The Netherlands has a longstanding development partnership with Ethiopia. Today’s development cooperation programme was formally established early 2002. It focuses on three sectors, i.e. Education, Health and Rural Economic Development.

Within the sectors the  Health sector is at present the largest. The programme is concentrated on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and the link between these two areas, with a clear emphasis on Gender aspects.

Concerning the  Education sector, the embassy is cooperating with 5 other donors in support of teacher education, in order to enhance the quality of primary education. Girl’s education is another area of concern for the Netherlands.

As for the  Rural Economic Development sector, the embassy used to focus on food security. Recently there has been a shift to areas with economic potential. A programme is being developed on business organisations and market linkages. This approach is closely linked to development of the private sector.

Aside from these sectors, the Dutch development policy has several other priorities. First,  Gender is regarded as a crosscutting issue that has ground in common with all the sectors. The embassy considers the enhancement of the role and position of women as a vital policy area. An important issue is the fight for violence against women.

Furthermore,  Governance is an important area of Dutch development policy. It not only encompasses the functioning of government institutions at different levels, democratic institutions such as Parliament, elections, Ombudsman and Human Rights Commission but also the free press and the engagement of civil society in the public domain.

A new policy area for the Netherlands government is Private Sector Development (PSD). The embassy has actively promoted the development of the floriculture/horticulture sector in Ethiopia and with obvious success since a number of Dutch entrepreneurs have already started operations. In addition, the embassy plays a mediating role in promoting Netherlands instruments for the advancement of the private sector in Ethiopia, such as PSOM, ORET-MILIEV and PUM.

Another important cross cutting issue for The Netherlands development cooperation is  Environment. Currently this issue is mainly dealt with via the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Programme, administered by the Embassy in Addis Ababa. Emphasis is on improvement of environmental governance and management and on promotion of renewable energy and new value chains for sustainable products and services.