Governance and Democratic Participation Programme

What is the project about

 

The Governance and Democratic Participation Programme (GDPP) is a multi-year and multi-stakeholder programme that became operational since July 2017 in response to Government of Ethiopia’s request for support and a joint project formulation process.

GDPP is comprehensive in nature, encompassing key governance dimensions and involving eleven core governance institutions, and therefore well positioned to respond to the current and emerging demands and issues.

The programme aims to support government in its efforts to enhance its responsiveness and to promote an all-inclusive and sustainable development agenda by strengthening governance institutions, mechanisms and processes that facilitate and promote transparency and accountability, rule of law and justice, wider civic participation, national cohesion and peace.

What have we accomplished so far?

 

The Programme has continued supporting 'Democratic and Accountability' institutions in reinforcing their professional independence and expanding further the civic space for effective participation. The key element of GDPP’s contribution has been on ‘inclusion’ and on ensuring to raise awareness of large segments of society on their rights and ensuring platforms for political and civic participation.

Using the Governance Programme as a vehicle, UNDP has sought in the past several months to address some of the pressing issues, including promoting greater voice and participation. In this regard, UNDP supported some key initiatives and critical political dialogue processes that brought together critical stakeholders across the political divide to begin the difficult conversations.

  • A National Peace and Reconciliation Conference led by Inter-Faith groups is one that was dedicated to peace building and reconciliation, which led to the formulation of a set of recommendations for consideration by the government, as well as by religious institutions;
  • The second one focused on civil society engagement with the objective to fostering participation of Civil Society for sustainable development and democracy
  • UNDP has also facilitated series of political consultations on the functioning and challenges of the Ethiopian federal system, which resulted in the development of mechanisms such as Inter-Governmental Relations, currently being reviewed by the government;
  • UNDP/GDPP, along with a few other UN agencies, is behind the development and launching of Ethiopia’s National Human Rights Action Plan, which reflects government’s vison and intention to the promotion and protection of human rights;
  • Currently, we are working on a state - of - the art Institutional Gap Assessment of the key Democratic Institutors with the objective to propose strategic capacity development responses

Download the programme document

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