UNIDO

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability.

UNIDO is supporting the Government of Ethiopia in the development of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks (IAIPs), in close coordination with other development partners that have included the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), African Development Bank (AfDB), European Union (EU), Agenzia italiana per la cooperazione allo sviluppo (AICS) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Current implementing partners of UNIDO also include the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

IAIPs, which focus on economic transformation by advancing commercialization of the agricultural sector, are strategic tools under UNIDO’s inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) mandate to assist countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In 2009, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia, UNIDO and FAO developed an Agro-industry Sector Strategy for Ethiopia. Since then, UNIDO has implemented projects supporting the detailed engineering design of four industrial parks (of which three are mostly complete), capacity-building of the government agency tasked for the development and management of IAIPs, and broader efforts to increase access to credit, strengthen upstream agricultural value chains, and enhance labour productivity in the agricultural and agro-processing sectors.

The objectives of the IAIPs are:

• To drive the structural transformation of the Ethiopian economy
• To reduce rural poverty
• To create a better environment for increased investment in food processing and related agro-industrial sectors

The projects are implemented within the broader framework of the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) Ethiopia, a partnership business model that mobilizes external partners and resources to increase the impact of UNIDO’s technical cooperation. The PCP is closely aligned with the Government of Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan and its Industrial Development Strategy.

UNIDO currently has four major projects, initiatives and partnerships that support IAIP development in Ethiopia: PROSEAD, IAIP-SP, BMZ-SI and AICS.

Promotion of Sustainable Ethiopian Agro-industrial Development, or PROSEAD (European Union Delegation in Ethiopia) https://www.eeas.europa.eu/

To achieve the transformation of its economy through the commercialization of the agricultural sector, the Government of Ethiopia is partnering with the EU, AfDB, UNIDO, GIZ & IFAD to implement PROSEAD. PROSEAD and its Agro-Industrial Parks Development Programme aims to mobilize public and private investments into the Agro Parks to accelerate formation and development of agro-industrial clusters in cooperation with government agencies, universities and other institutions at regional and national levels, and to promote a favorable business environment to improve the quality and commercialization of agricultural products. The Agro Parks and their network of Rural Transformation Centers are situated in catchment areas to have a critical mass of agro-industries, support services and public services that strengthen the capacities of farmers and SMEs to become a part of the agricultural and agro-processing value chain. This is expected to shift economic activity from subsistence agriculture to the production of high value products, ensuring sustainability and inclusivity of the industrial development model.

Agro-industrial Park Support Project, or IAIP-SP (African Development Bank)

https://www.afdb.org/en

UNIDO and the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry agreed on the delivery of technical cooperation services within the capacity development component of the Integrated Agro-industrial Park Support Project (IAIP-SP), which seeks to achieve inclusive and sustainable agro-industrialization through further development of four pilot IAIPs and related agricultural value chains. The IAIP-SP contributes to PROSEAD in the areas of park-related infrastructure and capacity building. Implemented by UNIDO, the project coordinates the programme to accelerate the mobilisation of public investments and leverage private investments for the realisation of the IAIPs, and to achieve synergies with current government and donors’ investments in the development of agricultural value chains.

German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development Special Initiative, or BMZSI   www.bmz.de/en/ministry

The Special Initiative (SI) on Training and Job Creation (Sonderinitiative Ausbildung und Beschäftigung) is an initiative of the Government of Germany in response to youth unemployment challenges in Africa. UNIDO is collaborating with the German government in implementing the SI in Ethiopia (and Senegal). The goal is to create jobs for youth through the promotion of sustainable investment and private sector development, with a focus on:

Creating more and better jobs

Providing training and skills development

Stimulating private sector investment

 The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) https://addisabeba.aics.gov.it/

AICS is contributing to IAIP/RTC development through the implementation of three projects:

The first project aims to develop strategic agricultural value chains (wheat in the Bale plateau and tomato in the Rift Valley of Oromia; avocado and pineapple in SNNPR) in the agricultural commodity procurement zones (ACPZs) around the parks of Oromia and Sidama with a strong emphasis on business models that link agricultural cooperatives to agro- industries and financial institutions.

The second project aims to strengthen coordination between the education system and the private sector, and to build capacity of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training centers (TVETs) by upgrading curricula and establishing internships in manufacturing industries active in the parks.

The third project, named as Operationalization & Sustainability of Integrated Agro-Industry Parks (OS-IAIP), aims to strengthen the capacities of the newly created regional industrial park development corporations (RIPDCs), promote private domestic and foreign investments and technology transfer, set up a food safety and quality assurance system at regional and local levels, and enable a favourable working environment, especially for women, and decent job conditions.

Visit www.unido.org  for more information about UNIDO and its activities.

UNIDO Ethiopia twitter account https://twitter.com/unido_ethiopia?lang=en