Foundation
DCG Ethiopia and Sudan was established in April 2000 following a workshop held in Nazareth. DCG Sudan became an independent member in March 2004.

Mission
The aims of DCG Ethiopia are to:

• Build the capacities of DCG members and partners through training, information exchange, and experience sharing on best practices in drylands management at seminars and workshops.
• Play a profound role in combating land degradation in dryland areas through the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and the UNCCD in Ethiopia.
• Improve the quality of development programs of members and partners through innovative discussions.

DCG Ethiopia strives to reach these goals by:

• Preparing and screening project proposals for DCG Norway for funding.
• Following up the implementation of approved annual projects.
• Coordinating studies, seminars, workshops, and experience sharing field visits.
• Conducting regular meetings with members to review the progress of activities of DCG Ethiopia.

Member organizations

1. Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) Ethiopia
2. Norwegian People's Aid Ethiopia
3. CARE Ethiopia
4. Relief Society of Tigray (REST)
5. Women Association of Tigray (WAT)
6. Mekelle University College (MUC)
7. ADRA Ethiopia
8. Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)
9. Association for Combating Deserification (ACD)
10. Hawassa University
11. The Development Fund (DF)
12. Hope for the Horn
13. Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI)
14. Dire Dawa University
15. Haramaya university
16. Bahir Dar University
17. Pastoral Forum Ethiopia

Structure
DCG Ethiopia has a chairperson Mulugeta Berhanu (berhanurest at yahoo.com) and a coordinator, Abiye Alemu (dcgeth at nca-ethiopia.org) supported by a technical advisor. The coordinator is responsible for:

• Coordinating the group.
• Liaising and following up DCG Ethiopia with DCG Norway
• Representing DCG at official forums
• Deciding on the budget use in consultation with user members and DCG Norway
• Managing the budget allocated to the DCG Secretariat
• Managing the overall operation of DCG while individual members deal with their respective proposals and communicating directly with DCG Norway.

Particularities

• Ethiopia is a country of diverse cultures, ethnic groups, landscape, and calendar.
• It has rich unexploited natural resources with high biodiversity and many tourist areas.
• It is worth investing in because of its high potential to reverse the poverty situation.

Situation in Ethiopia
It is one of the poorest countries in the world and it suffers from food insecurity, recurrent droughts, serious land degradation, and a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Challenges for DCG Ethiopia are the important involvement of members in organizational assignments, their geographical location, and dealing with government structures. 

DCG Ethiopia and national processes
Members of DCG Ethiopia have participated in the preparation and implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and are involved in the PRSP monitoring task force. This group is also engaged in the formulation and implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) even though NAP has not yet officially been endorsed by the parliament. The DCG members are also members of the Ethiopia NGOs/CBOs network on the UNCCD (ENCCD). Finally, the DCG members participate in international conferences such as the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC) meetings.

DCG Ethiopia projects
Here are some examples of promising projects conducted by DCG Ethiopia.

• Training of trainers in NAP and UNCCD for various organizations in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Authority.
• Area enclosure
• Resource based conflict management study

Current activities

• Workshop for Pastoralist Standing Committee of Members of Parliament on NAP/UNCCD implementation.
• Preparation of training of trainer's manual on the implementation of NAP/UNCCD.
• Establishment of a strong relationship with all government organizations and NGOs Network, particularly working on the environment and combating desertification.¨

Visit this page to know more about DCG Ethiopia's current activities.

Relevant articles for Ethiopia from external sources

(Source: DCG Ethiopia)