Public-Private Partnership and Local Governance in the Post-Socialist Ethiopia

What is it about?

Though local governance was introduced by the Ethiopian government in the post 1991, much of the study so far focused on exploring its performance. However, public private partnership (PPP) as an integral part and important way of advancing the objectives of local governance is little studies. This study, applying the basic principles of local governance, assessed public private partnership in the context of local governance structure. The core issue is that PPP is a reflex of local governance functions. Unfortunately, local governance has been in infant stages in that the local governments are the mere political and economic agents of the federal or regional governments. Therefore, PPP has been very fractured and failed to bring strong partnership among various stakeholders. The local environment has been suffering from political insecurity, maladministration, corruption, and insufficient public participation. This made the partnership very limited. The alternative way is reconstituting the existing local governance in a way that builds the political and economic muscle of the local governance structure, with the community as the main decision makers. That is the panacea to bring effective PPP.

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Why is it important?

This study attempted to assess public private partnership in the context of local governance structure in which the core issue is that PPP is a reflex of local governance functions. Unfortunately, local governance has been in infant stages in that the local governments are the mere political and economic agents of the federal or regional governments. Therefore, PPP has been very fractured and failed to bring strong partnership among various stakeholders. The local environment has been suffering from political insecurity, maladministration, corruption, and insufficient public participation. This made the partnership very limited. The alternative way is reconstituting the existing local governance in a way that builds the political and economic muscle of the local governance structure, with the community as the main decision makers. That is the panacea to bring effective PPP.