DIP is a five-year (2008-12), multi-donor programme established to finance capacity building of democratic institutions in Ethiopia. There is a joint agreement between UNDP and Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) outlining the overall goals and reporting procedures. Separate Project Documents (based on the UNDP project document template) and budgets are being developed for each of the target institutions in the sub-programmes.
The DIP has been set up to address the need for a joint donor funded effort to strengthen the support to the process of democratization and transparency following the disputed 2005 parliamentary elections. Further, the individual institutions supported by the DIP had expressed a need for better harmonised and comprehensive donor support. Based on this request, a group of donors proposed the development of an overarching DIP, receiving approval from MoFED of the concept note that the current design is build on.
The key target institutions that fall under the DIP are the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, the Ethiopian Institute of Ombudsman, the House of People’s Representatives and Regional State Councils, the House of Federation, the National Elections Board of Ethiopia, and the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. The Programme allows for the future inclusion of other relevant institutions depending on the availability of donor support.
Twelve donors have pledged financial support to the Programme so far: DFID (UK), CIDA (Canada), SIDA (Sweden), USAID (USA), Norway, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Netherlands, Denmark, Irish Aid, the Austrian Co-operation and the Italian Co-operation with a total contribution of USD 9,384,417.38. The Programme allows for the inclusion of additional donors during the implementation stage.
The 2008 annual report of the programme highlights the following achievements although the programme is in is preliminary stage.
- The the DIP Coordination Unit is operational; five sub-programme documents were developed, approved and entered into implementation phase by July 2008 except that of the House of Federation
- Laying of the first foundation for institutional capacity building in addressing the weaknesses in the implementation capacity of implementing partners with the technical assistance , programme oversight and supporting implementation by the Coordinating unit
- The remarkable degree of cooperation exhibited by MoFED, the donors, UNDP and the implementing partners.
There is a considerable delay in the implementation of the programme arising from in finalization of the sub-programme documents and internal procedures and capacity of the cooperating and implementation partners. However, there is noticeable progress during the first half of this year and it is the expectation of all the partners that the programme will enter its maximum level of implementation shortly.