quality leather and other raw materials for value added products.
ecbp’s endeavors in eCapacity Development have also demonstrated success in the past year, in particular in eLearning, for which an in house training program has been set up for lecturers at Addis Ababa University with certification according to German eLearning standards.
With impressive results thus far, ecbp continues to look towards the future, with even greater achievements to come in the coming years now that the program has entered the implementation phase.